The North Shore Weekend West, Issue 62

SATURDAY JANUARY 16 | SUNDAY JANUARY 17 2016 FIND US ONLINE: DailyNorthShore.com

Glenview | Northbrook

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NO. 62 | A JWC MEDIA PUBLICATION FOLLOW US:

BY STEVE SADIN DAILYNORTHSHORE.COM

GLENVIEW — A more competitive Common-wealth Edison might bring

an end to an alternative source of power for Glenview and three other North Shore suburbs.

The Village Board of Trustees indicated support of returning village residents to ComEd as their source of power at their Jan. 5 meeting, noting that the last four years’ savings appear to have evaporated.

Village residents have saved approximately $4.3 million in the aggregate over the last four years since joining with Wilmette, Northfield and Kenilworth to form the Lakeshore Power Alli-ance and purchase electricity from MC Squared, according to Sarah Kuechler, the assistant to the village manager.

Kuechler told the board the competitive advantage that existed in late 2012 when the alliance was formed was no longer there. ComEd’s effective rate dropped

from 8.083 cents per kilowatt-hour to 6.78 cents since then while MC Squared’s charge rose from 4.035 to 6.88.

“ComEd became deregulated since year one of the contract,” Kuechler said. “They had some (burdensome) contracts, which no longer exist making them more competitive.”

When Trustee Paul Detlefs asked whether the board was ready to pass an ordinance making the change, Village Manager Todd Hileman said he wanted to wait for Wilmette to act and then schedule a vote. The contract with MC Squared expires at the end of May.

The village considered three options, according to Kuechler. She said she spoke with repre-sentatives of Wilmette, North-field and Kenilworth to examine staying with MC Squared for another year, get other bids or discontinue the program.

“Any savings with MC Squared would be uncertain,” Kuechler

Continued on PG 15Continued on PG 6

BY BILL MCLEAN [email protected]

AGlenbrook South gymnast sticks a routine at a meet and disappears, temporar-

ily, under a swarm of ecstatic teammates. The hugs and happy screams are genuine reactions to a display of grace and power and fearlessness. Minutes later, another Glenbrook South gymnast com-pletes a routine, this one not as sharp, not as elegant. Teammates do not hesitate to swarm her, too, aware consoling hugs could be just what the Titan needs to start preparing for her next routine.

Parents of Glenbrook South gymnasts notice what goes on in between the Titans’ routines at meets. Parents of gymnasts from other schools notice what goes on in between the Titans’ routines at meets.

“Our kids’ parents,” Titans coach Steve Gale says, “have been quick to comment how cohesive our team is at meets, how often

Glenview Might Return To ComEd

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SPORTSGlenbrook North’s James Karis came up with a buzzer-beating game-winning shot against Maine East. P14

Glenbrook South’s Bebe Haramaras performs her balance beam routine at the Chester Jones Invitational at Evanston. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOEL LERNER

ILLUSTRATION BY BARRY BLITT

SUNDAY BREAKFASTChicago Radio personality and Wilmette resident Mancow Muller talks about life on the North Shore – and rips his radio rivals. P18

SOCIAL SCENE Blazin’ Babes hosted an event at Tesla Motors Old Orchard. P9

Glenbrook South gymnasts rally around talented sophomore

2 | SATURDAY JANUARY 16 | SUNDAY JANUARY 17 2015 THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND

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[ NEWS ]

6 cheaper electricity? Glenview might go back to ComEd.

6 taxes rising Northbrook residents can expect to pay more in property taxes.

6 housing plan Northbrook residents are split about a new subdivision and its potential impact.

[LIFESTYLE & ARTS ]

8 north shore foodie BLF Juice is Tasty and Nutritious.

9 tender look at an imperfect marriage Review of Citadel Theater’s performance of ‘Botanic Garden’.

10 north shorts The High Road.

[ REAL ESTATE ]

12 ��open houses Find out — complete with map — what houses you can walk through for possible purchase on the North Shore on Sunday.

13 �houses of the week Intriguing houses for sale in our towns are profiled.

[ SPORTS ]14 clutch karis

Glenbrook North’s James Karis hit buzzer-beating three-pointer to beat Maine East in key CSL North game.

[ LAST BUT NOT LEAST ]

18 sunday breakfast A bombastic talk with Chicago radio personality and Wilmette resident Erich ‘Mancow’ Muller.

INDEX

IN THIS ISSUE

89


John Conatser founder & publisherArnold Klehm general manager

[ EDITORIAL ]Brian Slupski executive news & digital editor

Bill McLean senior writer/associate editorKevin Reiterman sports editorKatie Ford editorial assistant

[ DESIGN ]Linda Lewis production manager

Samantha Suarez account manager/graphic designerKevin Leavy graphic designer

Bill Werch graphic designer

[ CONTRIBUTING WRITERS ]Joanna Brown Sheryl Devore Sam Eichner Bob Gariano Scott Holleran Jake Jarvi Angelika Labno Simon Murray

Gregg Shapiro Jill Soderberg

[ PHOTOGRAPHY AND ART ]Joel Lerner chief photographer

Larry Miller contributing photographerRobin Subar contributing photographer

Barry Blitt illustrator

[ SALES ]Jill Dillingham vice president of sales

Gretchen Barnard, M.J. Cadden, Courtney Pitt, Jill Rojas, Matt Stockert

All advertising inquiry info should be directed to 847-926-0957 & [email protected] us online: DailyNorthShore.com

Like us on Facebook!© 2016 The North Shore Weekend/A publication of JWC Media

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NEWS


said. “Rebidding could make (even) MC Squared bid go up so we (recommend) returning to the ComEd default rate.”

Kuechler said Glenview and the other consortium members would watch rates closely to see if a return to a private company would be in the towns’ interest. She also said residents would automatically go back to ComEd in a seamless transition unless they chose to act on their own. She said they can contract with an independent power provider.

Trustee Scott Britton said people should be careful if are solicited by alternative electric companies.

“I’ve had a few inquiries from other suppliers,” Britton said. “Some seem to be less than honest. If you’re going to go with one of them check them out.”

“Don’t give any of them your ComEd account number,” Kue-chler added. “Some of them have changed without notice.”

ComEd on Jan. 5 issued a media release warning customers to be on the alert for scam artists claiming to be a ComEd repre-sentative seeking payment.

COMED Cont. from PG 1


NO R T H B R O O K —Northbrook property owners will be paying

more real estate taxes in 2016 but the exact amount is depen-dent on a number of variables.

All but one taxing authority affecting village residents raised the property tax levy meaning owners of homes valued between $500,000 and $550,000 will be paying ap-proximately $100 more next year than they did in 2005.

The precise amount will not be known until tax bills arrive in the mail in 2016 and even the estimates are murky because assessments remain uncertain and Northfield Township High School District 225 chose not to give an estimate.

While the Village of North-

brook, the Northbrook Park District and all four school districts which educate North-brook children raised the levy, Northfield Township made a double-digit cut.

The township dropped its levy 14.6 percent meaning the owner of a $500,000 home will be paying $8.00 less than last year, according to Supervisor Jill Brickman. She said the primary reason for the change is the township no longer rents office space.

“We became property owners,” Brickman said. “We’re no longer renting space. We thought that would be the case and now we know it is. We decided to give it back to the taxpayers.”

The township was renting space from District 225 near the intersection of Lake Avenue

and Pfingsten Road in Glen-view before purchasing prop-erty at 2550 Waukegan Road in Glenview.

The village increased the levy 8.31 percent, according to in-formation Jeff Rowitz, North-brook’s deputy village manager and chief financial officer, pro-vided to the Village Board of Trustees when they approved the levy Dec. 8.

Rowitz said in an email he anticipated the owner of an average home, valued at $550,000, would pay approxi-mately $58.92 more next year.

The smallest increase, 0.6 percent, came from the North-brook Park District. Finance Director Mindy Munn said in an email district residents who own a $500,000 house will pay approximately $4.00 more next year.

District 225 raised its levy three percent, according to in-formation posted on its website but Superintendent Mike Riggle said in a telephone in-terview Dec. 29 with the Daily North Shore there were too many variables to estimate how much more a property owner would be paying in 2016.

Riggle said 2.2 percent of the increase applies to new prop-erty which will be added to the tax rolls and 0.8 percent applies to current real estate owners. He said even determining the amount for existing homeown-ers requires too much guess-work.

“A lot is speculative on new growth,” Riggle said. “No one knows what that will be until July. It’s not an even 0.8 percent for existing owners,” he added referring to possible reassess-ments and challenges.

Without the amount from District 225, village residents will be paying an additional $54.92 according to estimates from Rowitz on a $550,000 home and from Brickman and Munn on a $500,000 home, plus the amount levied by the three elementary school dis-

tricts which educate North-brook children.

In Northbrook School Dis-trict 27, the levy went up 3.25 percent with existing home-owners capped at 0.8 percent, according to an email from Kimberly Arakelian, assistant superintendent for finance and operations. She said the owner of a $500,000 home can expect to pay approximately $56 more.

Though Northbrook School District 28 hiked the levy 4.99 percent, the owner of a $500,000 house can expect to pay approximately $33.16 more next year, according to an email from Jessica Donato, the dis-trict ’s chief school business official. She also said all but 0.8 percent of the change applies to new property.

No r t h b ro ok / G l e nv i e w School District 30 residents with an existing $500,000 home can expect to pay approximate-ly $45 more in the coming year, according to Chris Young, the assistant superintendent for finance and operations. He said the levy was raised 6.9 percent with all but 0.8 percent apply-ing to property newly added to the tax rolls.


NORTHBROOK—A de-veloper who hopes to build 34 $1 million homes

for a targeted Northbrook market is up against two groups of residents who want no addi-tional traffic driving on their streets.

Anets Woods, a proposed development by Edward James Partners at the northeast corner of Waukegan and Voltz Roads, may get a vote from the Village Board of Trustees Jan. 12 after a series of hearings by both the Plan Commission and the Plan-ning and Zoning Committee.

Jerry James, president of Edward James Partners, said he is doing his best to strike a balance between residents of

Voltz and Lee Roads. Origi-nally the project called for Lee to be extended from its dead end at the northern end of the prop-erty through to Voltz.

People on Voltz do not want traffic from Lee Road emptying onto their street and residents on Lee are worried their thorough-fare will become a through route for people heading south as a shortcut from Dundee Road to the commercial areas near Waukegan and Willow Roads, according to Tom Poupard, Northbrook’s director of devel-opment and planning services.

“None of the owners want traffic added to their street,” Poupard said.

Enter the idea of an elec-tronic gate. James said Lee road will be extended into the devel-opment but there will be a gate

that can only be opened by resi-dents or emergency vehicles. Poupard said this will prevent Lee from becoming a through street to Voltz and beyond.

“The residents will have a transponder,” James said. “They and emergency vehicles will be the only ones who can open the gate.”

“This is a bit of a compromise,” Poupard added.

James, who has already cut his plan to build 37 houses to 34 on the 16.02-acre tract, also does not think his target market will add a significant amount of traffic to either street. He said he plans to attract people who want to move from the larger homes they occupied when they were raising their families.

“This is an age-targeted project for people who want to downsize from conventional homes,” James said. “All the homes will have first-floor master bedrooms with two bedrooms upstairs. There will be no basket-ball hoops in the driveways. There will be a home owners associa-tion to handle snow removal and yard maintenance.”

Many of the residents will head for warmer second homes in the winter and will not be making multiple trips to schools and other activities around town, keeping the traffic on both Voltz

and Lee less than a development of traditional family houses, ac-cording to James.

“There won’t be a cut through,”

James said. “The gate will mean less traffic on Lee and Voltz. There won’t be open access. It’s not smart to do.”

The proposed homes will range in size from approximate-ly 2,600 square feet to 3,200 square feet, according to James.

Northbrook Property Taxes Rise

Northbrook Neighbors Split on Housing Project


M c E l r o y F u r s5 5 5 c h E s t n u t s t r E E t w i n n E t k a i l 8 4 7 - 5 0 1 - 4 7 0 0 w w w . M c E l r o y F u r s . c o M

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c o N t a c t J g r E g o r y M c c a r t h y

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LIFESTYLE & ARTS

LF Juice: Tasty and Nutritious

BY SIMON MURRAY

“Does anyone still make New Year’s resolutions anymore?” I wondered

silently to myself on the way to the gym recently. The question answered itself. Upon arriving, said gym was packed. People were running, jumping, ascending, pulling, pushing, stretching, and gyrating everywhere the eyes looked. I was seeing the New Year’s resolution in action. It’s not dead. Oh, no. The resolution is very much alive.

Well, for all you who haven’t yet, it’s time to add eating health-

ier to the list of sacrosanct com-mitments you’ve made to being a better you this year. A good place to start would be LF Juice in Lake Forest, where the pro-prietors don’t eat vegetables anymore. Instead, they ingest them—whirring 40 pounds of produce together at a time and breaking it down into nutrient-rich, cold pressed, handcrafted juice.

To hear Annemarie Ranallo and Laura Rukavina talk, you’d think they were speaking about wine. They throw out words like “robust”, “sweeter”, and “pressed”. But what they’re talking about is their wide variety of freshly made juices, served inside their store-front in the Donati’s Pizza court-yard.

Made in an industrial juicer, one glass, according to Ranallo and Rukavina, delivers two to three pounds of produce—more than a couple large salads—that exceeds a person’s daily minimum requirement. Each product is made with healthy, organic in-gredients. None of which contain extra water, artificial additives or preservatives typically found in other beverages.

“We’re really picky about our juice,” said Rukavina. A mother

of three—Ranallo has four kids—the two had been friends since college and lived close by each other in Lake Forest with their families. They had been experimenting with juices for a while before deciding to go into business together last November.

Their mission is simple: serve delicious, healthy pressed juices that customers will want to return to week after week. That’s all thanks to the tremen-dous pressure exerted by their juice press, which completely extracts the natural fruit sugars, vitamins, trace minerals, enzymes, and other vital elements. While their menu also includes smooth-ies, Acai bowls, protein, super shakes, and specialty drinks—as well as gluten free lunch options.

On their first purchase, cus-tomers make a deposit on an LF Juice bottle; one they can bring back again and again and receive a discount every time—good for the environment and for the pocketbook. An easy way to make a resolution worth sticking to.

LF Juice is located at 950 North Western Avenue in Lake Forest. Call 847-235-2090 for more in-formation or find them online at lfjuice.com.

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LF Juice owners and Lake Forest residents (from left) Laura Rukavina and Annemarie Ranallo at the shop. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOEL LERNER

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LIFESTYLE & ARTS

SOCIALS

A WAIST IS A TERRIBLE THING

TO MINDPhotography by Lynn Renee Persin

Blazin’ Babes, a women’s profes-sional networking group based on the North Shore, hosted an event at Tesla Motors Old Orchard focusing on body image and empowerment. The evening featured author, speaker, and body image expert Leslie Goldman, a fre-quent guest on The Today Show and author of Locker Room Diaries. Goldman spoke on how the media distorts the view of the “perfect” body image. Members of Blanzin’ Babes also had the opportunity to test drive the latest Tesla automobiles.

blazinbabes.org

SHAMEEN THAKRAR, JENNIFER MEYERS, ELLIE SULLIVAN

KAREN MASON, STEPHANIE SOUNG

RENATA MERINO BREGSTONE, KATE CAVATAIO, LESLIE GOLDMAN

LESLIE GOLDMAN, JESSICA FRANKE, MELISSA LEE

INGA KRILTCHEV, ELAINE LEWIS

THEATRE REVIEW

BY JILL SODERBERG

Atender exploration of an imperfect marriage (Is there a perfect one?), local

playwright Todd Logan’s 80-minute two-hander, “Botanic Garden,” opens with a conversa-tion between Kate, a widow daunted by the prospect of a first date four years after the death of her husband, and Jake, who en-courages her foray into romance.

Turns out that Jake is the dead husband—it becomes clear within minutes—and he’s eager to sell her on the idea of moving on. Theirs is a circular exchange as Jake tries to cajole her into keeping the date with a man who has proposed taking her for a walk in the Botanic Garden, which the resistant Kate professes to hate.

Jake presents the role-playing situation: “The doorbell rings….” Kate’s imagined response: “Beat it, scram.” Clearly, before she opens that door at the play’s end—the suspense related to whether she will is incidental to

the power of the play—Kate will require some convincing. And the convincing occasions a series of flashbacks reflecting on critical milestones in their 25-year mar-riage.

Carmen Roman and James Leaming as Kate and Jake are not only a real-life married couple but also veterans of Chicago stages and Jeff Award-winning actors, who both give assured and nuanced performances under the tight direction of Ann Filmer. The (flash) points of conflict between Kate and Jake seem designed to resonate with long-married couples: travel for work and its downside (and appeal), loss of idealism and expectation about career, emptiness when children leave for college. While Kate’s suspicion of Jake’s infidelity feels more like a strained box-checking of marital pitfalls than a realistic conversation between this subur-ban couple, Jake’s less specific complaint about Kate provides the play with some welcome, well, spark.

Addressing malaise in their marriage, Kate asks Jake what he wants from her. He ponders, he hesitates, he digs deeply before saying it. “I need spark,” he tells

her, and his explication of this perceived lack provides the play with significant humor. In re-sponse, Kate deadpans, “I’m not a sparker.”

With “Botanic Garden” Citadel Theatre is giving North Shore audiences a lagniappe, an extra benefit, which in this case is an additional show presented

before their regular season resumes with “Educating Rita” in mid-February.

“Botanic Garden” was origi-nally staged in 2008 at Chicago’s Greenhouse Theater under the direction of the Academy Award-winner Olympia Dukakis, with the acting team of Roman and Leaming also starring in that production. Citadel’s current presentation of the show, launch-ing the Canamac Productions national tour, is a limited run of only eleven performances. Thus immediate action is required to catch the final weekend of this heartfelt contemplation of mar-riage, loss, and the courage re-quired to answer a doorbell.

The final weekend of “Botanic Garden,” which closes on January 17, includes performances on Friday at 8 PM, Saturday at 1 PM and 8 PM, and Sunday at 3 PM. Citadel Theatre is located at the west campus of Lake Forest High School, 300 South Waukegan Road. For tickets and information, call 847-735-8554 or visit citadeltheatre.org.

‘Botanic Garden’ A Tender Look At An Imperfect Marriage

Botanic Gardens runs through January 17.

LIFESTYLE & ARTS


Musings by Mike LubowNorth Shorts

“The High Road”

Every once in a while, you leave the North Shore and fly somewhere. Coming and

going, there’s a travel day. This day can be a challenge. Like re-cently...

On your return flight, random

chance placed a mom and bawling baby in front of you. You whisper to your wife that they must’ve come straight from the delivery room. She says, “Be nice.”

You don’t feel nice. You can’t read or sleep because of the baby’s caterwauling. A weird

word invented to describe decibel levels beyond shrieking.

You try sleeping, but if the kid won’t, you can’t. The mom tries valiantly, but no amount of her cuddling, cradling and coo-cooing does the job.

After four hours of this, the plane bounces onto the runway

and rolls to a stop. Everyone gathers carry-ons and stands in the aisle waiting. (Travel days are all about waiting).

You stand over the mother who’s still seated. She’s snapping snaps, fussing with a diaper bag, looking haggard. You surprise yourself by leaning in and smiling

at her with unexpected warmth. You say: “You ought to get the mother of the year award.”

How’d that happen? Through-out the flight you’d been pri-vately griping. But, your words are genuine. That ride was harder for her than for you.

You muse about how a guy

could well have expressed a bit of justifiable grumpiness. Instead, you found yourself taking the high road. This made you feel good instead of bad. And her return smile means it made her feel good, too.

The high road. Well, after all, you were in an airplane.


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REAL ESTATE


Glenview Wilmette

Kenilworth

Winnetka

NorthbrookGlencoe

HighlandParkDeerfield

Lake Forest

Lake Bluff

Northfield

Skokie Hwy

N Green Bay Rd

Skokie Valley Rd

N. Waukegan Rd

N. Sheridan RdGreen Bay Rd

Buckley Rd

E Park Ave

E Townline Rd

Everett Rd

Half Day Rd

Dundee Rd

Willow Rd

Shermer Rd

Sunset Ridge Rd

Tower Rd

Lake Ave

OPEN HOUSES

7-23

1-6

41-48

50-5449

34-35

30-33

36-40

24-30

31-32

1. 227 E. Woodland RoadLAKE BLUFFSunday 1-3$1,060,000Ann Lyon, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices KoenigRubloff847 828 9991 1. 230 E Witchwood Lane LAKE BLUFF Sunday 1-3 $950,000 Andra O’Neill, @properties 847.295.0700 2. 809 Smith Avenue LAKE BLUFF Sunday 1-3 $595,000 Keri Cook Falls, @properties 847.295.0700

3. 630 E. Scranton Ave.LAKE BLUFFSunday 1-3PM$799,000Kathi Hudson, Griffith, Grant & Lackie Realtors®847 234.0485

4. 41 W. Sheridan PlaceLAKE BLUFFSunday 1-4pm$434,000Heather Wright, Coldwell Banker847.507.8000

5. 412 W. Witchwood LnLAKE BLUFFSunday 1-3$639,000Dara Andrews, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices KoenigRubloff847 477 3794

6. 227 Woodland RdLAKE BLUFFSunday 1-3$1,060,000Lyon Martini Group, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices KoenigRubloff847 828 9991

7. 165 Marion Ave.LAKE FORESTSunday 1-3 PM$745,000Leslie Dhamer, Griffith, Grant & Lackie Realtors®847.234.0485

8. 681 Edgecote LaneLAKE FORESTSunday 12-2PM$749,900Lisa Trace, Griffith, Grant & Lackie Realtors®847.234.0485

9. 870 Timber LaneLAKE FORESTSunday 1-3 PM$1,049,000Kathi Hudson, Griffith, Grant & Lackie Realtors®847.234.0485

10. 443 W. Deerpath RoadLAKE FORESTSunday 12-2PM$1,639,000Jack Comerford, Griffith, Grant & Lackie Realtors®847.234.0485

11. 1126 Pine OaksLAKE FORESTSunday 2-4PM$479,900Lisa Trace, Griffith, Grant & Lackie Realtors®847.234.0485

12. 568 GreenwayLAKE FORESTSunday 1-3pm$1,199,000Vera Purcell, Coldwell Banker847.507.8000

13. 1079 Jensen Dr.LAKE FORESTSunday, 1-3$1,475,000Elizabeth Rasmussen, Baird & Warner847-721-3481

14. 990 W Deerpath Rd.LAKE FORESTSaturday, 1-3

$849,500Janis Mason,

Baird & Warner312.569.3081

15. 327 S. Basswood Rd.LAKE FORESTSunday, 1-3$1,099,000Janis Mason, Baird & Warner312.569.3081

16. 1516 N Western Ave.LAKE FORESTSunday, 1-3$890,000Laura Henderson, Baird & Warner708.997.7778

17. 990 W Deerpath Rd.LAKE FORESTSunday, 1-3$849,500Gloria Loukas, Baird & Warner847.542.1239

18. 945 PinecroftLAKE FORESTSunday 1-3$995,000Brunhild Baass, Baird & Warner847.804.0092

19. 1301 N. Western Avenue, #313LAKE FORESTSunday, 11:30 – 1:30pm$257,500Julie Hartvigsen, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices KoenigRubloff773.266.9850

20. 915 McCormick DrLAKE FORESTSunday 1-3$1,540,875Dede Banks, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices KoenigRubloff847 542 0700 21. 274 Ahwahnee LnLAKE FORESTSunday 1-3$485,000Maureen O’Grady-Tuohy, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices KoenigRubloff847 845 6444 22. 845 Walden LnLAKE FORESTSunday 1-3$1,995,000Lyon Martini Group, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices KoenigRubloff847 828 9991

23. 495 Ryan PlaceLAKE FORESTSunday 1-3$589,000Lyon Martini Group, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices KoenigRubloff847 828 9991

24. 488 Green Bay Road HIGHLAND PARK Sunday 1-3 $799,900 Joe Moennig, @properties 312.506.0200

25. 1748 WildroseHIGHLAND PARKSunday 1-3$1,199,000Rubenstein Fox Team, Baird & Warner

847.565.6666

26. 1725 Wildrose CourtHIGHLAND PARKSunday 12-2$1,099,000Karen Skurie, Baird and Warner847-361-4687

27. 886 FairviewHIGHLAND PARKSunday 1-3$739.000Pat Denenberg/Karen Skurie, Baird and Warner847-644.5921

28. 1292 Ridgewood Dr.HIGHLAND PARKSunday 1-2:30$825,000Gloria Matlin, Coldwell Banker847.951.4040 29. 150 Red Oak Ln.HIGHLAND PARKSunday 12:30-3$749,000Mada Hitchmough, Coldwell Banker847-732-2970

30. 611 Ridge Rd.HIGHLAND PARKSunday 12-2$485,000Sonia Cohen, Coldwell Banker847.337.6005

31. 900 King Richards CourtDEERFIELDSunday 2-4$610,000Laura Kerstein, Baird & Warner 847.209.1131

32. 809 CastlewoodDEERFIELDSunday 12-2pm$985,000Amy Antonacci/Debbie Glickman Baird & Warner312-543-2758/847-687-4332

33. 1440 Woodhill Drive NORTHBROOK Sunday 12-2 $1,099,000 Connie Nadia Dornan, @properties 847.998.0200

34. 391 MadisonGLENCOESunday 2-4$1,349,900Jody, Dickstein, Coldwell Banker847.651.7100 35. 929 Vernon Ave.GLENCOESunday 1-3$1,299,000Laurie Gross, Coldwell Banker847-337-2217

36. 2053 Norfork Rd NORTHFIELD Sunday 1-3 $1,799,900 Jeannie Kurtzhalts, @properties847.998.0200 37. 2420 Dorina Drive NORTHFIELD Sunday 12-2 $1,390,000 Chris Veech, @properties 847.881.0200

38. 3010 Arbor Lane, #302 NORTHFIELD Sunday 1-3 $289,000 Beverly Smith, @properties 847.881.0200

39. 621 Woodland Ln.NORTHFIELDSunday, 12-1:30$789,999Linda Martin, Coldwell Banker Winnetka847.446.4000 40. 1060 Arbor Ln.NORTHFIELDSunday, 1-3$479,000Colleen Remsberg, Coldwell Banker Winnetka847.446.4000

41. 370 BerkeleyWINNETKASunday 1-3$735,000Carol Hunt, Baird & Warner847.446.1855

42. 1121 ashWINNETKA$997,000Sunday 2-4Rene Nelson, the Hudson company847.338.4001

43. 120 berthingWINNETKA$1,000,000Sunday 1-3Howard meyers, the Hudson company847.778.1394

44. 1386 Asbury Avenue WINNETKA Sunday 1-3 $1,499,900 McCormick/Sodolski, @properties 312.254.0200 45. 882 Elm Street WINNETKA Sunday 1-3:30 $1,480,000 Alla Kimbarovsky, @properties 847.432.0700

46. 618 Willow Rd.WINNETKASunday 1-3$719,900Rubenstein Fox Team, Baird & Warner847.565.6666

47. 331 WalnutWINNETKASunday, 2:30 – 4:30pm$940,000AG Krone, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices KoenigRubloff847.732.3055

48. 341 WoodlandWINNETKA2:00-4:00$1,169,000The Skirving Team, Coldwell Banker847.924.4119/847.863.3614

49. 1421 Evergreen Ter.GLENVIEWSunday 1-3$1,099,000Rubenstein Fox Team, Baird & Warner847.565.6666

50. 358 Skokie CourtWILMETTESunday 12-2$295,000Alicja Skibicki, Baird & Warner847.446.1855

51. 1625 Sheridan Unit 208WILMETTESunday 1-3$279,900Kevin Rutherford, Baird & Warner847.446.1855

52. 1144 Chestnut Ave WILMETTE Sunday 1-4 $2,490,000 Mary Baubonis, @properties847.881.0200

53. 1947 GreenwoodWILMETTESunday, 12pm – 2pm$1,225,000Sherry Molitor, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices KoenigRubloff847.204.6282

54. 2600 Kenilworth AveWILMETTESunday 2-4:00$1,695,000The Skirving Team, Coldwell Banker847.924.4119/847.863.3614

55. 2515 Prairie Ave. #1EEVANSTONSunday, 1-3$599,000Gloria Gaschler, Coldwell Banker Winnetka847.446.4000 56. 2525 Wellington Ct. #208EVANSTONSunday, 2:30-4$287,000Linda Martin, Coldwell Banker Winnetka847.446.4000

55-56


REAL ESTATE

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Let’s Talk Real Estateby Jean Wright, President/Broker Owner Crs, GrI

ThInk rIG hT TO LIve rIG hTIn order to guarantee your success and satisfaction; follow the well-trodden advice rendered by thousands

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Adjust your Headspace to find your ideal Living-space.

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Faith l knowledge l discipline l service

CatholiC SChoolS Week oPeN hoUSe Sunday, January 31

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SPORTS FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: @tnswsports


Glenbrook North junior point guard James Karis’ father, Andrew, was a tal-

ented guard at Chicago’s Bogan High School in the 1970s.

“My dad was a great player, and he’s gotten even better over the years,” James said, with a laugh.

While the elder Karis may or may not inflate his legend, no embellishment will be necessary, when James tells his kids about his exploits on Jan. 8 in Park Ridge.

With first place in the Central Suburban League North Division on the line, the Spartans trailed Maine East 47-45 after the Blue Demons’ Jordan Irving banked in a three-pointer with 10.9 seconds left.

After a timeout, the speedy Karis drove toward the hoop, got cut off at the baseline, spun and dribbled away from the basket. He then looked up at the score-board clock, and with time ticking away, launched an off-balance three-pointer, which went in as the buzzer sounded to give his team a thrilling 48-47 victory.

The Spartans (10-4, 3-1) mobbed Karis behind the basket, while Maine East’s near capacity crowd stood in stunned silence.

Glenbrook North head coach David Weber later admitted the play was designed for Karis to kick the ball to a teammate. But the coach wasn’t complaining.

“I’m sure someone was open, maybe for a layup,” Karis said. “But in a moment like that, I couldn’t see anyone and I knew I had to throw it up myself.”

It was Karis’ second game-winning buzzer beater in varsity play. Last year, he went the length of the court for a layup to knock Mather out of the playoffs.

Karis, who averages 8.6 points and 3.1 assists per game, finished with seven points against Maine East. The 5-foot-10, 155-pounder displayed his unquestionable talent in the win.

Karis’ quickness, ball-handling, improving outside shot and ability to come through in the clutch are major reasons the Spartans, despite lacking star power, are

talking about winning a league title and making a run in the postseason.

However, even Karis admits his game still is a work in progress. His on-court decision-making must continue to improve.

This was evident in the second half against Maine East, when the guard committed a key turnover after leaving his feet with the ball in his hands. The mistake earned Karis a seat next to Weber for a few minutes.

“I know I can handle the ball better than anyone on the court. But sometimes I do get caught up in the air when passing the ball, which can be good and bad. That time it was bad,” he said. “It was a big turnover, and I came out right after.”

Though Karis may still be a little rough around the edges, coaches and teammates rave about his ability and his competiveness.

“He’s got a lot of talent. If he ever puts that all together, he’s going to be one of the best players in this conference,” Weber said. “He can beat anybody off the dribble. It’s just the decisions he makes once he gets into the lane. Sometimes they’re good and sometimes they’re not so good. He’s getting better, and he’s only a junior.”

Teammate Michael Stachnik, a senior, said Karis was guilty of “going a little too fast” at times early in the season, but that he’s matured and “come into his own” in recent weeks.

Stachnik calls Karis a perfec-tionist and said the second-year varsity player can be pretty hard on himself when things don’t go his way. Though he said Karis has gotten better at dealing with ad-versity.

“He’s one of the fiercest com-petitors I’ve ever played with,” said Stachnik, who scored a team-high 14 points against the Blue Demons. “He never wants to lose and gets angry when he loses, and I love it. You don’t want guys to be okay with losing.”

No doubt, some of this com-petitiveness is family related. He has six brothers and three sisters.

Older brother Kurt, a 2013 graduate of Glenbrook North, is a former standout point guard for

the Spartans. He is currently a redshirting walk-on at the Uni-versity of Southern California

after transferring from Chicago State.

Weber, who also coached Kurt,

said the elder Karis was bigger and stronger than James, and a better shooter, but that James is a better penetrator and more explosive.

The talent runs deep in this family. Brother Nick, a senior, was an all-league football player (wide receiver/quarterback) for the Spartans this past fall. Drew, a 2009 graduate of Glenbrook North, is a former standout lineman for the Spartans.

James said the family has com-peted against one another in many areas over the years, including some pretty intense 2-on-2 back-yard basketball games.

“I’m sure it’s very competitive at their house,” Weber said. “I’m sure James’ whole family gives him advice and pushes him to play hard and makes him competitive. When you grow up with that many boys, I’m sure there are some fights around the house. But (from that) James knows how to play and fight through some things.”

Notable: GBN picked up win No. 10 on Jan. 9, downing Wheel-ing 45-40. James Karis and Kellen Witherell tallied 15 points each. Karis also had six rebounds, four steals and three assists… With-erell (12.4) and Michael Stachnik (10.5) are the leading scorers for the Spartans. Senior Zach Hoffman, who is averaging 7.0 points per game, leads the team in assists (41), steals (43) and deflections (49).

Glenbrook SouthThe Titans came up with one

of their best wins of the year, when they topped visiting Pala-tine 73-71 on Jan. 9. Jimmy Martinelli (20 points) and Matt Giannakopoulos (19 points) led the way. Dan Jenkins (13 points) and Darius Jones (12) also helped the GBS cause. The Pirates entered the game with a 11-5 record.

The Titans (6-8), meanwhile, fell to visiting Evanston 54-45, on Jan. 8. Giannakopoulos scored 19 points. Martinelli had nine points and six rebounds.

BY DAN SHALIN, [email protected]

KABOOM! Karis comes up with ‘legendary’ shot at the buzzer as GBN edges Maine East

James Karis of the Spartans drives past Maine East’s Milan Grover. The junior ended up hitting the game-winning shot at the buzzer. PHOTOGRAPHY BY TRACY ALLEN


SPORTS

the girls root for each other, how much they care for one another. Our girls are positive, upbeat. You want that from your gymnasts.”

You want a Bebe Haramaras on your side. The Glenbrook South sophomore all-arounder placed eighth on the balance beam at the state meet last winter. Getting a 9.5 or a 9.4 beam score from her is not an unusual feat. She added a switch leap/back flip to her beam show this winter. She fell once during her beam routine at the Chester Jones Invitational at Evanston Township High School

on Jan. 9. That was unusual. The fall disappointed her. Haramaras hid that reaction quite well, knowing her teammates needed to see confidence and resolve from her during the second half of the meet.

“I’m more of a leader and a role model this year,” Haramaras, a Level 9 gymnast and club member at The Gymnastics Shop in Mount Prospect, says. “I can’t show anybody I’m upset after a routine. My attitude has to be, Rock the next event. I want my teammates to recognize that attitude. It’s important to stay positive in this sport. It’s also important to have

fun in this sport. If you’re not having fun, you get scared, you lose confidence.”

A scared gymnast is a tentative gymnast, not a good thing in such a challenging sport.

Haramaras often gives her teammates quick pep talks before routines, usually ending each message with a resounding, “Let’s rally!” She likes to encourage Titans to go for it. She likes to high five Titans. She likes to smile at Titans.

“Bebe is fun to be around,” Gale says. “She works hard, listens. She’s coachable. What a season she had last year, especially at the end of

it. She hit [her beam routines], boom, boom, boom, boom. Solid, consistent. I was very proud of her.”

Haramaras finished fourth in the all-around (35.35), two spots ahead of classmate Kylie Kruger (34.325), at Evanston last weekend. She nailed her floor routine in the cozy venue, earning a season-high 9.3 (third place). Kruger (9.225) and Haramaras (9.2) placed fourth-fifth on vault. Glenbrook South (fourth place, 129.775) had to compete without a fully healthy Katie Wahl, a junior all-arounder. A head injury limited her to one event, vault (8.4, 16th place).

“You always want to aim toward the end of the season,” Gale says. “We’re doing that. We’ve had some injuries, some owies; we’re not pushing the girls to come back quickly. Come back gradually, slowly … that’s important. I want us healthy before [the Central Suburban League South Meet], before we compete in a regional.

“The girls,” he adds, “have been resilient.”

Titans seniors Miranda DeBow, Maggie Kmiecik, Marlye Jerva and Ella Voss, along with fresh-men Chloe Nourbash, Hannah Wittenstein and Genevieve Sanchez, also competed at last

weekend’s invite. Haramaras, con-summate teammate, roots for them at every meet.

She also cheers for gymnasts from other schools. It’s a tight sorority, girls gymnastics in Illi-nois.

“I love seeing high scores, from anybody,” Haramaras says. “I know how hard gymnasts work. It’s a great sport, a tough sport. It looks like an individual sport, but it’s not. If I had a bad day in school, gymnastics helps me change my mood. After classes I love to train hard in the gym with my team-mates and focus on getting better for my team.”

HARAMARAS Cont. from PG 1

He is still a good 200 pounds shy of qualifying to make an appearance on “The Biggest

Loser,” the TV reality show/weight-loss competition. Determined and obese folks, with help from trainers, vie to lose the most weight and win the most money. Loyola Academy junior swimmer Nathaniel Guen-ther stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 135 pounds.

Not too long ago, freshman year, he stood 5-3 and weighed enough to fit comfortably inside a standard-size envelope, no extra postage re-quired.

“Every year, since his freshman

year, he’s gotten bigger, stronger,” Ramblers swim coach Mike Hen-gelmann says. “We were just talking about that, about his growth from year to year, about the extra time he is spending in the weight room. Nathaniel goes at it in practice, hard. He attacks practices. Very good work ethic.

“He keeps progressing,” the coach adds, this time referring to Guenther’s development as a swimmer.

Guenther, a Des Plaines resident and Lattof YMCA swim club member, was a 100-yard backstro-ker and 200 IMer for the Ramblers

last winter. He trimmed four seconds off his seed time in the 100 back at a sectional meet, thanks to an effective taper, but missed ad-vancing to the state meet in the event. Swim times go on diets, too. His main events this winter are the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke. Before LA’s winter break last month, Guenther’s had already swum a faster time in the 200 IM (2:02.19) than he had in a sec-tional last season. Progress. Early progress.

Guenther ran for his middle school cross country teams. He completed triathlons before the

start of his Loyola Academy days. His sport, his thing, is swimming these days.

“I find myself talking about swimming all the time,” Guenther, a swimmer since the age of six, says. “I grew up with it. I write essays about it. When I get an assignment at school, asking for a narrative, I usually write about swimming. Swimming takes a lot of time, a lot of effort, a commitment to early-morning practices. My mom [Cindi] … she knows; she drove me to all of my practices and meets when I was young.”

You listen to Guenther. You hear

his appreciation for his mom’s avail-ability to taxi him to and from pools, sometimes before breakfast, sometimes after dinner. Cindi never swam competitively. She does, though, deserve some kind of medal, her son’s sentiments suggest.

“My mom,” Nathaniel says, “was there for me when I was little, always willing to support me as a swimmer.”

The Evanston Invitational is a big meet. Guenther and the rest of Hengelmann’s Ramblers swam in the 51st version of it on Jan. 9, finishing ninth (2,480 points) in a highly competitive field of 18 teams. Guenther touched 13th in the 200 IM (2:03.69) and 18th in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.94) and helped LA’s 400 freestyle relay place ninth (3:20.93, with junior Danny McGowan and seniors Walter Haracz and Chris Kearney). Guen-ther, senior Max Ashurst and juniors Zachary Holecek and Donovan Crowe combined for a time of 1:46.45 (12th place) in the 200 medley relay.

Guenther has not tasted a state berth at the prep level. He is close, sniffing distance, to state-qualifying status in the 100 breaststroke. His seed time in the event at Evanston last weekend was 1:01.75. The state-qualifying standard in the event is 1:00.53. The Niles North Sec-tional, Loyola Academy’s pre-state assignment, will be held in a little more than a month (Feb. 20), plenty of time for Guenther to work on starts, turns, technique. Memories of his splendid taper in 2015 haven’t faded. Another plus: illness, every swimmer’s bugaboo, probably won’t grip him again this winter; Guen-ther recovered from two bouts in the first half of the season. Got them out of the way.

“I’ve always thought the breast-stroke is the easiest of the strokes,” Guenther says, adding a powerful kick, not an easy asset to develop, separates the decorated breaststro-kers from the unadorned breast-strokers. “Think about it … the breaststroke is like paddling, and

it’s a natural motion.”The easier of his names to utter,

Guenther, is the one his teammates usually use to get his attention or address him. It has two syllables, one more than Na-than-iel has. The easygoing Nathaniel Guenther doesn’t mind hearing his surname often. It’s a grueling sport, swim-ming. Swimmers conserving energy is a good thing, especially during December and January, the season’s draining months.

“Nathaniel is pretty quiet, goes about his business, and he’s having a really strong season,” Hengel-mann says. “A great kid to coach.”

Notable: Ramblers senior Chris Kearney placed third in the 200 free (1:46.16) and fourth in the 100 free (48) at the Evanston Invite last weekend.

Glenbrook SouthThe Titans placed fourth (2,761

points) at the Evanston Invite on Jan. 9, receiving exceptional swims from junior Sam Iida and strong efforts from seniors Sam Sal-ganik and Tommy Hagerty. Iida finished first in the 200 IM (1:42.13) and in the 500 free (meet-record 4:34.49) races and served as the leadoff leg of the victorious 200 medley relay (1:38.86, with Salganik, Hagerty and senior Byron Mandell). He also anchored the fourth-place 400 free relay (3:15.44, with Hagerty, Salganik and junior Bryan Lee).

Iida swam nearly four seconds faster in the 500 free than the previous record holder (Lake Forest High School graduate Peter Grumhaus) did, in 2013, and beat runner-up Andy Grever (4:43.95) of Lincoln-Way East by more than nine seconds. The pool mark in the event: a wicked-fast 4:18.86, set by Hinsdale Central’s Danny Thomson in 2012.

Salganik sped to third place in the 100 free (47.95), and Hagerty placed fifth in the 500 free (4:46.44).

BY BILL MCLEAN, [email protected]

GUNG HO Pumped-up Guenther progressing steadily for Ramblers

YOU GO, GUENTHER: Nathaniel Guenther of the Ramblers competes in the 100 breaststroke at the Evanston Invite. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOEL LERNER


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SUNDAY BREAKFAST


BY SIMON MURRAY

When radio personality Erich “Mancow” Muller moved to Wil-

mette, to settle down to his own white-picket-fenced American dream home, he was apprehen-sive at first. “I thought it was going to be purgatory out here,” Muller—a city-dweller for nearly two decades—told the Chicago Tribune in November. He told the newspaper that it ended up being heaven.

But lately it had started to become something else entirely.

A few weeks after moving in, Muller had laid out a mono-grammed towel on his bed. No one was home—at least, that’s what he thought—so it was a little alarming when he returned to his bedroom to find the towel had moved. Not much, but enough. He went away again, came back—and it had moved again. Now the monogrammed letter (an M) was laid straight up, as if in defiance.

Could it be that his five-bedroom, 4,635-square-foot Italian Renaissance-style house was . . . haunted?

“It’s not haunted, that’s ri-diculous,” deflects Muller, after I said as much over breakfast at Fuel in Wilmette. “It’s not haunted—look, the fact is: any time you have these kind of things, the simplest explanation is the right explanation. I don’t believe in ghosts, first of all. But I do believe in spirits, which is a different thing.”

Muller is as passionate as they come: when he believes some-thing, he believes it vehemently, fully, without question. (One notable exception is waterboard-ing: After saying repeatedly on-air that he didn’t believe it to be torture, Muller volunteered to undergo it himself and ended up reversing his previous claims.) And while that spirited, head-strong nature has brought him ratings and fans, it’s not without its fair share of controversy.

The waitress brings us our food; for Muller, a marinated

r o a s t e d portabella drenched in hollandaise sauce. “Brother—looking at this, you realize you ordered wrong,” Muller tells me in his rotund voice; a voice that sounds even more imposing in person, but belies a good-natured humor.

One of the first times Muller found himself anywhere near his current residence, it was with Saturday Night Live funnyman Norm Macdonald and Chicago personality Billy Dec.

There they were: going to a comedy club to watch Macdon-ald’s standup—in Schaumburg. To his city friends, this was akin to setting off on a journey across

a nuclear mutated landscape, a la The Hills Have Eyes. “Like these inbred country people of the suburbs are going to kill us!” Muller says, mocking the snob-bery.

But the country is exactly where Muller was raised. He grew up in Kansas City—but on dirt roads outside the city. (“It’s like the difference between Joliet and Lincoln Park,” he adds for clarification.) A model and a child actor at nine years old, getting work in ads for Lee jeans

and Wal-Mart, he expressed in-terest in the entertainment in-dustry from a young age.

While attending the Univer-sity of Central Missouri, Muller landed a job at KOKO-AM in Warrensburg, MO. There, he explored the outlandish radio characters that would make him famous. One—a half-man, half-cow who would unzip his pants to reveal udders—would end up sticking with his audience. They wanted more.

Muller was a mortal man no

longer. T h e

“Mancow” was born—a fast-talking, incorporeal beast that would spit fire at his enemies

and lived on the radio waves.

He would court controversy early. At the San Francisco station KSOL, on “Wild 107”, Muller made national headlines with a publicity stunt that shut down westbound traffic on the Bay Bridge. He feuded with fellow shock-jock Howard Stern—with Stern bragging on-air the day Muller’s father died, berating him with claims that he would dig up his father’s grave and a slew of other offen-sive comments. Something Muller recounts in his memoir-ish book Dad, Dames, Demons, and a Dwarf: My Trip Down Freedom Road.

“I’ll tell you something, there’s a difference between someone who would like that and someone who would like my show,” says Muller. “I think for the most part we’re positive, glass is half-full—where I think he’s just miserable.”

After working for almost three decades on the Chicago radio scene, Muller stepped away at the end of 2014. He had had enough. The early mornings waking up at 2:30 a.m. were adding up. He wanted to focus on his family, his wife and twin daughters. And he certainly didn’t want to become a shell of his former self—a charge he levels at old enemies Steve Dahl and Jonathon Brandmeier.

“They’re not even going through the motions—they don’t even phone it in,” says Muller. “They’re just lazy, old, miserable, cynical c***** and I didn’t want to become that.”

But when 97.9 FM “The Loop” came calling, the veteran shock-jock couldn’t resist. He now broadcasts his morning show—rechristened “The Mancow Show”—from the Merchandise Mart, the same suite he left in 2006 after becoming the target of numerous complaints for broad-cast indecency. The culmination of which would lead to a $300,000 settlement with the Federal Com-munications Commission.

The world is a different place for the old guard of radio. Pod-casts, YouTube, music streaming apps—all take a big chunk of the market of listeners. “The busboy here at this restaurant has a podcast, I’m sure,” says Muller. But radio is still about cultivating personal relationships.

If somebody calls now and they’re talking about a restaurant in Skokie—Muller gets it. He knows those places. ”So it’s a much deeper relationship,” he says. If his listeners ever have mischievous spirits in their house, well, he’ll know just what to tell them: He’s got a guy. Namely, a priest, who blessed the entire house. And save for the random nosey raccoon rummaging in the garage, nothing spooky has hap-pened since.

A BOMBASTIC BREAKFAST WITH MANCOW

Erich “Mancow” Muller | Illustration by Barry Blitt


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SATURDAY JANUARY 16 | SUNDAY JANUARY 17 2016 | THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND

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The North Shore Weekend West, Issue 62