On Saturday right around the time lighting split the evening sky, my niece and her betrothed said their “I wills” at Kenilworth Union Church. The wind was so strong and the rain fell so hard for so many hours that the dance floor at their reception venue in Winnetka had to be squee-gee’ed constantly throughout the night. Fortunately no one fell, the electricity stayed on, and the plumbing never backed up. Others in Winnetka were not so lucky.
“We had 50-plus emergency calls over the weekend and our phone has not stopped ringing since 7:30 a.m.,” Carrie Hoza of Bratschi Plumbing told DailyNorthShore.com reporter Emily Spectre on July 25. The village admin described the July 23 storm as exceeding a “50-year event” that dropped more than five inches in just a few hours. Yards, basements, and soccer fields flooded all over town – though neighborhoods in central and western Winnetka seemed hardest hit. Read about it in the article “Winnetka in Clean-up Mode.”
Chicago photographer/journalist David Harpe took this photo of lighting striking the shoreline around the same time my niece was taking her vows in Kenilworth. Visit David’s Facebook page to see more great storm photos: https://www.facebook.com/davidharpephotography/
The car next door
In addition to covering the Winnetka storm this week, Emily wrote about crime. In one story she wonders why, with all the reports of stolen cars on the North Shore this summer, would anyone leave keys in an unlocked Porsche or a new-model Lexus? She posed this question to Wilmette Police Department Deputy Police Chief Kyle Perkins, who said two things:
- It’s convenient
- People feel safe here and so they don’t take necessary precautions
Three weeks ago I asked Lake Forest Commander Craig Lepkowski the same question, and in addition to echoing the above sentiments, he said:
- “A lot of people worldwide have the mentality that it is not going to happen to me, until it does.”
Wilmette Boy Faces Felony Charges
No one wants to think their kids’ school is going to be bombed, but threats to several North Shore schools were made in the spring and on July 23 police said they have a suspect, and it’s not a robo-caller from England. The suspect is a 13-year-old Wilmette boy who faces seven felony counts of disorderly conduct related to false bomb threats, two felony counts of making threats against schools, one felony count of abuse of an elderly person and one misdemeanor battery. Authorities told DNS.com he was not enrolled in the Wilmete school district.
Fighting Fire With Family
On a warmer note, the owner of Chief’s Pub in Lake Forest didn’t have to look far when he decided to sell the popular restaurant and bar: his son Joe Knesley and daughter Sarah Sundquist bought it. DNS.com reporter Steve Sadin wrote about the changing of the guard, New Owners are Old Faces at Chief’s, which prompted me to stop by for a beer after work one day (where I took the below selfie while chatting with Joe.) As Steve reported, they’re all firefighters – Joe in North Chicago and Sarah in Lake Villa, and their dad Chuck Knesley is a retired chief at Knollwood, where both Joe and Sarah still volunteer– when they’re not working their other jobs.
After editing a story with several mouth-watering photos about Chief’s Pub, I stopped by for a beer and to chat with one of the new owners, Joe Knesley
Old Houses, Uncertain Future
Two other big stories this week had to do with real estate –specifically the fate of older, grand estates in Lake Forest and architecturally significant homes in Highland Park. Sadin’s story examines how brokers, buyers and city administrators are Finding Creative Uses for Big-Ticket Mansions in Lake Forest.
In Highland Park, Julie Kemp Pick wrote about a John Van Bergen house that was nominated for landmark designation without the owners’ consent. The person who nominated the home — architect and preservationist Christopher Enck — has a thing or two for Van Bergen. As a child, he attended a school designed by the Prairie School architect. And last year Enck relocated a Van Bergen home from Wilmette to Evanston after purchasing it from a developer for $10.
“The goal of that project was to show that there are alternatives to demolition,” said Enck, who hopes a solution other then demolition can be found for the Highland Park Van Bergen. On August 11, the HPC will vote on whether to recommend the landmark application for 1570 Hawthorne Lane; after that the issue goes to City Council, and DNS.com will be there to write about it.