Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • Page 150

Section 2 Chicago Tribune, Tuesday, October 8, 1996 Lake overnight a digest of late news reports, compiled by Jerry Crimnons 1 t' it 1 ft1 Wf 1 'I' 8 I i Br Illinois Bureau of Tourism, said his office has launched a campaign highlighting the attractions of Chicago just in case. "We feel that we have a stronger cultural product in Chicago than Milwaukee does," Blocki said, "but we know it is competitive, and we want people in Illinois to stay in Illinois." The land that separates northern Illinois and the Milwaukee metropolitan area is for the most part undeveloped, covered with corn and cabbage fields and billboards for "County Style Cookin'." But old silos and dilapidated farmhouses have been replaced in recent years by factory outlet malls, filling stations and fast-food restaurants, which have joined the traditional cheese shops and family fruit and vegetable stands along Interstate Highway 94. And the rural atmosphere lasts only a short while before General Mitchell Airport, which calls itself "Chicago's Third Airport," appears in the distance. In January, an average of 211 Illinois cars left the airport parking structure each day, compared with 96 a day in 1994 and 63 in 1993, according to Mitchell officials. They offer convenient parking, easy terminal access and a less chaotic atmosphere as the field's primary selling points.

"As O'Hare becomes busier and busier, at some point, people will just say, 'Shoot, I'm just going to go to said Warren Wood, a senior planner in the economic development branch of the Lake County Department of Planning. "To some degree, a state line is an abstraction." Indeed, the state welcoming signs on each side of the border Borders Continued from Page 1 i est pupils, Milwaukee won this time, capturing the business of the 5th-grade class that went to the museum for its first field trip Of the year. It was a double whammy, in that the other group at the museum that day contained 9th graders from Waukegan High School. i Granted, Milwaukee, a city with $23,000 residents, cannot compete on many fronts with Chicago, the self-proclaimed urban center of the Midwest, with more than three times that many residents. But when it comes to hassle, or wallets, the see-saw tips dramatically toward Milwaukee, i "I went to a Bears game and all told, it was a seven-hour, undertaking, whereas I could have lone it in about four hours if I had chosen to go to a game in Milwaukee," said Dennis Horn, a resident of Lindenhurst and a leader of the Boy Scouts of America Northeast Illinois Council, jased in Highland Park, i "The more congested things get in Chicago, the more people are starting to think of Milwaukee as a great deal," Horn said.

"I always thought that was one of the beauties of living in Lake County: You can really go to either one." At the Milwaukee Art Museum, family of four with two youngsters pays $12 for the day, including parking. The same group pays $21 to go to the Chicago Art Institute, plus $5 to park in an underground garage at Grant Park. Knowing they can wave those lower price tags in front of Illinois residents, a group of Milwau kee businesses has joined forces to form Border Bandits, a marketing group committed to getting more visitors coming to Milwaukee from the south. As the name reveals, the group's goal is to slip across the border and rob Illinois of residents who live in the northern regions. The Bandits' organizers even joke that they come into the state at night, "while Chicago-area tourism boosters are sleeping." Efforts consist mostly of direct mailings, advertisements in local magazines and newspapers, and tongue-and-cheek billboards trumpeting Milwaukee's attractions.

Though the Milwaukee Convention and Tourist Bureau says it cannot track how successful the campaign has been, northern Illinois residents say the battle is making them change their ways. An increasing number of schools, camps, Scout troops and senior centers and park districts have started to redirect their field trips from Chicago to Milwaukee. "We just can't make it in and out of the Chicago Loop in time to get back to school by 2:30 p.m.," said Dan DeRoache, assistant superintendent of McHenry School District 15, which makes several trips to the Wisconsin city each year. "It's probably further for us to go to Milwaukee, yet it's much easier and takes less time." Carol Wright owns Falicia Tours in Gurnee, which runs about 20 day tours for seniors to Milwaukee each year. "For the seniors," she said, "smaller things are sometimes more appealing." Illinois does not have any figures to prove Illinois residents are leaving the state, but Richard Blocki, marketing director for the 1 GURNEE Great America I receives OK to add a ride I Six Flags Great America received permission from the Gurnee Village Board on Monday! night to construct a 227-foot-taH Giant Drop ride, which some homeowners had complained would increase what they! described as the already intoleraJ ble noise from the amusement park.

Board members unanimously approved a variance that will allow the ride to be built on the! southwest side of the park at site 650 feet from Washington Street, where several homes are situated. Village trustees sided with the recommendation of the Zoning Board of Appeals that the height, variance needed for the ride was; reasonable and within the pre-! scribed maximum height for, all! rides laid out in the original per-; mit for the park. Even at 227 feet in height, the; Giant Drop ride will be eclipsed by the Sky Trek Tower. Sky Trek! is at the park's 310-foot struchiral; height limit, said Jon director of building and zoning for Gurnee. At the Aug.

28 zoning board meeting, five Gurnee residents' voiced fears that the new ride; would add to the cumulative noise; from the park. Ted Saylor, Tribune photo by Bob Langer Lake Forest Country Day School 5th graders board the bus for their first field trip of the year, to the Milwaukee Art Museum. "If you live in Lake County for any length of time, you are apt to spend time both in Chicago and Milwaukee," Wood said. "It's like a smorgasbord: You take a little from here and a little from there." are easy to miss, the only real markers of the change in jurisdiction being the big cheese factories on the Wisconsin side and the toll booths of the Tri-State Tollway soon after crossing into Illinois. Elections Continued from Page 1 fact that TOWN has a number of Democratic and Republican members.

"For me to run on one ticket or another as a partisan candidate would have been disrespectful to my group," Finn said. Asked to comment on Finn's candidacy, Durkin praised the work of Finn and the citizens group but added that he wants to serve a second term to accomplish some of his original goals when he became mayor; "I think four more years will do it," said Durkin, whose re-election plans are taking a back seat to the work he is doing to help his daughter, Mary Ellen Vanderven-ter, in the Nov. 5 general election. Vanderventer is the Democratic nominee for the Lake County recorder of deeds office being vacated by longtime Recorder Frank Nustra. Lake County Board member Bob Neal (R-Wadsworth) is the GOP nominee.

j.in,u"l."lj.'iiliL('ljy"m'J'i"JiA''lm'j)y i I I Lr 1 I Woman's suit alleges she was fired because of her adoption fight A Highland Park woman filed a lawsuit Monday in Cook County Circuit Court alleging that she had been fired from her job because of her role in an adoption battle. Michelle Portman had been a volunteer supervisor at The Ark, a social service agency, until she was fired July 11. Portman became a controversial figure after she took custody of a 10-year-old girl in March, maintaining that the child was mistreated. Portman then attempted to terminate the parental rights of the child's mother so she and her husband could adopt the girl Portman was given temporary custody, but last month a judge decided to put the child In a foster home while attempting to reunite her with her mother. OEERFIELD Several subdivisions i will be targeted I by special census The Deerfield Village Board on Monday night approved a special census to reflect population increases since the 1990 census.

A larger population would make the village eligible for a larger share of state tax revenues. The census will cover selected blocks in several subdivision that have been newly built or that have grown substantially since the 1990 census. Village officials estimate that Deerfield's population has grown by 1,340 residents in the Coroman-del. Fountains of Deerfield, Bristol Estates and Aspen About 2,176 residents will bS surveyed in the special census; which should take about 14 days to complete in February or March, officials said. a.

The estimated cost of the censii? is $16,740. Of that amount, $13,500 will be paid to the U.S. Census, Bureau and $3,240 will be paid to local people who work on the cen sus. Mayor Bernard Forrest said? "The census should more than pay for itself with the increases from state revenues." Linda Mae Carlstom FOX LAKE Suburb's officials approve ordinance to protect trees After nearly a year of tions, Fox Lake trustees on Mon- day night approved a preservation-! of-trees ordinance. The ordinance requires thfTf builders who are clearing treea justify the removal of any trees, from outside the space for the buildings and yards.

-nun Though the ordinance is; directed at builders, it will require homeowners to call the village whenever they want to cut down a tree, said Trustee Jinr Pappas. Pappas has been trying to get the tree law on the books since October 1995. Under the law, if a builder removes more trees than necessary from a location, the builder would have to compensate the lage, either by replacing the trees or paying for them, Pappas said. The village's decision came a month after the board turned-down the same ordinance. Dissenters had said they would reconsider the proposal when the mayor and a sixth trustee, who were not at last month's meeting for the vote, would be present Lauren May beginning friday, october 11 th you'll find all the selection Of computer products you'll ever need.

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