Dodgeball competition will raise funds for library

Coming up with a different concept for a local fundraiser is easier said than done, considering so many different themes and ideas have been tried.

The Geneva Library Foundation appears to have come up with one, calling it "Dodge, Drink and Dine."

If you think this one is just like any other, ask yourself this question: When is the last time you played dodgeball? That answer, for many of us, would be during gym class in high school - and for those of us a bit older, probably in the 1960s or '70s. I'm guessing it's not quite as common in schools these days.

Eight teams of 10 players will compete in this adults-only single-elimination event at 7 p.m. Oct. 1 at the Stephen Persinger Recreation Center in Geneva.

Those who participate, as well as spectators, will also have side games and raffles to play, to go along with beverages and appetizers from Geneva's best restaurants.

"We did a little research after the fact (of deciding to organize one locally) that a lot of colleges have had dodgeball tournaments as fundraisers," said Peter Evans, vice president of the library foundation who offered the concept as something different for this area.

"There are so many fundraisers in Geneva, and not many people know about the library foundation and what we do, so we wanted to think of something outside of the box and totally different that would catch people's attention," Evans said.

The foundation is hoping many people will come out for the event and to learn more about what the organization, in place since 2005, does to support the Geneva Public Library.

Tickets are $35 to compete and $25 for those attending to watch.

And those competing don't have to worry about getting clobbered with the fairly hard rubber-coated balls of dodgeball days past.

"These balls are softer, the ones the park district used for their youth dodgeball tournaments," Evans said. "We'll have referees there to oversee things, because we know adults throw balls harder than kids, but this is for everyone to have a good time, not to get hurt."

Mostly, interested parties are saying they are anxious to "throw a ball at their spouse, a friend or a neighbor" for a good cause, Evans said with a laugh.

A different look:

The landscape of South Street in Geneva from the Geneva Country Club heading west has not changed much over the years. But it will when Havlicek Builders completes a project to develop 21 lots with high-end, smaller homes on smaller lots.

The development wraps around the home of local attorney Stephen Cooper on that land on what will be called Cooper Lane, which will make a horseshoe shape around that home, with two entrances off South Street.

Homes will back up to the J. Pankow Drive area, with three of those lots on Rosenfelder Court to the northwest, while bordering the golf course on the east.

Pizza and parking:

I wouldn't go as far as saying it was like making a silk purse out of sow's ear, but Firehouse Pizza in Geneva was able to turn a portion of its parking lot into a nice outdoor deck seating area for its patrons.

The parking lot, which also serves State Street Dance Studio and other nearby businesses and offices, is also used as a staging area for Geneva's Festival of the Vine.

But Firehouse Pizza had the good idea to create outdoor dining for the warm weather months without losing much parking space to do it.

More-fly zone?:

Maybe it was just my imagination, but it seemed as if O'Hare Airport had somehow changed its flight patterns recently to have far more planes cruising over the Tri-Cities area.

It's not really a complaint on my part, because it's understood that planes have to use air space and they do make plenty of noise in the process. And they have to go somewhere, right?

But it seemed like they had chosen air space right over my house a lot more often than in the past.

Then, suddenly, this trend seemed to quiet down, so who really knows what is going on with the runway configuration at O'Hare and other airports at any given time?

An air traffic controller, that's who. So I talked to one who said the flight patterns are generally determined by wind patterns, and we were stuck in one not long ago that forced many more planes to circle around the Fox Valley region.

dheun@sbcglobal.net