By Adrienne Fawcett

When you flush the toilet, where does everything go? In Lake Bluff east of Greenbay Road, waste water travels to a sewage pumping station at Sunrise Beach that’s operated by the North Shore Sanitary District. Most people don’t like to think about what happens after they flush, but it’s hard to avoid the imagery when you’re walking to or from the sailing beach, because the odor at the pumping station is very strong.

Very strong and very gross.

But things are looking up, and as of Feb. 1 the odor should no longer be a problem thanks to a $450,000 improvement project the NSSD started in the fall. The project involves removing the aging hydrogen peroxide odor treatment system, and replacing it with a more advanced carbon filtration system.

Outgoing Assistant Village Administrator Ryan Waller said NSSD confirmed the project is on schedule and the new odor control system is expected to be operating around Feb. 1. He said most of the work is interior to the station, which has allowed for work to continue during cold weather. Will it completely remove the stench? He said the Village has been told the project will significantly improve the odor that emanates from the station.

GazeboNews asked who was footing the $450,000 bill. Mr. Waller said NSSD is funding the project and that there’s no additional or separate charge to the Village. However, he pointed out that residents pay property taxes to the NSSD and a quarterly user fee based on water volume use. The property taxes and user fees are used to operate, maintain, and upgrade the regional wastewater collection and treatment system.

Once wastewater gets to the pumping station, it travels through pipes to a treatment facility in Highland Park. Mr. Waller said that before the early 1970s when the present pumping station was built, there was a wastewater treatment facility on Sunrise Beach.

Ryan Waller, Lake Bluff assistant village administrator, has been named assistant county administrator for Lake County. Please visit the Lake Forester for the full story by clicking here.

River fishing, martial arts and taxes. What do these have in common?

Did you say not much? Then you haven’t met Steve Ballen, a local CPA/MST/MBA who’s a wordsmith in addition to being a number cruncher. Earlier this year, Mr. Ballen started a blog on “Taxes, Finance and Life,” where he writes about everything from surviving a wilderness canoe trip to navigating tax laws and understanding the impact of the new health care law.

We’ve just added “Steve’s Blog” to the GazeboNews local blog roll. There are many interesting bloggers featured here–check it out by clicking on “local blogs” in the GazeboNews navigation bar, or click here to get there.

The Lake County News-Sun has chosen Mothers Trust Foundation as one of six non-profits for its 2010 Help Them To Hope holiday campaign. The newspaper on Dec. 29 ran a feature about Mothers Trust with several great photos of the women who make the Foundation work.

Click here to read the story. Click here to view the pics.

Submitted by the Deerpath Garden Club

The Deerpath Garden Club of Lake Forest held its December meeting at the Glen Rowan House (Lake Forest College campus) by hosting a holiday tea and floral arrangement demonstration featuring ArtQuest, Ltd. of Highwood.

Photos submitted by the Deerpath Garden Club

Deerpath Garden Club members and guests enjoyed coffee and tea before being seated in the main parlor to watch Alex Sandoval from ArtQuest work his magic with raspberry cymbidium orchids, Aubergine calla lilies, umbrella ferns, Trick dianthus and Black Magic roses. The six finished arrangements were then open to bids in a live auction conducted by Garden Club member, Sylvia Dunbeck. Proceeds will benefit Deerpath Garden Club’s philanthropic efforts throughout Lake Forest.

Following the floral presentation and auction, members and guests filled their plates from the holiday brunch dining table (arranged by Garden Club member, Jan Lorenz) and continued lively holiday conversations.

Submitted by the communications department at Lake Forest High School

– Registration for 2011-12 for the Class of 2015 is in progress. Parents and students are invited to an informative meeting at LFHS on Curriculum Orientation and Information January 26, 2011 at 6:00pm at Lake Forest High School East Campus. Counselors will kick off the evening with an overview of the registration process. At 7:00pm various faculty members will present specific information and answer questions about course offerings. 

Please note that parking is at a premium so shuttle bus service will be provided from both the Lake Bluff and Deer Path Middle Schools.



– On February 9 from 5:00 – 6:30pm families will have the opportunity for consultations with Department ID’s and/or Chairs regarding level changes upwards in core courses. Level changes downward or schedule change requests in the elective areas (non-core courses) do NOT need to be present at this evening’s meeting.

– The following dates concern the registration process for the Class of 2015 ONLY. Eighth grade parents are invited and encouraged to attend any one of the below presentations. These presentations are a repeat of what was previously presented in December at DPMS and LBMS. Thursday, January 6 at Lake Forest Country Day School, 
1:35-2:25 pm- Registration Overview and Packets to Students by LFHS Counselor, 
 2:30-3:15 pm– Parent Session Question and Answer, 

Friday, January 7 at St. Mary’s School
, 9:00-9:30 am – Registration Overview and Packets to Students by LFHS Counselor
, 9:30-10:30 am – Parent Session Question and Answer, 

Wednesday, January 26 at Lake Forest High School
, 6:00-9:00pm – Class of 2015 Curriculum Orientation Night, Wednesday, February 9 at Lake Forest High School Library
, 5:00-6:30pm – Upward Level Change Requests for Core Course.

– There will be a regular meeting of the Board of Education of Lake Forest Community High School District 115, Lake County, Illinois on Tuesday, January 11, 2011 at 7:00 p.m., Board Rm, LFHS West Campus, 300 S. Waukegan Road, Lake Forest, Illinois.

LFHS Semester 1 Finals will take place according to the following schedule: January 11 (English 7:50 a.m. Math 10:50 a.m.), January 12 (World Language 7:50 a.m., Science 10:50 a.m.), January 13 (Social Studies 7:50 a.m., Make-ups 10:30 a.m.).

– There will be no school for students on Friday, January 14, which is the End of First Semester and a Faculty Workday.

– There will be no school on Monday, January 17 in recognition of Martin [...]

By Adrienne Fawcett

Lake Forest’s Rommy Lopat and her daughter Danielle Drummond have more in common than familial ties; they both blog about subjects they feel passionate about sharing. In Danielle’s case, the subject is frugal fashion—or stingystyle. For Rommy, it’s Lake Forest’s Forest Park and its original architect, O.C. Simonds.

Danielle is a senior at University of Illinois. Her mom is an avid gardener and former regional planner who for many years published The Weedpatch Gazette, a Chicago region gardening newsletter. Ms. Lopat has always enjoyed genealogy and Chicago history (click here to read about her work photographing gravestones in the Lake Forest Cemetery). When she realized how little was publicized about Simonds, one of the country’s most prolific and influential landscape designers of the 1875-1930 era, Ms. Lopat sought out his biographer, Barbara Geiger, and his family, and then jumped in to create a blog about his life and times–and current Chicago area landscape designers as well.

The blog is in its infancy–Ms. Lopat received four cartons of biographical material from Ms. Geiger and has a long way to go in adding the information to the site. Local garden designers and historians have pledged to add articles to the blog as well.

Click here to read SavingForestPark.org
…. You can also follow this blog and many other local blogs on the GazeboNews local blogroll–click here to get there.

Ms. Lopat’s daughter Danielle started her blog, StingyStyle.com, a year ago. GazeboNews wanted to know more about how a college student got started in the blogosphere–and why–so we sent her a few questions. Here are her answers:

Q: Why did you start StingyStyle? And what inspired you?
Danielle: I created Stingy Style as an early New Year’s Resolution, right at the end of 2009. School was dragging on and I was getting quite restless, bored really, and I desperately need a new hobby. I had been reading so many articles in magazines and the New York Times about specific bloggers (some that I mentioned before), and I decided I could make a website that gave readers what I thought many magazines lacked- a budget.

Many magazines will show low cost items that you might need to dial a phone number to buy, or $300 dollar shoes that are “affordable,” or the comparative less-costly outfit looks nothing like the expensive one, etc etc. I [...]

The Smithsonian Institute’s website has a story on Jens Jensen and the Prairie School of Landscape Architecture, and it features a photo of Haven Wood, a now-gone Lake Forest estate that Jensen worked on. The story includes a link to more photos of Haven Wood that were provided by the Lake Forest Garden Club–it’s a nice glimpse into the past.

Visit the Smithsonian Institute story by clicking here: http://si-siris.blogspot.com/2010/12/jens-jensen-pioneer-of-prairie-school.html

The Village Lake Bluff will conduct a “simultaneous filing lottery” on Dec. 29 at 5:15 p.m. in Village Hall to determine the order of Village Board candidates on the election ballot. The reason for this is that three candidates filed their petitions at 8 a.m. on Dec. 13. They are Steve Christensen; Mark Dewart; and Kathy O’Hara

Here is a list of the people who have filed for candidacy as of 5 p.m. on December 20 (candidates are listed alphabetically, and the numbers next to their are for lottery purposes only):

Village Trustee
Steve Christensen – 1
Mark Dewart – 2
Kathleen O’Hara – 3

Library Board
Linda Verbeke
Kathleen Meierhoff
Judith Nickels
(Candidates are listed as they will appear on the election ballot)

Village Clerk
Bill Meyer

For more information, please contact Ryan Waller, Assistant Village Administrator, at 847-283-6889.

Citadel Theatre Company in Lake Forest is hosting general auditions for the third show of its 2010-2011 season, “Something’s Afoot,” a musical murder mystery. The company is seeking six men and four women 20 to 60 years of age. The production is May 6 through June 5, 2011. All performances will be held in Lake Forest. All roles are paid positions. Non-Equity.

The auditions are:
Saturday, Jan. 15, 2011
11am – 2pm
Greenhouse Theatre Center
2257 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago

Monday, Jan. 17, 2011
6pm – 9pm
Citadel Theatre
West Campus
300 S. Waukegan Road, Lake Forest

Appointments are recommended. Walk-ins will be accommodated as time permits. Please call 847-947-2155 or email CitadelProducer@comcast.net to schedule an appointment.

Please prepare a 1 to 2 minute monologue and 16 bars of your favorite tune.

Possible call backs are scheduled for Monday, Jan.24 at Citadel Theatre in Lake Forest. Visit www.citadeltheatre.org for more information