October 2007 Archives

The boy's in the Toy Department have their free windbreakers in a knot because Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher won't talk to them. Or if he does, it's one- or two-word answers. Boo-hoo.

Who knew you could pack nearly 60 horses into a double-decker trailer designed to haul pigs and cattle? The owner of those Belgian draft horses that were being hauled through Lake County obviously did. So far, 15 of them are dead with the remaining 44 safe at area farms.

If you're confused over where we should stand when it comes to the situation in Darfur, a region in Sudan, author John Prendergast, author of eight books on Africa, the latest, "Not on Our Watch", which he co-authored with actor Don Cheadle and made the the New York Times' best seller list, is the guy to tell you.

Gurnee may want to change its village slogan after police found themselves rounding up stray llamas and ponies this week. With the week not yet over, there's still time to catch a wandering alpaca or two.

From the looks of the keynote speaker at the Republicans' sixth annual fall dinner last night at Midlane Country Club in Waukegan, the party is conceding Lake County is no longer rock-solid GOPland.

The Hound seldom hits the movie palaces because of lines getting into the show, cell phone conversations during the film and boors who think they're in the their living room and like to shout out what they think is funny repartee.

There must be something in the water that causes North Chicago School District 187 superintendents to bolt for the door after a stint at the school's helm. The Hound has tasted North Chicago water and hasn't found it lacking in the usual liquid ways. So it must be something else.

Antioch this week named that portion of Route 173 which passes through the bustling burg, the 173rd Airborne Brigade Highway. Actually, it should be Sky Ranger Road as most veterans of the 173rd know they are.

Lake County Realtors should prepare now for the coming housing boom. There will be no housing slump here once Chicago and Cook County residents see their future tax bills. Will they be heading for the border, or what?

We hate to second guess the cops, but The Hound is scratching his head over an attempted sex attack in unincorporated Lake County north of Wauconda last week. The attack occurred at 8:40 p.m. Oct. 8 and the Lake County Sheriff's Office didn't notify the media until Friday, Oct. 12.

After Illinois officials led the fight against BP dumping increased amounts of pollutants into Lake Michigan from its Whiting, Ind., refining plant, along comes Republican congressional candidate in the 8th District, Ken Arnold, with his "new" plan to ease flooding in the Des Plaines River basin.

There must be an easier way to get out of the Navy than walking by a moving train and sticking your arm out. That's the only reason The Hound can figure Brandon Garrison, a 20-year-old from Red Bluff, Calif., would then have his arm severed by a Metra train.

The hits just keep coming for Antioch. The village might as well start planning a regional airport. By air is the only way you’ll be able to get to the town in the near future.

Newspaper editors may have a nose for news, but they’re no match for the The Hound’s sniffer. The Hound can sniff a cigarette smoker a mile away. No brag, just fact.

We've seen hospitals and Blue Cross/Blue Shield at loggerheads before, but this spat between the health-care insurer and Condell Medical Center in Libertyville is turning into a bitter battle of attrition.

The Hound has had several days to mull over the latest Cubs disaster and has taken solace in what Charlie Chaplin said in the last century: Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.

The Hound scoffs at what they call “roadwork” on the Edens Expressway. We have our own major expressway repair project right here in Lake County.

There was more going on in Wisconsin this past weekend than the Bears-Packers game in Green Bay. Like Geek.kon, a convention of 600 self-described geeks held in Madison.

For an upscale suburb, Deerfield has sure taken its shots in the past year.

If you're packing up today to head up to Green Bay for the Bears victory over the archrival Packers, you will be lucky campers.

Just in time for the Cubs Division Series drive comes word that three Wrigley suger-free gums have been endorsed by the American Dental Association. It's the first time the ADA has allowed its "seal of approval" to appear on gum since 1930.

There's a big wing-ding set for Friday when the nation's first-ever Navy/Veterans Affairs hospital will be named. Keeping with military and VA SOP, the name is a secret, but The Hound believes he has sniffed out who it will be named for: Astronaut James Lovell.

As you hit the Lazy Boy tonight at 9:07 p.m. to watch the Cubs play the Arizona Diamondbacks on cable superstation WTBS, remember what happened in 1984. History is repeating itself.

As a young pup, The Hound was a patrol boy. That meant you helped the younger kids across a busy hard road, as we country folk used to call roads without gravel, on their way to school. Can't imagine in today's litigious society that school officials would put the safety of grade school kids in the hands of a junior high student.

This hound has never been a junkyard dog, but he's hung around a few of them. They're some nasty folks, they are. Like the folks in Gurnee who want to move their junkyard across Washington Street and up against some Park City folks.