Crestwood welcomes home soldier
feelings.
“This is big for me,” he said of the welcome home. “I went out there [overseas] and did what I was supposed to do, I did what I was told to do.
“There is so much going through my body right now, it’s kind of hard to comprehend,” said Liberio, who enlisted about three years ago.
Liberio’s mother said she was “overwhelmed and anxious” waiting at O’Hare for her son, whom she hadn’t seen face-to-face in more than a year.
He’ll have just 18 days at home, and he said he wants “to spend as much time as I can with my family.”
Later this month, the family will travel to Europe to celebrate Liberio’s birthday — visits to Paris and Rome are on the itinerary — then say goodbye when he returns to Germany, where his unit is based.
Northbrook teen dies in Wis. car crash
A 17-year-old from Northbrook was killed in a car accident Monday in Wisconsin, authorities said.
Kyle Caraher would have been a senior this fall at Glenbrook North High School, where he was an honor student and football player.
He was driving north on Highway 188 near the Wisconsin River at Prairie du Sac when he failed to halt at a stop sign at Highway 60 about 1 p.m. Monday, according to the Columbia County Sheriff ’s Office.
His vehicle was hit by an SUV traveling east on Highway 60. The driver, Brian A. Moore, 27, of Lodi, Wis., was treated for minor injuries. Caraher was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.
Glenbrook North High School Principal Paul Pryma said Caraher’s death was devastating to the entire community. “Kyle was strong, collaborative, hardworking and loved by all,” he said. “He couldn’t wait for the football season to start. He was excited about the work he had done in the program and was anxious to play.”
Head varsity football coach Bob Pieper also remembered Caraher fondly. “He was the kind of young man I hope my young son will become some day,” Pieper said.
Oak Park union workers plan to strike Saturday
Oak Park village employees plan to go on strike Saturday, one of village hall’s busiest days of the year as Oak Park’s parking sticker renewal deadline looms.
Service Employees International Union Local 73 leaders made the decision Monday after the village and union negotiators failed to reach a compromise during a second federal mediation session.
Neither interim Village Manager Cara Pavlicek nor Village President David Pope were immediately available for comment Tuesday.
The village board agreed Monday to bring in temp workers if the union walks out.
Union spokesman Adam Rosen said Tuesday the decision to strike was made after the village refused to add half a percent to a proposed 1 percent pay increase for union employees. “The village manager added a half percent to the [proposed] merit pay increase,” Rosen said. “But based on previous experience, we know that the majority of our employees have never seen a merit increase.”
“So we said, ‘Put the half percent in the wage increase,” Rosen said. “They declined.”
Rosen said SEIU members will be picketing outside the village hall Saturday and Monday.
“We’ll be out there Saturday and Monday,” he said.
On June 22 village employees authorized a strike after July 3. The union, which represents 75 of the village’s roughly 190 non-police and fire personnel, notified the village on June 25.
Shaw is GOP candidate in 58th Ill. House race
Less than 24 hours after he accepted the invitation to run as the Republican candidate for the 58th Illinois House District in the north suburbs, Mark Shaw of Lake Forest was knocking on doors.
He spent most of his time explaining that Lauren Turelli, of Lake Forest, who won the Republican primary, had withdrawn from the race on June 12. Shaw, who served as Turelli’s campaign manager, said he received similar comments from Democratic and Republican neighbors.
“They told me, ‘You need to go down to Springfield and tell them we’ve had enough’,” Shaw said.
Shaw, 51, who has lived in Lake Forest for 21 years, is the chairman of the West Deerfield Township Republican Committee and has served on the Lake Forest Plan Commission for six years.
Lake County Republican Chairman Robert Cook and the chairmen of the other Lake and Cook County townships that make up the 58th House District selected Shaw after Turelli dropped out of the race.
Shaw will face Democratic challenger Scott Drury of Highwood in the November election for the seat that longtime state Rep. Karen May (D-Highland Park), has held for more than a decade. May decided in the fall not to run for reelection.
The 58th District includes all or part of Bannockburn, Deerfield, Glencoe, Highland Park, Highwood, Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Northbrook and Riverwoods.