Briefs: Rose competition planned

The Fox Valley Rose Society will host its annual Fall Rose Show on Sunday in the choir room at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 401 Main St., West Dundee. The Fourth Street entrance will open at 1 p.m. for grooming your roses. Judging will start at 2 p.m. There are nine different classes or opportunities to enter roses. The society will provide vases, prizes, entry blanks, ribbons and assistance for those who need it. Admission is free, and you don't have to be a member of the Fox Valley Rose Society to enter a rose in the show. Call (847) 426-4593.

Dist. 300 sets ceremonies

Community Unit District 300 will mark the opening of two new elementary schools with dedication ceremonies this month. The ceremony for Hampshire's Gary D. Wright Elementary School will be at 2 p.m. Sunday at Big Timber and Ketchum roads. Festivities for Gilberts Elementary School will be at 2 p.m. on Sept. 30 at Galligan and Freeman roads. District 300 is also marking the completion of renovations at two high schools with an open house from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 14 at Jacobs High School and an open house from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on the same day at Dundee-Crown High School.

Old cell phone collection

If you have an old cell phone in working condition with a wall charger that you aren't using, the Elgin Police Department is collecting them. The police department will clear the phone, make sure it can call 911 and distribute it to seniors in Elgin Township. The phones can be used only to call 911. About 600 cell phones have been distributed to area seniors so far, and the police department is now in need of more. They can be dropped off at the Community Relations on the first floor of the Elgin Police Department, 151 Douglas Ave., between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. and at the front desk the rest of the time. Call Cherie Ashenbrenner at (847) 289-2626.

Chemical spill stalls traffic

Traffic was tied up for a couple of hours Thursday on the Elgin O'Hare Expressway after a chemical was spilled on the road. According to Hanover Park fire officials, an acrylic polymer used in printing processes spilled from a van around 3:41 p.m., just east of Lake Street. The liquid causes severe eye and skin irritation, but no injuries were reported. The driver of the van had swerved to avoid traffic from another accident. The mess was cleaned up just after 6:30 p.m.