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MY SUN DAY NEWS

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News & Features Columnists Editorials Hang Your Hat Obituaries My Huntley News

May 31, 2012

Dwight Esau

You want to toss some bags? Bring some popcorn!

Remember bean bags from your childhood? You tossed them around, played catch with them, threw them at targets on trees, walls, and floors, and tossed them into rings on the ground. The idea was to throw a bag to a pre-determined spot to score points. Many sports such as golf, soccer, hockey, lacrosse, basketball, water polo, and even football (to some degree) derive their rules from this basic bean bag activity.

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In early 2000, Bill Reitzel moved to Sun City while pursuing a lifelong career of buying and selling real estate. In 2006, when the housing market was still going strong, he moved out of his Sun City home in Neighborhood 10 and rented it out, along with other properties in the Schaumburg and Huntley areas.

Hebron’s heroes

Ask anyone in Illinois about Hebron, and they will likely say, “Isn’t that the town with a basketball on its water tower?” Or, “Didn’t their high school team win a state championship of some sort?” Or, “Is that the town where the Judson brothers came from?”

March 21 meeting fills board vacancies

This week, the transformation of the Sun City board of directors will be made complete, and the seven-member governing body will no longer be short-handed.

Sports Trivia: Who was Charles McNeil?

All right, all you sports trivia guys out there, here’s one that I believe will stump most of you. Who was Charles McNeil?

CAM Desk relocation, a good idea?

Put something popular in one place for 12 years, and then move it, and you’ve probably got a controversy on your hands. This is what has happened with the relocation of the CAM Desk in Sun City’s Prairie Lodge from the main entrance area in the center of the building to the far eastern end, next to the new Fountain View Center.

2012 projects bridge to Huntley’s future

The economy may still be struggling to recover, but a lot of irons are in the fire in the Village of Huntley.

Can senior volleyballers jump?

White men can’t jump – remember the Hollywood movie that tried to prove that point? Can Sun City seniors jump? Yes, they can. A member of the community’s Senior Volleyball League proved it the other day. During a match at the Cosman Center gym, he slammed the ball into the opponent’s court for a winner and exclaimed, “Hey, my left foot was all the way off the floor!”

Sun City’s oldest relic

Sun City is only about 14 years old, but already it has an abandoned building…sort of.

The roots of America’s pastime

Who Invented Baseball? Some say Abner Doubleday. Others say the New York Knickerbockers, the first organized team. Still, others say Albert Spalding or Henry Chadwick. As we all get cabin fever while winter assaults us from all sides, why not “think warm” with a glimpse into the origins of baseball, our national pastime?

Sports clubs hibernate in winter? Not in Sun City

A neighbor of mine asked me recently if all Sun City sports groups “hibernated,” or canceled activities, during the winter. He assumed that clubs such as softball, tennis, bocce ball, biking, and anglers took the winter off, hunkered down to survive the winter storms and cold, and waited, perhaps impatiently, for spring.

Board election rules set for change?

The next Sun City board of directors’ election will be much different from the one conducted in 2011.

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickleballs

Pickleball. What is it? Why is it called that? Does it have anything to do with pickles we eat?

Peace, history, faith

Sometimes you have to travel 6,000 miles to an ancient world to have a uniquely religious and patriotic American experience.

Fire investigation expands

Nearly three weeks after the first fatal house fire in Sun City occurred, the cause of the fire is still unknown.

Comfortable golf in January, Sun City style

Some golfers pack themselves full of the sport up to six or seven days a week in the summer to tide them over through the winter “homesick” days. Others take the year-round concept literally and play in the dead of winter, so long as there’s no snow and it’s above zero. Fanatics and fun-lovers take it to the extreme and play with orange or blue balls on snow-covered fairways and greens in winter, mostly just for laughs or on a dare. When they finish doing that, they usually head to a Lake Michigan beach to jump into 40-degree water to get on TV.

Teacher, mentor, coach

In the entire high school culture in the State of Illinois, there is only one man who can arguably be called “The Coach.” He has come to dwell among us in Sun City. At age 82, he is still doing it.

One question

Sun City has reached a political crossroads, partly because of the pressures of transitioning from the management of the original developer to decision-making by a resident organization and partly because of recent decisions that divided residents and the association management.

The rundown

Meet your Sun City Board of Directors 2011 candidates.

The running man

If you are among the many lucky Sun Citians who have seen Otto Volkmann jogging around the bike paths, be advised that you are not just watching any ordinary fitness buff.

Fight burglaries by helping each other

Among the many leads that Huntley Police are checking regarding five burglaries that have occurred in Sun City in the last five months, one potentially significant, “long-shot” pattern has emerged.

Lefties Don and Sandy Ferrari 2011 Bocce Champions

You’re standing on an artificial turf court, about 50 feet long. You roll a little red target ball, called a pallino, in the same way you roll a bowling roll down the alley, only much slower. Then you take a bocce ball, about the size of a softball, but much heavier, and try to roll it as close to the pallino as you can.

Things that are in sports but shouldn’t be:

Soldier Field’s Old Sod – Does the Chicago Park District have a cushy contract with the Soldier Field sod maintenance workers? I can’t think of any other reason why the park district insists on grass instead of field turf. They spent multi-millions in the 90s refurbishing Soldier Field, but refused to spend $1 million more for artificial turf. That makes no sense. They should stop listening to John Madden (who favors sod just because he likes dirty uniforms). The players want it and need it. Canceling a fan-based event for sod reasons recently was appalling. Come on, Bears, get yourself into the 21st century.

Bocce’s Tournament, A Big One

Sun City’s Bocce Club is one of, if not, the biggest Charter Club of all. The 700-member Bocce Ball group is planning its post-league tournament on August 30, and it should be one of the biggest competitive events of the year. Get there early if you want a good parking space. If it rains, the event will be held on August 31.

Free fallin’ at 70

Mary Lou Dorgan, a very youthful-looking resident of N. 30, celebrated her 70th birthday on July 31 by jumping out of an airplane at 14,000 feet over the Mississippi Valley in western Illinois. It wasn’t a dare or a bet or a “something-to-prove,” daredevil act. This was simply a fun way to celebrate a birthday, like you or I might decide to invite a few friends over for cake and ice cream on birthday number whatever.

Lively Sun City Board election likely

Sun City Board of Directors elections have been routine, dull affairs in which about 20% of the residents have participated. This fall’s election probably will change that, dramatically.