Briefs: Honoring hometown heroes
The village of Wauconda and the Wauconda Fire Protection District will jointly recognize three village residents as heroes at Tuesday's village board meeting. Resident Patrick Burke will receive a Medal of Valor for saving the lives of Glendale Heights resident Brian Kuceba and his 9-year-old daughter, Brianna, who had fallen through ice on New Year's Eve. The Kucebas were riding an ATV that crashed through the ice of a small retention pond in the Liberty Lakes subdivision roughly 20 feet from shore. Burke was shoveling snow from his driveway when he heard Brianna's screams and rushed to their aid. After several attempts to rescue them himself, Burke called residents Jerry Ulrich and Pete Hurst for help. All three men grabbed a ladder and an extension cord and pulled the pair out. Ulrich and Hurst also will receive awards Tuesday. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. in the board room at village hall, 101 N. Main St.
Charity auction Saturday
The Hawthorn Woods Women's Club will host its annual Charity Art Auction Saturday. The evening will include complimentary hors d'oeuvres, a martini bar, champagne, wine and beer. Hourly door prizes will be given away. Art selections include: lithographs, oil paintings, serigraphs, etchings, watercolors and fine art prints, ranging from $50 to several thousand dollars. The auction will be at the Village Barn, 2 Lagoon Drive, Hawthorn Woods, with a preview starting at 6 p.m. followed by bidding at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $10 in advance or $12 at the door. All artwork will be provided by Regency Fine Art of Norcross, Ga. The event is one of the club's largest fund-raisers. Proceeds from the event will be used to support several Lake County charities. For more information, to see samples of the art and to register, visit the Web site www.hwwc.info.
Special ed group formed
A group of Stevenson High School parents and the school's special-education division have banded together to create the Stevenson Special Education Community Board. The new organization's mission is to strengthen the educational environment for children with special needs by fostering trust, collaboration and consensus among parents, teachers, administrators and all others who work on behalf of the child. The board is conducting a parent survey in early April to determine their opinion of how well Stevenson is doing in providing quality special education services to its students. A similar survey of school staff will follow. The board's co-chairs are Director of Special Education Jay Miller and Stevenson parent Terri Finesmith Horwich.