Looking back at 2007, for better or worse

New Stephens in mayor's chair

Bradley Stephens in May stepped into the seat his father held for a half century after the death of longtime Rosemont Mayor Donald E. Stephens.

Ascending from his spot as a village trustee, Bradley Stephens vowed to keep running things the way his father would have.

"Not a lot's going to change. Dad and I didn't agree on everything and I think that's one of the things he appreciated about me (but) … there's going to be no great changes in the village staff and policies," he said in May.

In September, he appeared to channel his late father as he floated the village's Rosemont Theatre as a potential site for a state-run casino.

"It's sitting on the table there for them," he said of the offer to state officials.

Three years ago, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan stopped plans for a Rosemont casino in part due to concerns about alleged mob ties to the village.

"Enough of that stuff. If there were problems with the associations that my dad had, my dad's gone," he said in September. "Are we happy about that? Absolutely not. I miss my father every ... day."

Brown's verdict after 14 years

Nearly 14 years ago, Juan Luna walked into the Palatine Brown's Chicken intending to "do something big."

He did just that, a jury concluded May 10 in a courtroom packed with seven weeping families.

As the first "guilty" rose from a court clerk's throat, Luna removed his glasses to dab tears from his eyes.

"We as families can finally exhale from this long emotional nightmare," said Jennifer Shilling, the oldest daughter of store owners and murder victims Lynn and Richard Ehlenfeldt.

Prosecutors had charged Luna and his high school friend James Degorski with killing seven people inside the restaurant on Jan. 8, 1993. Degorski still faces trial.

Dawn rises above dad

It's hard for anyone to outdo Buffalo Grove atheist activist Rob Sherman in finding ways to garner publicity for his cause.

This year, however, his 14-year-old daughter Dawn just may have done it.

In September, Dawn asked to have "God Bless America" removed from the song list at the Buffalo Grove High School Homecoming. The student council agreed, sparking a barrage of letters and phone calls to the newspaper.

Then in October, Dawn, with support from her father, sued Northwest Suburban High School District 214 over the new state-mandated moment of silence.

A federal judge blocked the moment of silence in District 214 pending further hearings on the constitutionality of the law.

Local newsmakers

Sgt. Bryan Anderson

• Iraqi War veteran Sgt. Bryan Anderson, the 26-year-old triple-amputee from Rolling Meadows, became the poster child for returning wounded soldiers, appearing everywhere from the cover of Esquire to HBO to the White House.

• Hoffman Estates police Sgt. Mike Brady became the head of the Major Crime Assistance Team.

• Harper College President Robert Breuder pushes hard for the Palatine community college to offer bachelor degrees. The legislation passed the Illinois House this year and is awaiting a vote in the state Senate. Breuder received tons of criticism, but continued to push ahead.

Toni Carter

• Toni Carter was elected Hanover Park's first-ever black trustee in April. She has clashed with other members of the board and is often the lone dissenting vote on an issue. She began video recording meetings and has pushed to implement diversity programs.

Elliott Cellini

• Elliott Cellini, the Buffalo Grove High School student who survived a car crash that took the life of his good friend Corey Diamond, spoke out about his year-long struggle to recover. Police charged Ralph Lewis with first-degree murder; his case continues to wind through the courts.

• Rodney Craig was elected Hanover Park village president, beating out Trustee Robert Packham by a mere 40 votes. Packham ascended after longtime Mayor Irv Bock died in 2006. His wife Sherry Craig is village clerk.

• Lee Cutler, an 18-year-old student at Stevenson High School, went missing on Oct. 20 from his Buffalo Grove home. His car and several of his belongings were found by a river near Baraboo, Wis. The incident started off a massive search of the area by Cutler's family, friends and police. His friends and family have still not given up on finding Cutler.

Bart Dill

• Bart Dill, an Elk Grove Village board member, announced in January that he had cancer as well as his previously disclosed Parkinson's Disease. He resigned and was replaced by Jeffrey Franke.

Kevin Dohm

• The executive suite came in for a shake-up at Chicago Executive Airport, co-owned by Wheeling and Prospect Heights, with the resignation of board chairman Kevin Dohm, followed by that of vice-chairman L. James Wylie. Dohm was under scrutiny by several Wheeling members of the airport board who raised questions about how the work of an airport consultant was handled.

• Mount Prospect Police Chief Richard Eddington accepted the chief's post in Evanston and was replaced by Deputy Chief John Dahlberg, a 22-year veteran.

• Mike Falese raised a few eyebrows when he retired as Elgin fire chief to take over the assistant chief job at the much smaller Bartlett Fire Protection District for a much smaller salary. Falese said he liked the idea of working at a department that's less busy, but still growing. Bartlett is currently building its third fire station.

• Long Grove resident and developer Mike Firsel decision to develop Sunset Grove on Route 83 with a Sunset Foods grocery store, coffee shop, drug store and other amenities drew support from many on the village board, but reservations from some residents of what is historically a quaint and low-key town.

• Serena Fried, a health inspector for the village of Wheeling, is using her free time to start the Feral Feline Project to trap, neuter and release feral cats.

Paul Froehlich

• 56th District state Rep. Paul Froehlich caused a stir with his decision to change from Republican to Democrat. Froehlich's defection opened the door for Elk Grove Village resident Michael Adelizzi, who as newly appointed Republican committeeman is rebuilding the party in Schaumburg Township following a long split over Froehlich's leadership.

• Barrington said goodbye to Erika Hassenstein and her Aspen Ski and Patio after more than 30 years. Hassenstein said she planned on spending the winter doing some skiing of her own.

Virginia Hayter

• Hoffman Estates Clerk Virginia Hayter, who served as mayor from 1973 10 1985, retires.

• Barrington resident and former teacher Timothy Hull became the newest member of the Barrington Area Unit District 220 school board, knocking off Thomas Lidbury.

• The Rev. Bill Hybels, head of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, continued to garner honors, with Church Report magazine naming his church the most influential in America and him the third-most-influential minister, after Billy Graham and Joel Osteen, pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston.

• Wheeling Village President Greg Klatecki stepped down from his post in April, citing health problems. The board was deadlocked on who should replace him until they decided on a rotating system for Judy Abruscato, Dean Arigiris and Patrick Horcher to fill out the remainder of Klatecki's term.

• Katherine Konyer, a Wheeling High School biology teacher, is the only Golden Apple award finalist from the Northwest suburbs.

Carolyn Krause

• Republican state Rep. Carolyn Krause, who had served as Mount Prospect mayor from 1997 to 1989, announced her retirement.

• Scott Lamerand, 35, knocked out Palatine councilman Jim Wilson, who had represented the 2nd district since 1980, by 80 votes.

Sami Latchin>

• Des Plaines resident Sami Latchin was a spy and a "sleeper agent" of Saddam Hussein, the former head of Iraq, a U.S. District Court judge finds.

• Barrington High School Principal Tom Leonard was named Barrington Area Unit District 220's new superintendent, replacing Mary Herrmann, who left to become superintendent in Winnetka Elementary District 36.

• Patrick McCarthy, a special education teacher at Robert Frost Junior High in Schaumburg, was charged in September with three counts of aggravated battery and one count of unlawful restraint stemming from charges of abuse toward autistic students. McCarthy's court case, still in its infancy, reopened debate about the difficulties, challenges and intricacies of educating special education students.

William McLeod

• Hoffman Estates Mayor William McLeod, seemingly more confident as more and more of his political adversaries have retired, began taking a more aggressive role in shaping the village.

• Lake Barrington resident Stacie McManus wins the Women of Spirit award from the American Red Cross and Morton's Steakhouse for her work on behalf of autistic children.

Cordeirdre Mitchell

• News that Cordeirdre Mitchell was denied enrollment to Schaumburg High School after moving to Hanover Park caused an uproar and eventually a policy change. Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 dropped its requirement that kept the 14-year-old out because grandmother Tanya Washington wasn't her legal guardian.

• Nick Mitchell in January lost his bid for public money to back a $129 million faith-based retirement community adjacent to his restaurant, 1050 Oakton St., Des Plaines. He said the project would help serve as a catalyst for redeveloping the area.

• Peter Mitchell, a resident of unincorporated Cook County near Schaumburg, raised eyebrows and the ire of his neighbors with his plan to protect his two adjacent houses from fire by parking a fire engine in one driveway and designing a dry hydrant system to drain his pool at the other house. Mitchell, a longtime Chicago resident, became concerned about the lack of hydrants in his new neighborhood after a fire at a nearby house a few years ago.

Eddie Nahlawi

• Fuego Mexican Grill and Margarita Bar owner Eddie Nahlawi announced plans to open his second restaurant, Grand Central Station, in 2008, with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin music, Marilyn Monroe artwork and maybe a working train.

• Gary Ofisher, Keeneyville Elementary District 20 director of operations, has orchestrated a massive campaign to build a wind turbine at Greenbrook School in Hanover Park. Ofisher wrote a grant proposal to the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation, which promised to cover 50 percent of costs should the village board give the thumbs up.

• Prospect Heights Mayor Rodney Pace stepped down unexpectedly due to unspecified health reasons months after defeating Kurt Giehler and longtime foil Gerald Anderson. Health problems weren't new for Pace, who made a six-week hospital visit during his second year in office. He was first elected in 2003.

• Adam B. Resnick of Buffalo Grove is sentenced to three years for swindling a Chicago bank out of millions to support a gambling addiction.

Soeren Palumbo

• Fremd High School senior Soeren Palumbo gave a speech to fellow students about his stance on the word retard, known as the "R word." The riveting speech took off on YouTube and the teen was later invited to speak across the country. His sister has a learning disability.

• Republican State Rep. Terry Parke of Hoffman Estates bid adieu to the Illinois Legislature in January after a 22-year career in the House.

• Schaumburg resident Aneela Rajusth set the entire world on fire when Oprah Winfrey and a panel of other judges named her the inventor of the year's most useful new product for her "Lock 'n' Bake" baking pan with folding sides to allow easy removal of baked goods. Rajusth beat seven other finalists in Oprah's Search for the Next Big Idea May 3.

• Bernardo Rangel and Jose Verra were charged with maintaining a pot farm in the Crabtree Nature Preserve near Barrington. Police said they were cultivating 30,000 marijuana plants, some as high as 8-feet tall. The operation could have raked in up to $10 million, authorities estimated. The two are continuing to work their way through the Cook County court system.

Mark Rooney

• Mark Rooney was named the Wheeling village manager in February after serving as assistant manager since 2003, and before that as city administrator in Highwood. Rooney, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve who has served in Iraq, succeeded former village manager Wally Douthwaite. Besides overseeing projects such as construction of the new village hall, Rooney's position also earns him a spot on the Chicago Executive Airport board, where he has called into question some of the suspicious workings involving its administration.

• The Buffalo Grove fire department lost Chief Tim Sashko to the Mundelein Fire Department in October. He had been the department's chief since 2002 and was named the Illinois Fire Chief of the Year in 2006. Sashko lives in Mundelein but had his whole career in Buffalo Grove since 1979, when he started as a paid-on-call firefighter.

• North Barrington Village President Bruce Sauer won re-election after knocking off challenger Carolyn A. Boyle in April's election. He had filled the last two years of Linda Starkey's term.

• A community has rallied behind the Simons, a Bartlett family twice stricken by cancer. Volunteer firefighter and Hanover Township community health nurse Trish Simon has stage IV colon cancer. Her husband, Jeff, was later diagnosed with a malignant tumor in his brain.

Gary Skoien

• Gary Skoien resigns as Cook County GOP chair after his wife is diagnosed with cancer, but hangs onto his post as Palatine Township Republican committeeman.

• Mount Prospect village board members bid a fond farewell to longtime trustee and community volunteer, Michaele Skowron, a 37-year resident of the village, who chose not to run for another term.

• Streamwood police officer Daniel Spychalski confronted a runaway SUV Aug. 2 on Park Avenue. On foot, he caught up with the vehicle, smashed the rear side window with his baton and jumped inside after unlocking the door. He put the SUV in park and got medical assistance for the driver, an unconscious 67-year-old Roselle man.

Barbara Sugden

• Barrington Area Library Executive Director Barbara Sugden announced her pending retirement next June after 32 years on the job.

Andrea and Bobby Tsambarlis

• Andrea and Bobby Tsambarlis reopened the Riv in downtown Arlington Heights in April 2007 a year after selling it to a new owner who couldn't make a go of it. They first opened the restaurant in 1980, moving it to its current location in 1991.

• Christopher and Yvonne Wozniczka, the brother-sister team that opened Illusion Cafe and Bar in Des Planes eight years ago, opened Big Shots Piano Bar and Grill in downtown Arlington Heights, filling the spot left vacant by the Boiler Room at Campbell Street and Vail Avenue.

Javier Villarreal

• La Chicanita owner Javier Villarreal wants his expanded restaurant open before Cinco de Mayo -- and he'd like a sea of diners sipping margaritas outside when it is. The Arlington Heights village board unanimously approved the expansion, which will bring a new name, Javiar's, and outdoor seating.