The Daily Herald from Chicago, Illinois • Page 106

Page 1 SUBURBS DailyHerald Monday, January 15,1996 Packer fans band together on friendly turf BY STACY ST. CLAIR Daily Herald Staff Writer Social acceptance at Naperville's Northwoods bar has one requirement: You must be a diehard Green Bay Packers fan. Liking them simply will not do. Merely rooting for them is not enough. At this establishment, which was in a frenzy during the NFC Championship Game Sunday until the Packers lost to Dallas, you need to profess a love for tun- dras and cheese.

You must guzzle Miller Genuine Draft beer while working names such as Vince Bart Starr and Brett Favre into the conversation. Northwoods is a Wisconsin fraternity, complete with initiated members and rituals. Induction occurs within moments of learning the secret handshake and password a confident high-five followed by shouting "The Pack is back, baby!" Outside the frat house confines, however, the world is undeniably Chicago, undeniably pro-Bears. To share one's Packer passion with Windy City friends means being subjected to disdain and ridicule. "People ask, 'Are you really a Packer the way they ask, Terri and Mike Williams of Germantown, react to a call during Sunday's NFC Championship game won by Dallas.

The couple watched the game at NaperviUe's Northwoods bar, a haven for Green Bay Packer fans. Daily Herald Jarusan 'Do you really have a social said 61-year-old Pam Jacobs, an Ingleside resident who lived in Wisconsin during Lombardi's reign. The bar provides a haven for displaced cheeseheads living in Chicago. Inside the green and gold building, everyone, including the mounted bucks, wears Packers paraphernalia. "This is the only safe place we can go," said 26-year-old Sam Warrick, a Lisle resident who recently emigrated from Madison, Wis.

The ribbing, however, has dwindled recently. After all, Green Bay loyalists spent Sunday afternoon watching their team play in the NFC championship; Bears fans sat at home trying to remember the words to the "Super Bowl Shuffle." The Packers' success thrills Glendale Heights resident Allen Rich. The born-and-bred cheese- head said Bears fans these days rarely tease him about his team. "The last three years have been wonderful," said Rich, 61, who admits to taunting his co-workers after Green Bay victories. "It's all in good fun, of course." Of course.

Just ask his 32-year- old son, Jeff. He thought of a very sportsmanlike way to mourn the Packers' loss. "When this is over, we're going to go out and duct tape a Bear fan to a pole," said the younger Rich, also from Glendale Heights. "We don't have to look for them. We can just turn over a rock." East Dundee issues boil order as water problems overflow MELISSA RAMSDELL Daily Herald Staff Writer Although most people enjoyed 'the benefits of Sunday's thaw, a resulting water main break in East Dundee has forced residents to boil their water until Tuesday.

"When temperatures warm up like this the frost shifts the pipes," said Bryan Sunderlage, the vil- 'lage's chief water and sewer operator. As frozen water expands, melts, it can cause pipes to i burst, he said. A The boil order was issued for East Dundee's 2,800 residents after officials found the break Sunday morning on Braeburn Road, i "They need to boil their water for drinking and cooking purposes," village office manager Sheila Batt said. The leak and a broken computer monitor caused water to drain out of the village's two water towers. Water levels dropped Saturday night or early Sunday in a 100.000- igallon storage tank on Route 25 and a tank on Barrington Road, village officials said.

"We had this main break, and it emptied the storage tanks," Sunderlage said. "We lost pressure in the system for about 45 minutes, but everything is back to normal now." Whenever water stops circulating through the system, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency automatically implements a boil order as a precaution. Harmful bacteria can contaminate stagnant drinking water, Sunderlage said. Public works employees used a backhoe to dig down to the broken water main. Workers placed a metal sheath over the ruptured pipe and stopped the leak.

Sunderlage said a resident in the Bonnie Dundee Terrace subdivision called the village water department about 6 a.m. Sunday after she discovered she had no running water. About 200 homeowners in the subdivision west of Route 25 had no water or low pressure Sunday morning. The water was turned back on about 1 p.m. The water problems were an inconvenience for some residents.

"I'm very aggravated," said Braeburn Road resident Mary Lou McDonough, who had no water Sunday morning. "I didn't get to go to church or even brush my teeth." Her neighbor, Ron Rhoades, who lives across the street from her, had water to bathe but decided to pick up some bottled water after a friend at the grocery store told him about the leak. A few hours after village workers repaired the water main, they discovered another leak near the entrance of The Reserve subdivision on Route 72. East Dundee's water woes Sunday occurred after nearly 240 residents in the Lake Marian section of Carpentersville were ordered to boil water Friday a water tank froze nearly solid and burst. SPORT: State is addressing problem of intoxicated riders Continued from Page 1 time," he said.

'You're always going to have accidents of some sort or another. But honestly, I'm surprised there aren't more." With 60,000 registered snowmobiles in the state, there could be plenty. Yet in the winter of 1994-95, there were only four fatal snowmobile accidents one each in Cook, Lake, McHenry and Macon counties. In 1993-94, there were nine fatal accidents. In all, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources reported 55 accidents last year.

Lake County had the most with 13, followed by McHenry County's 12. Cook, Kane and Will counties had one accident each, and none were reported in DuPage. "Most things are common sense," said Majewski, a snowmobiler for 22 years. "Use a helmet it's not like you're on a motorcycle. You're going through the woods," he said.

"It's like driving a car. Be cautious and you won't have any problems." Many accidents happen when drivers turn too fast on an icy trail and -hit a tree, or another stationary object, Majewski said. Department of Natural Resources statistics bear that out: Most pf the accidents reported last year 21 occurred when the snowmobile collided with something else. "Safe riders come with experience," said Ruth Bond of the Huntley Penguins snowmobiling club "It's a powerful machine you have to learn how to handle it." One of the best ways to learn is to join one of the state's 94 snowmobiling clubs, said her husband, Jim Bond "Join a club. You can learn the trails and some of the safe ways to operate a snowmobile," he said Not-for-profit clubs acquire, mark and maintain snowmobile trails throughout the state, but enthusiasts don't have to be members to use them.

The Department of Natural Resources also has a brochure showing marked trails, which are mainly in the northern counties. And a marked trail is the safest route to snowmobile, experts said "Use only the marked trails I really believe wholeheartedly in that," said Majewski. Frozen ponds and lakes pose other problems. "The majority of calls we've had so far are someone going over a body of water and misjudging the ice," Glade said. "Renegade" snowmobilers also give the sport a bad name.

They drive on lawns, damage property, and are likely to drink alcohol and drive. Island Lake recently adopted an ordinance to prohibit snowmobilers from riding on village streets. Snowmobiling is allowed on the road shoulders only as the most direct way to get to a trail. And the state is addressing the problem of intoxicated riders. Last year two fatal accidents involved alcohol, although one occurred when a drunken automobile driver struck a snowmobiler.

Starting this year, snowmobilers who are arrested with a blood-alcohol level of .10 percent are considered intoxicated and could lose riding privileges for a year if they are arrested and convicted. Also, they could face at least one year in jail and fines up to $1,000. People convicted of a second offense or those convicted of causing an accident while drunk face stiffer penalties. But even with new restrictions, enthusiasts say the best way to enjoy the winter is on a snowmobile. "If you want to see nature at its best, go snowmobiling," Majewski said CHINA: U.S.

offers greater opportunities to kids Continued from Page 1 many of them starved to death. In 1989, the likelihood of a newly admitted orphan surviving in a Chinese welfare institution was less than 50 percent, the report claims. The report also claims children are abused in terrible ways. China continues to rebut the allegations about its child welfare system, saying the report is unfounded. "Those allegations are nothing," Li Minggang, a spokesman with the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., said.

Chicago-area authorities say claims such as those in the report may stir sympathy and interest in Chinese adoptions. But they are concerned the allegations might hamper relations between the countries. Although Noel saw her daughter and other orphans were treated well, she said the child probably will be better off growing up in the Unit- ed States than in China. "Definitely, she'll have more opportunities than being an orphan in China," Noel said. Although the adopted children will grow up in the Northwest suburbs, both McCaslin and Noel said they will raise their daughters to understand their heritage.

And although the children are from an entirely different culture, both women said they feel for the children as if they had borne them. "I wondered what it would feel like," Noel, a mother of two boys ages 16 and 6. "Within a couple of hours there was no difference. We just look a little different." The Associated Press contributed to this report. East Dundee Water Operator Bryan Sunderlage repairs a water main leak on Braeburn Road that caused villagewide water problems.

Residents need to boil their water today as a precaution. Daily Herald Valade 851 S. Roselle Road Schaumburg, IL (708) 980-5887, "WE TURN PAGERS ON" APPLE BEEPERS MOTOROLA PAGER QC Per Month (312)478-7755 (70S) 430-799O Clicago 3701W. Irving Elk Grove 12300 E. Higgins Oak W.35th Petition drive seeks to slow commuter trains BY MELISSA RAMSDELL Daily Herald Staff Writer Fox River Grove resident Kathy Sawides says the October train- bus crash that killed seven Cary- Grove High School students could have been prevented if the train had not been going so fast.

On Sunday, she decided to do something about it. Savyides collected signatures for a petition asking transportation officials to reduce the speed limit for commuter trains from 70 to 50 mph. "When something like this happens, people feel like they want to contribute in some way," she said. "It gives you a sense that you're making a difference." A group of community volunteers will canvass area towns in the coming weeks. They plan to give the petitions to federal transportation officials by the end of the month.

Sheila Yerkes, who is organizing the petition drive, said Union Pacific executives have so far resisted the idea of reducing the speed limit for express trains in Fox River Grove. "Their argument was, if they do it here, they will have to do it everywhere else and that will cause delays," said Pat Sullivan, another ivolunteer who is helping with the effort. Yerkes said her group hopes to jcollect several thousand signatures in favor of the speed limit change. i "We want them to know that this 'is something we're really going to for that it's not just a cou- ple of people who want it done," iYerkes said. i So far, Sawides said, community support has been enthusiastic.

"Everyone I talked to absolutely felt that the train should be slowed," she said. The volunteers also are reaching out for help from other communities. "It would show that you're supporting Fox River Grove in trying to get the speed limit reduced to 50 mph," Yerkes said. Petitions will be available at'Fox River Grove village hall, 408 Northwest and in local businesses. People who want to help with the petition drive can call Sheila Yerkes at (708) 639-2952 or Pat Sullivan at (708) 639-5593.

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