Here’s a note from Mary Beth Schewitz about a really quick and easy way to help the Max Schewitz Foundation, one of our local non-profits–but you have to act fast:

Stock the Cellar
At the Max Schewitz Foundation’s annual summer fundraiser, the Maxtravaganza, we auction off an “instant wine cellar” during our live auction. It is usually made up of 50-100 bottles of nice to high-end wine. If you want to help us raise money, you could buy a $25 Groupon coupon and get $75 worth of wine for the Foundation. This is a great way to help raise thousands for the Foundation by spending only $25. You can choose whatever wine you like, and when it arrives contact Mary Beth at mschewitz@aol.com to work out logistics.

The deal must be purchased by 11/29/10 but can be used anytime within the next year after purchased. Just have the wine sent to the foundation by 6/1/11 so we will have it in time for the fundraiser. Here’s the link: http://www.groupon.com/r/uu6835673

Submitted by V.O.T.E. Lake Bluff

The V.O.T.E. (Volunteers Organized To Elect) Lake Bluff Committee has scheduled a Town Meeting for 7:00 PM on Wednesday, December 1, 2010 at the Lake Bluff Middle School, 31 East Sheridan Place, Lake Bluff for the purpose of endorsing a slate of candidates for the three open Village Board positions, three open Library Board positions and open Village Clerk position to be elected in the upcoming April 2011 election. All registered voters residing in Lake Bluff are invited to attend the Town Meeting.

At the Town Meeting, those candidates who were recommended for election by the Committee at meetings held in early November will introduce themselves and answer questions from both the Committee and the floor. At the conclusion of the interview session a series of votes will be taken to endorse a slate of candidates for the aforementioned open positions. Nominations of additional candidates from the floor will be taken prior to the interview session.

Those candidates who were recommended for election by the Committee in early November include Steve Christensen, Mark Dewart and Kathy O’Hara for the three open Village Board positions, Judy Nickels, Kathy Meierhoff and Linda Verbeke for the three open Library Board positions and Bill Meyer for the open Village Clerk position. Kathy O’Hara and Judy Nickels are the only incumbent candidates, both having been elected to their first four-year term in 2007.

Here is the fourth batch of turkey stories by the fourth graders in Jan Romito’s class at Lake Bluff Elementary School. Back in August, they were asked to write a short story about What The Lake Bluff Turkey Did Over The Summer. GazeboNews is posting a few of their stories each day during the week of Thanksgiving.

By Madelyn
Hi I’m Jeff the turkey. Last summer I lived on Green Bay Road or something like that . Hey, do you want to hear a story? OK, it’s called Gobble Gobble , Fly , Fly and Crash . It was dark and so I decided that I wanted to fly so I did. I was trying to get on the electric wires but instead of up, up, and away I went down, down, and crash. I landed in a tree and fell out. But a week later something came out and took me away. That was the last time I saw Lake Bluff. So that’s my story. Gobble Gobble , bye bye!
Sincerely, Jeff

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By Sasha

Hi, my name is Jeff. I’m a turkey. One day I decided to travel far far away from my home, and now I live at a little kind of forest. I like it here a lot because it’s like I can do whatever I want except it’s hard to cross this big black path with these big machines coming to hit me. Usually I am lucky because the machines go around me. And there are these moving things with mouths and eyes like me that really annoy me because they always stare at me. But now I have lived here through the whole summer days and it’s getting colder and colder and today the moving things with mouths and eyes like me came to get me with this big metal and caged box with water in it and boy am I thirsty! But I can’t go in there and get locked in there while drinking the water and leave this fun place now, so I had to put my thinking cap on………ding!

I thought of it – the big box has big enough rectangle holes that I can stick my head through it and drink the water. I drank all the water but they were still there! While I was trying to figure out why they were still there one of those moving creatures popped out holding a net so now I know why they’re still here, because they still want to catch me! I am so scared! I started moving but they were following me. I started to run but then…. boom! I crash into one of those big machines ow! But then I thought – no time to whine, got to runaway from those creatures. I started to run but then sadly…. They caught me. I was so sad. I liked this place so much and now I have to leave. Then suddenly I had a thought – what if they take me to a better place? A place without moving machines! It will be a great surprise.

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By Nina
Hi I am Jeff the turkey I live in the corner near 176 sometimes I fly to the stoplight and stay there. Then I jump off the stoplight and sometimes I go and eat. I just sit on the fence watching these things with wheels go by. Then one day, these people took me away somewhere got there and it is very cool. I will miss the fence but I will always remember it.
Jeff

Here is the third batch of turkey stories by the fourth graders in Jan Romito’s class at Lake Bluff Elementary School. Back in August, they were asked to write a short story about What The Lake Bluff Turkey Did During The Summer. GazeboNews will post a few of their stories each day during the week of Thanksgiving.

By Ben
The last blackness ago I escaped from a place when the light went away I wandered around till I found a hole under the bush to stay. After I took a nap, I went exploring. I hopped over a fence and found there were big monsters on the black path. There were monsters belching black steam. Then I went back to my house under the bush and went to bed. When the light woke me up I went back to the black path. I actually walked on it! For a few minutes I stayed on the path then a man pushed me off. So I just flew up to the sticks in the ground and then sat on them. For a long time I sat up on the sticks. Then a man approached me and started feeding me and singing to me. After the last blackness, I was walking along when a guy came charging at me with a net. I started running away but I ran in to a monster and they captured me. So good bye for now, Lake Bluff.

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By Ashley
Hi, I’m Jeff the Lake Bluff turkey. As you know, I’m a girl and my story begins here. It was the summer of 2010. One day I appeared on the corner by the crossing guard. People first noticed me around Mother’s Day. Ever since I’ve been the talk of the town. Around early August I was moved 55 miles away to a farm in Wisconsin. When I was there, I saw some sheep with a tag in their ear. So to fit in I went to the local Claire’s store and got my ears pierced. I wish my Lake Bluff friends could see me now!

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By Katherine
Oh! Hello turkey friends of all shapes and sizes. If you didn’t know, my name is Jeff. Jeff, your local traffic communicatorand your local crossing guard. I’ll tell your younglings a story with dem people over dere driving dem things.

Someone entered my area when I was eatin’ a dandelion sandwich when somethin’ charged at your old uncle Jeff and ran away near my friend that plays a little guitar.

About a month later I was running from a dude that had a net and you know what happened?!! A bigger somethin’ charged at me and made myself unconscious. He caught me and dat’s my story up to date. Now, I plan to get married and go to that place. Now bye ya’ll.

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By Alex
Hi I am Jeff the turkey. I always wanted to be a human. One day my parents said that I was off on my own. They said for me to visit them at turkey migration. One day I was flying when I saw a golden coin. It was so pretty! I dropped down to pick it up. Neither the Whole World or I knew that that tiny object would change my summer vacation. I saw a beautiful city around me, so I stayed there for some time. I then took out my notebook and landed on… the Sears tower!!! No turkey has ever dared to fly this high. I was a turkey sensation! I then flew to a place called Solder Field and Allstate arena. Then I flew towards the wind till sunset. I flew to a place called Lake Bluff district 65.

I stayed there for the rest of my summer vacation. Do you know why? Because there were bulls that charge all around. AndI found out that the bulls charge when the bulb turns green. The bulls go fast and when it turns yellow the bulls hesitate and red makes the bulls stop. I loved red the most because who knew such a small thing could make a bull stop? The next day, I went on the road to try out my new discovery. I stepped on the road and held up my red card. Instead, the bull made a bad-honking noise. BEEEEEEEPPPP! I flew up at the last second. HOLY GUAKAMOLI! That was rude. I ran on the street after the car in the road.

A day later I started to feel a little lonely. I made my mind that I would stay for one more day… the next day I drank my last drop from the river. And I polished my gold coin in the grass for the last time. And looked in the sky. To my surprise I saw other turkeys flying in the sky. It was my family. They were looking at the statue of me! I looked at my coin and carved myself in Illinois with a needle.

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By Aidan

The turkey farm was not a happy place. That’s why I escaped through an opening in the fence. I ran as fast as I could for miles, until I came to a pile of trees, surrounded by loud, fast, metal transportation devices. There were many big monsters roaming around, speaking in some monster language.

All of a sudden, one spotted me and started chasing me! We ran around for a very long time. Then, I ran into the woods. He gave up after that, but I kept walking just in case until I got to the pile of trees. I figured this was safe enough for now, so I made a little nest in the pile of trees. When the big circle of light came up, another big monster tried to catch me! I ran in front of the metal things again. The monster didn’t run after me, but the metal things went crazy! They spun in circles, crashing left and right! I got out of the situation before I got in trouble. One light shining, ANOTHER monster tried to catch me! I ran into a metal thing accidentally. He caught me. Now I’m in this turkey farm again (I think I see another hole in the fence!).

Dear Readers,

Unless you’ve been living without a radio, TV, computer or cell phone, you probably know the day after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday. This is when a lot of people go shopping to purchase holiday gifts, take advantage of bargains (and possibly go mad).

As you make your gift lists in the coming weeks, please shop at local merchants and service providers–especially those that sponsor GazeboNews. It’s because of their support that we can deliver a quality local news product to your computer every day. Please check out all the new ads that we’re running on our home page and story pages-Every ad is from a local business, and many of the owners live here in addition to working here.

For kicks on Tuesday night while watching “Glee” with my daughters, I did a Google search of Black Friday. Here are some of the definitions of Black Friday, followed by my commentary:

Definition 1. The phrase dates to September 24, 1869, when the markets crashed following a failed attempt by some financiers to corner the gold market, which lead to a depression.

My comment: Going to a shopping mall on Black Friday will lead to a different type of depression

Definition 2: “In a more general sense, any Friday in which a public calamity occurred.”

My comment: Remember Tickle Me Elmo?

Definition 3, from Wikipedia: The Philadelphia police coined the term in 1966 to describe the massive traffic jams and over-crowded sidewalks in Center City the day after Thanksgiving.

My comment: And?

Here is some more information to encourage you to shop local:

The LF/LB Chamber of Commerce supports the 3/50 Project, a nationwide effort to help independent businesses. The premise is that if half the employed population spent $50 each month at locally owned, independent businesses, it would generate more than $42.6 billion in revenue. According to the retail consultant who started “3/50″, a national campaign encouraging consumers to think of three local stores to support and to spend a minimum of $50/mth in their local community, for every dollar spent in locally owned, independent stores, 68 cents returns to the community through taxes, payroll and other expenditures. She also notes that if you spend that dollar in a national chain, only 43 cents stays here, and if you spend it online, nothing comes home.

Many of us choose to live in Lake Forest and Lake Bluff because we love “living near a downtown” as much as we love living beside Lake Michigan. So please give the local businesses a chance … and while you’re shopping tell them you read GazeboNews. We need you to support them, so they can support GazeboNews.

Thank you for reading down this far!

– Adrienne

Here is the second installment of turkey stories by the fourth graders in Jan Romito’s class at Lake Bluff Elementary School. Back in August, they were asked to write a story about What The Lake Bluff Turkey Did During The Summer. GazeboNews will post a few of their stories each day during the week of Thanksgiving.

By Ryan
JEFFS SUMMER
Hello, my name is Jeff. I lived near Green Bay Road, Lake Bluff, Illinois. I really have many names like Bob, Bill, Jake, Jeff, and Richard. I was in the newspaper a few times, it was exciting! People gave me some food, some water and company.

It was very nice! But also some people tried to catch me! What meanies. There were big, loud machines all over the road.

I was a little scared but I was also curious. I wanted to know more. I walked
into the road and would look at them. I thought they were pretty cool until one day; I was about to get away from a huge person trying to catch me! Suddenly a machine hit me! And I got confused, stopped, slowed, and then whoosh, I was caught! It was over. I was leaving my great corner. Then I realized — I was gone.

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By Katie
Jeff The Turkey

Hey there, hi I’m Jeff! I live here in this nice wood by a place where I see lots of big moving machines. I enjoy walking in the “place” blocking the machines. There was this one time I was in the “place” and taking a stroll, when one of the machines came up to me and made the loudest noise I ever heard: HONK!!!!!! I looked at it confused. I kept on strolling until this animal with two feet and no wings came up to me and pushed me towards the curb. That was strange. Otherwise I like the “place”. My favorite part was when an animal played some soft sound. I loved it. I sometimes nest down and drift asleep.

Until one day, I was taking a stroll, when this animal came up to me and he was carrying……… A BIG NET!!!!!!!!!!!!! I ran away bumping into a big machine! I was thrust into the net and caught. The last I saw of my home was the wood getting smaller and smaller until I could not see it. It was gone. Well that’s my story! Talk to you soon!

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By Jake
This is my story. I am Jeff the turkey. I live in a nice place where two big black wide strips cross. There are people in strange beasts going faster than I can imagine. I walk across a hard gray surface. Sometimes the beasts hit each other. Soon other beasts with flashing lights come and people come out and get the people out of the beasts that hit each other. They put some of the people in a big white beast, then they climb back into their beasts and go away. The beasts always go around me. I wonder why? I wonder what they eat. Most of the time it’s peaceful here. One day some one made me get off the hard surface. On my last day I got captured. They took me to a zoo. I was sad to leave my corner.

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By Isabel
I’m Jeff the turkey and I live on a corner of a street. There are so many things I don’t know. Big things come straight towards me, then they stop and go another way. It scares me. But some weird talking things give me food. Then I go sit on a fence and sleep. I woke up one day and people were taking pictures of me. There is a talking thing with two big feet that talked to me. It was weird when she was left I went to her lunch bag and I got a green thing. I did not know what it was but it was good. The next day there was a person [see, I learned that word] but anyway he had a net in his hand and he was looking at me. I turned my head and whoosh! He captured me!

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By Cooper
My name is Jeff. I’m from a farm. And this is the story of my summer vacation. I escaped from an awful farm, found a place on a fence at a corner of a forest where big animals would charge at each other and weird creatures would look at me. But they were nice and there was plenty of food and water so I stopped there. Once in while a group of those weird creatures would stop to see me. Other times a weird creature would play music for me. It was fun there. Sometimes the big animals would crash and they would blame me! Someone decided to stop it and he put me a cage. I hope I can return soon!