The Daily Herald from Chicago, Illinois • Page 142

Dull) Heiuld wvvw.dailyherald.com Wednesday, November 24,1999 NAPERVILLE LISLE NEWS WHEN YOU WANT IT, DAILY, 03 BY SUSAN STEVENS Daily Herald Staff Writer A one-mile strip along the Eisenhower Expressway will become the newest experimental laboratory for the Morton Arboretum. The arboretum is teaming with ComEd and the Chicago Gateway Green Committee, a not-for-profit group that works to improve the region's expressways with public Researchers to experiment with different plants in hostile environment art and landscaping. For the stretch of expressway be-. tween PulasM and Cicero avenues, the arboretum will recommend new varieties of plants to try against the rigorous conditions of road salt, disturbed soil and minimal sunlight. ComEd is footing the bill.

"There's been a number of cities that have done beautification projects along highways, but they always use the same tried-and-true plants, the ones they know will work," said Christopher Dunn, director of research at the arboretum. "We want to expand the palette." The arboretum will experiment with plants such as magnolias, tree lilacs, Himalayan pines and bald cypress along the expressway. Shrubs such as small lilacs and hydrangeas will add summer color. Over the three-year program, arboretum scientists will gauge the reaction of the plants to the stress of living along the highway. Dunn expects some of the new plants will fail, and they will be replaced with other experimental varieties.

To ensure the "Morton Mile" never looks completely dead, they will mix in some traditional highway plants such as Austrian and white pines, honey locusts, orna- mental pears, ash and basswood, all of which have proved they can survive the conditions, Dunn said. "They're all fine trees, but they're so universally used it becomes rather monotonous," he said. Some ground-cover plants could go in this fall, but most of the planting will occur next spring, Dunn said. Now workers are removing See PLANTS on Page 3 Quick hits from Naperville and Lisle Naperville police join nationwide safety effort Naperville police, along with 5,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide, will conduct a roadside safety checkpoint this week as part of the Operation ABC (America Buckles Up Children) Mobilization. Police said the safety check will be conducted during hours that provide the maximum opportunity for the greatest impact on the safety of children.

Police will ticket anybody caught breaking any law, such as drinking and driving or not having insurance, but the checkpoint's focus will be on child safety. Police said they will issue citations to anyone who enters the checkpoint with a child not properly restrained. Certified child safety seat technicians will be on hand to answer questions about child safety seats for anyone who wants their seat inspected. Traffic crashes are the leading cause of child deaths, police said. Get ready to run the annual Napervifle lions Turkey Trot The Noon Lions Club's 5K Turkey Trot starts at 8 a.m.

Thursday in downtown Naperville. The race begins in the Centennial Beach parking lot and follows this route: north on West Street, west on Jefferson, south on River, east on Stonegate, north on Berry, east on Brook, south on Green Valley, west on Ever- -een, south on Berry, east on Aurora, north on agle and west on Jackson, back to the beach parking -v In all cases, one lane of the road will remain open to drivers. The race is expected to last about an hour. For details, call the Naperville Noon Lions at (630) 355-0264. Naperville, lisle offices to close for Thanksgiving The Naperville Municipal Center will be closed Thursday.

It will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday. The Naperville Public Libraries will close at 5 p.m. today and remain closed through Thursday.

Both libraries will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday. Drive-up returns for books, cassettes, CDs, and videos are available 24 hours a day at both locations. The computer catalog for the Naperville Public Libraries is also available by dialing (630) 355-6469.

Materials may also be renewed by calling (630) 961-0460. Naperville Park District offices will be closed Thursday through Sunday. a The Lisle Library will be closed Thursday and will reopen at 9:30 a.m. Friday. a Lisle Village Hall will be closed Thursday through Sunday.

Thursday trash collection delayed one day for holiday Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, Naperville residents with normal Thursday trash collection will have their garbage picked up Friday instead. Residents with normal Friday collection will not be affected. Also, Naperville's vacuum leaf collection program has ended. The city will continue to provide weekly bag and leaf collection through Dec. 10.

For details on the leaf collection, call (630) 5482988. Respite House to sell 3,000 chocolate houses Respite House has its 1999 chocolate house drive with a goal of raising roughly $75,000. Each house is made from more than a pound of chocolate and is hand-decorated with holiday ornaments of the season. The goal is to sell 3,000 of the houses for $25 each. Respite House, at Route 53 and Hobson Road near Naperville, is a not-for-profit organization that cares for medically fragile children.

The house, which opened in late September, provides a camp-like setting for children to visit while their parents get relief from the 24-hour care these children require. To purchase a chocolate house, call (630) 9602467. lisle A mailbox valued at $60 was damaged between 10 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. Sunday on the 5300 block of Meadow Lane, police said.

The sounds of science Students create their own instruments in unusual Lisle High School class BY SUSAN STEVENS Daily Herald Staff Writer As musical debuts, the recent performances in a second-floor classroom at Lisle High School were short of brilliant. But as class projects, the homemade guitar, pan pipes, drums and xylophone filled all the requirements; they each played various notes and could be heard clear across the room. Junior Bob Boyd even plucked out a few melodies on the square bass guitar he and two team members made out of wood and spare guitar parts. "You have to get the box the right size to get good resonance, and you have to get the neck the right length and the strings the right tension," he explained. "Otherwise, you can't get the right sound." The collection of musical instruments is the latest project constructed by the 20 students in Tun Peters' science and technology course.

At the end of more than four weeks of work on the science of sound, students brought in instruments they crafted at home. Lisle High School began offering the class more than two years ago to give students another science option. "This class is for the students who typically would not take chemistry or physics," Peters said. "They're not interested in the number- crunching sciences. It's a problem- based, project-based class." At the start of the unit on sound, for example, Peters brought in 10 objects that made sounds, and students discussed what they have in common.

They moved on to sound waves, musical sounds and types of instruments. Student questions and interest drive the pace and content of the course, Peters said. For example, after a group of students played their xylophone with hard-metal hammers, Peters played music from an Internet site featuring the hammered dulcimer, which is played with more flexible wooden hammers. "In my biology or chemistry class, I could tell you now what we're doing five weeks from now," he said. "In here, I don't know.

We get on a topic, and it starts leading to new topics." The first unit of the year focused on the laws of motion, friction, acceleration and velocity. At the end, students created models of amusement park rides like roller coasters and giant slingshots. Later in the year, students will study light and holograms, fluid dynamics, "swimming pool chemistry" and electronics. Each unit culminates in a project, which Peters said serves as a motivation. "You can see they're very excited about being able to do something with.what they learned," he said.

"In traditional classes, we don't always make that direct connection." Students in the class say they chose it because of rumors it was fun, because they like to build things and because it sounded better than their other options. "We're not the chemistry type," said junior Jordan Scott, who with two partners built a long percussion instrument with two sliding parts made out of PVC pipe. "I had fun Above, Lisle High School teacher Tim Peters listens as junior Bob Boyd plays a three- string guitar he made with juniors Milos Djuric, second from left, and Travis Briggs, right. At left, Steve Czech demonstrates his homemade pan pipe for Erin Carnahan and Evan Connell. Students in Peters' science and technology class made instruments to cap off a lesson on the science of sound.

Daily Herald Sanders doing this project, and usually people don't have fun doing projects." Junior Travis Briggs said the projects help them apply the concepts they learned, particularly the roller coaster model, which they had to design so the velocity would not be fatal to thrill-seekers. "There's actually a science to building them," Briggs said. Ball boys at home on sidelines Brothers have learned a lot from Redhawks in 5-year stint BY KARI ALLEN Daily Herald Staff Writer If you're really into Naperville Central football games, you might have been too absorbed in passes and tackles to notice how the ball gets back on the field after it spirals out of bounds. You might have been so intent on cheering for the Redhawks, you never saw who dried off the ball after it bounced through wet grass. But there have been three key players at Central's varsity games the past five years who make sure the game moves quickly and smoothly.

Their names are Stefan, Nick and Aaron Fanthorpe, and they are the Redhawks ball boys. And you better believe the 14-, 13- and 11- year-old brothers, respectively, are gearing up for Saturday's state championship game in Champaign. 'The one thing I want them to get out of this whole experience is that the Central team is really respectful; they're really a class act." Debbie Fanthorpe "We have real good players. They're awesome. We're going to win state," Stefan said a few weeks back, when Central beat Wheaton WarrenvUle South.

Now that Central has lopsided wins under its belt from the past two weeks, the boys are even more excited. "They're jumping on the bandwagon with Central," said their mom, Debbie Fanthorpe. Which makes it much harder to make the decision they'll face in just a few months. The brothers, who now attend Washington Junior High School, live in Naperville North territory. 1 They reside just a few blocks from Naperville Central and actually have the option of which building to attend when they start high school.

On the one hand, they have the chance to See BALL BOYS on Page 3 From top to bottom, Stefan, Aaron and Nick Fanthorpe goof around during a recent Naperville Central halftime. Although the three Naperville brothers take It easy during long breaks In the game, they're normally busy serving as ball boys for the Varsity fOOtball team. Daily Morald Streeter.