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From our friend and the President of the North Avenue Business Association, Wendy Tannenbaum:

The North Avenue Business Association (NABA) is sponsoring scholarships to two graduating high school seniors who plan on attending a college or university as a business major or in a business related field.  Each scholarship amount is $1000.00.

Students applying must reside in the Village of Oak Park, River Forest and the Chicago neighborhoods of Galewood and parts of Austin.  Chicago resident boundaries include Armitage (2000 North) to the North, Division (1200 North) to the south, Austin Boulevard (6000 West) to the east and Harlem Avenue (7200 West) to the West.

Eligible students must rank in the upper 20% of their class, have a 3.00 GPA, a combined ACT score of 21 and demonstrate financial need.

Students must complete an application, write an essay, provide a copy of their academic transcript and two letters of recommendation.  The application deadline is March 16, 2012.    For more information, please contact Deborah Fossey at 708/456-8843 or email: info.naba@yahoo.com.

Take your business in a new direction. GO NORTH! Join the North Avenue Business Association. Stay informed, get connected and support the North Avenue Business District.  For more information about NABA contact Wendy Tannenbaum, President
North Avenue Business Association phone: 773/622-4422 fax: 773/622-1443
wendytannenbaum.naba@yahoo.com

The National Weather Service predicting up to eight inches of snow today and tonight.  Our local municipal officials in Oak Park, River Forest & Forest Park are urging residents, merchants and visitors to plan accordingly.  When – let’s be proactive here and assume the worst – the Snow Emergency Parking Rules go into effect, cars may be towed.

Also, please be considerate of your neighbors by shoveling their sidewalks, if you’re able to do so.  You might receive some home-made goodies, or at least a smile from them.  What a wonderful way to show that you’re not such a bad neighbor.

Finally, we’ve said it before and we’ll say in again… if you experience an emergency, please dial 9-1-1;  and be sure that you’re not overexerting yourself moving the snow.  Many a heart attack comes from “just one shovel more!”

• Please pay close attention to the cold temperature and how tired you become. Don’t work to the point of exhaustion. Take breaks indoors to warm up.
• Stay hydrated – and that doesn’t mean beer or hard liquor!  You sweat more than you think while shoveling snow. Be sure to drink plenty of fluids before and after shoveling to replenish fluids lost in the process.
• Bend legs slightly at the knee, letting thigh muscles do most of the pushing and lifting work. Better yet, push the snow, do not pick it up!
• Your clothing should be well-fitting and worn in layers, and you should shed clothing as the body becomes warm. Remember, overheating puts strain on the heart. Wearing a scarf over the nose and mouth helps reduce breathing cold air, which also makes the heart work harder.

And remember… Snow shoveling is not the exercise to use to start getting in shape!  Use common sense and reach out to your neighbors both to assist and for assistance!

We get e-mail from friends that – occasionally we pass on.  Please consult your Physician all issues with your health.

The life  we save may be our own or that of a loved one.  Please read on………..

Mayo Clinic  – Aspirin

Dr. Virend  Somers, is a Cardiologist from the Mayo Clinic,  who is lead author of the report in the July 29,  2008 issue of the Journal of the American  College of Cardiology.

Most heart  attacks occur in the day, generally between 6  A.M. and noon, Somers said. Having one during  the night, when the heart should be most at  rest, means that something unusual happened.  Somers and his colleagues have been working for  a decade to show that sleep apnea is to blame.

1. If you take an aspirin or a baby  aspirin once a day, take it at night. The  reason: Aspirin has a 24-hour “half-life”;  therefore, if most heart attacks happen in the  wee hours of the morning, the Aspirin would be  strongest in your system.
2. FYI,  Aspirin lasts a really long time in your  medicine chest for years, (when it gets old, it  smells like vinegar). Please read on.

Something that we can do to help  ourselves – nice to know. Bayer is making  crystal aspirin to dissolve instantly on the  tongue. They work much faster than the  tablets.

Why keep Aspirin by your bedside? It’s about Heart Attacks – There are other symptoms of a heart  attack, besides the pain on the left arm. One  must also be aware of an intense pain on the  chin, as well as nausea and lots of sweating;  however, these symptoms may also occur less  frequently. Note: There may be NO pain in the  chest during a heart attack.

The  majority of people (about 60%) who had a heart  attack during their sleep, did not wake up.  However, if it occurs, the chest pain may wake  you up from your deep sleep.

If that  happens, immediately dissolve two aspirins in your mouth and swallow them with a bit of water.

Afterwards:
- Call 911.
- Phone a  friend, neighbor or a family member who lives very close  by.
- Tell them “Heart Attack!”
- Then tell them that you  have taken 2 Aspirins.
- Take a seat on a  chair or sofa near the front door, and wait for  their arrival and … DO NOT  LIE DOWN!

One of the Village of Oak Park’s more obnoxious entities, the Oak Park Board of Health will hold a a forum on Jan. 24th from 6 to 9 pm, to gather input from residents on guns.  But there’s been only one mention of it buried in the Wednesday Journal: “Oak Park Plans Gun Forum At Village Hall”

Oak Park’s decades-old unconstitutional handgun ban was ended by the US Supreme Court in 2010.  District Of Columbia et al. v. Heller and Chicago v. McDonald are now the law of the land.  But that hasn’t stopped either Chicago or her little sister the Village of Oak Park from consipring to limit the civil rights of their residents.

Our fear is that the Oak Park Board of Health will create and get passed laws that will be litigated in court – at great expense to Oak Park Taxpayers, for no result other than massive legal bills – does anybody really care that Oak Park taxpayers shelled out more than $650,000 for legal fees over the DTOP TIFF?

UPDATE:

From the Village of Oak Park…

Firearm regulation forum set

A community forum to gather public input for consideration in regulating the sale and possession of firearms is scheduled for 7 p.m., Tues., Jan. 24, at Village Hall, 123 Madison St. Hosted by the Board of Health as a public safety issue, the forum is part of a process that ultimately will lead to recommendations to the Village Board for possible action. Prohibiting businesses from selling firearms is considered unlikely, officials say, given recent U.S. Supreme and Appellate Court rulings. However, laws that regulate where, how and to whom firearms are sold and kept are among those considered legally defensible. For more information on the meeting, e-mail health@oak-park.us.

UPDATE 01/26/2012:

There appears to be a bit of difference in the coverage of the Forum.  From the Oak Leaves:

Headline: Gun owners rip Oak Park regulation plans

” The largely civil 90-minute event, technically a meeting of the Oak Park Health Board, saw handgun proponents outnumber pro-regulation speakers 15-7. ”

“David Schweig… challenged Barwin to openly discuss what he said was a $1.6 million legal bill the City of Chicago and Oak Park still owed to the NRA lawyers who argued the case before the Supreme Court.”

From the Wednesday Journal:

Headline: Big crowd for Oak Park gun forum

“”It’s quite clear that firearm violence, accidents and crimes are very costly to our society in myriad ways,” Barwin said. “Medical responses, rehabilitation from debilitating injury, loss of life, police and court costs, incarceration all add up to monumental costs. From the board’s perspective, firearm safety is clearly an important public health issue.”"

“Reshma Desai thinks Oak Park should require owners to store guns separately from ammunition and to keep them locked up. Local police could do “spot checks” at homes and issue fines to make sure people are complying, she said…”

There are two sides to every story…

Oak Park's Fly Bird

Noted and fashionable retailer Fly Bird is in danger of closing, long time owner – Julia Nash, to depart.  What a shame that one of the retailer of some of the most inventive and stylish gifts and functional art is having trouble staying in business. Oak Park’s Fly Bird goes up for sale.

Zoraida Sambolin, the former WMAQ-Ch. 5 news anchor

Zoraida Sambolin, the former WMAQ-Ch. 5 news anchor has listed her six-bedroom, architecturally significant house in Oak Park for $1.8 million.  Known as the Erwin House, the 5,288-square-foot house, which was designed by architect George W. Maher (1864-1926) and sits in Oak Park’s Estate District.  The house has five baths, a grand foyer with a fireplace, a three-tier staircase with art glass windows, a wraparound porch and a kitchen with a granite island and pizza oven.  The property sits on a 0.40-acre lot.  We wish Ms Sambolin and her husband luck and a quick sale.  Zoraida Sambolin lists Oak Park house for $1.8 million.

After the Holiday Parties, are your furnishings looking a little… pekid?  No worries!  Macy’s Inc. says it will close their Bloomingdale’s home and furnishings store in Oak Brook.  Clearance sales will begin at the stores Sunday and run for 10 weeks.  Macy’s to close Oak Brook Bloomingdale’s.