Community Corner

THE BLADE: Gossip, Rumors and Stuff That Flies Off the Editor's Notebook

Ronia Ghussein honored at 69th chamber installation, Bob Streit visits the vortex, OLCHS wins $25K for autoshop makeover and Five Men Electrical Band.

Greetings from the Vortex

Everyone who was anyone, or some of them, attended the 66th installation dinner at the on Jan. 21. The installation dinner, honoring the 2012 officers and directors, had the usual interesting entertainment. Guests especially enjoyed DJ Bill Sifuentes’ karaoke version of “Freebird.”

Breaking bread at the same table were Mayor Dave Heilmann and wife, Erica, Trustee Bob Streit, Village Clerk Jane Quinlan, Village Manager Larry Deetjen,

Patch was sitting at the children’s table with chamber member Glen Kato, Sam and Nancy Ghusein and daughter, Ronia, her special guest fashion designer Jose Diaz, and

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Ronia was honored as the recipient of the chamber award for Outstanding Chamber Member and Business Person for 2011.

The outpouring of support they received from the community, brides, friends and families was inspiring. Ronia and her staff demonstrated exceptional customer service and did all they could do to help their clients whose dresses were destroyed in the fire find replacements.

Find out what's happening in Oak Lawnwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Outside of the bridal business, Ronia has made community outreach and service a cornerstone of her life, including volunteering her time for Feed My Starving Children, and helping women and families through her association with Together We Cope and other philanthropic organizations.

Trustee Bob Streit (Dist. 3) and were also hugging it out. They asked me to take a picture of “the historic occasion.” Why the occasion was historic, I don’t know. Bob also told me he visited six vortexes near Sonoma, AZ, over the holidays.

OLCHS Wins Autoshop Makeover

I was delighted to come back from my Oak Lawn ‘staycation’ (I had no idea there were so many incontinence products advertised on 'the U’) to Students, administrators, faculty and parents lobbied hard for Facebook likes for a hilarious student-produced video on why the high school. The autoshop students’ video beat out eight other student videos from across the country, garnering over 3,700 Facebook likes.

'And the sign says long-haired freaky people need not apply'

The immortal 1971 hit “Signs” by the Five Man Electrical Band kept running through my brain at last Tuesday’s record-short village board meeting. Mayor Dave Heilmann announced blocking out the scenery and ruining our minds.

The mayor undertook a similar sign crusade in 2008 when the village changed all of its stop signs to include cute one-liners that brought Oak Lawn national media attention, until the Illinois Department of Transportation made the village remove them. Wonder how much that cost village taxpayers?


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