Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • Page 1-21

21 MWCHICAGO TRIBUNE SECTION1 for dinner. And when they do, conversation revolves around what we could do, where can we go from here to help bring Lisa home. day and every she said. Since April 30, the mystery of disappearance has unleashed crushing grief on those who loveher, while a small cadre of Plainfield and Will County investigators By Erika Slife TRIBUNE REPORTER Judy Ruttenberg moves through her day focused on one task at a time: get out of bed, make breakfast, wash dishes, check in with police. This has been her life since her daughter Lisa Stebic disappeared one year ago.

She and her husband rarely muster the energy to even go out works full time to find answers. The case remains the No. 1 priority of Plainfield police, who say they always have at least one detective working it. The office has enlisted a special grand jury to help. Leads still trickle in.

taken it personal. I know that our investigators have taken the case on as said Detective Sgt. Troy Kivisto. owe it to Lisa and all of her family members to find out where she is and what happened to her and who is responsible for her Though the trail may seem cold and the case overshadowed by the more sensational missing-woman saga of Stacy Peterson in nearby Boling- Photo courtesy of Ruttenberg family Lisa Stebic (left) is seen in a 2002 family photo with her parents, Lawrence and Judith Ruttenberg. Lisa, a Plainfield mother of two children, has been missing since April 30.

disappearance a well of crushing grief A year later, Plainfield parents hunger for closure PLEASESEE MISSING PAGE22 By Jon Yates TRIBUNE REPORTER It was a crime against nature, something so ugly Barbara Philiotis could barely look at it. Armed with a hacksaw and an apparent disregard for leafy life, a ham-handed tree trimmer sneaked into Philio- back yard last month and hacked her prized maple to a stump. She consulted an arborist from River Forest to see if the loss might be temporary, but he confirmed her worst fears. Her mulberry and Chinese elm trees were both badly damaged. Her maple, an estimated 10 to 15 years old, was essentially dead.

might sprout out and become a said Mark Janopoulos, superintendent of River Public Works Department. it will never be a tree again. Not in the same PLEASESEE PROBLEM PAGE22 YOUR PROBLEM? NOT GETTING RESULTS? WE CAN HELP Hatchet job on trees turns into whodunit By Vanessa TRIBUNE REPORTER been slow going for Armando as he hits up Latino-owned businesses to drum up donations for next immigration march in Chicago. He leaves a Mexican restaurant with $20. He gets another $10 from a beauty parlor.

The Azteca bakery ponies up $620, but rejections are more common. getting a lot of no, no, he said. The massive immigration marches of 2006, including the May 1 rally that brought 400,000 people to Grant Park, helped drive immigration reform to the top of the national agenda and gave new focus to the immigrant community in the Chicago area.Two years later, Spanish-language morning talk shows are buzzing about a new march. But some community leaders in the suburbs, a vital source of support in past demonstrations, are expressing doubts about whether massive rallies are the right tactic this year. With five days, supporters point out that there is still time to organize a strong showing.

Earlier marches picked up much of their momentum in the final days and hours. But some veterans of past marches appear to be sitting this one out. In Melrose Park, Interest wanes for immigrant marches But some leaders say rallies still important PLEASESEE MARCH PAGE23 By Azam Ahmed, Andrew Wang and Robert Becker TRIBUNE REPORTERS As heavy equipment tore wreckage from a CTA station Friday, police began scouring surveillance video to figure out why a semitrailer truck sped through a crowd of pedestrians and slammed into the entryway. The horrifying crash at the base of the Cermak-Chinatown Red Line elevated train stop, at the height of rush hour, killed two pedestrians and injured at least 21 more. The truck driverlimped out of the hospital in police custody late Friday.

A Stroger Hospital spokesman identified him as Don Wells, 51. A police source confirmed the name of the driver. Police spokeswoman Monique Bond said he had not been charged. Witnesses, many of whom were showered by glass and wall tiles after the impact, recalled a scene with people trapped under the truck, others lying unconscious on the pavement. Many described the sounds, beginning with screeching tires, then the collision.

sounded big, like a said Sohail Malik, a parking lot attendant who works across from the exit ramp. As the CTA overpass shuddered, the truck climbed several steps up an escalator leading to the Red Line platform above, Malik said. Blood and debris littered the sidewalk behind the truck. Chicago Fire Commissioner Raymond Orozco said 11 of the victims of the crash, which occurred just before 5:20 p.m., were in serious to critical condition. Another eight were in fair to serious condition, and two more were in good condition.

Four people had to be cut out of the escalators, Orozco said. Wellswas treated at Stroger Hospital, said hospital spokesman Sean Howard. Also treated at Stroger were a 26-year-old woman, a 14- year-old boy and an 11-year- old girl. The boy was released; the woman was listed in stable condition, and the girl had multiple injuries. Wells refused the advice and asked to be released, in part because he have health insurance, Howard said.

He was handcuffed and escorted by police to a waiting police wagon. Among the others injured, hospital officials listed two women, including a CTA employee, in fair condition at Northwestern Memorial Hospital; two adults in good condition at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center; a man in good condition at RushUni- versity Medical Center; and three children in fair condition at the University of Chicago Medical Center. One woman and one man were taken to Provident Hospital in stable condition. Fire officials said three victims were taken in serious to critical condition to Mt. Sinai Hospital Medical Center, but hospital officials there refused to comment.

The truck, operated by Whi- teline exiting a ramp to Cermak Road from the Dan Ryan Expressway Tribune photo by Phil Velasquez Firefighters inspect the cab of a semitrailer truck after it slammed into the Cermak-Chinatown CTA station on Friday, killing 2 pedestrians. Police grapple for clues Why did semi plow through crowd at station? PLEASESEE CRASH PAGE22 ill Adams discovered a tiny colony of half-million feral cats last summer on a walk in a Hyde Park alley with Mr. Bojangles, her Welsh terrier. She hurried home to her studio apartment and came back to the alley with food. Adams was out of work and had no car, but soon she was feeding the cats every day and routinely walking or riding the bus to shop for Friskies, pet vitamins and sanitizing wipes for the water dishes.

really related to these she says, I was orphaned when I was Summer waned. The days got shorter, cold. she thought, am I going to do? going to She lined a big green garbage can with newspaper, secured the top with duct tape, cut an opening in the top and nestled the can on its side next to a brick wall. Through the winter, on snowy mornings before dawn, she carried a broom to the alley and swept the snow away from the cat shelter. At night she came with a flashlight, undeterred by the fact that the neighborhood, even with all the new signs promising luxury condos in the vacant lots, was a place where, too often, people get shot.

been living on my own since I was she says. not Adams scare easily, but she was often sad. One day in June 1971, at the age of 12, she boarded a train called the City of New Orleans for a family wedding in New Orleans. The train crashed. Her mother and her 3-year-old sister, Gigi, died.

Who knows whether why, but something about making a home for these unclaimed cats made Adams strangely happy. By mid-winter some other things cheered her too. gotten a job as a receptionist downtown, and it paid enough that she decided to move to a one-bedroom apartment in Oak Park. Reluctant to desert the cats, she placed an ad in a University of Chicago online shopper. Looking for someone to feed wild cats.

Will pay. She yet gotten any nibbles the day one of the alley neighbors yelled at her Tribune photo by Phil Velasquez A cat peeks out from behind a tree in a Hyde Park alley where Jill Adams has been leaving food for feral cats. For feral cats, a blanket of kindness Mary Schmich PLEASESEE CATS PAGE22 Metro and state Product: CTMAIN PubDate: 04-27-2008 Zone: MW Edition: BDOG Page: NATLMET-21 User: croyer Time: Color:.