Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • Page 2-5

5 CHICAGO TRIBUNE METRO SECTION2 ing cases of misconduct by police. The results of a recent eight- month investigation by the Chicago Tribune revealed that in the last decade, nearly every inquiry into a police shooting found that police had been in firing their weapons. the life of me, I understand how he feels every policeman is Sharpton said. Calls to the spokespeople and e-mails to Chicago police spokeswoman Monique Bond Sunday were not returned. Patrick Sandusky, a spokesman for the Chicago 2016 Olympic bid committee, declined to comment.

In the last several weeks, Chicago officials have disbanded a controversial Special Operations Section and installed Weis, a former FBI officer who investigated corrupt police, as the next head of the Police Department. But Sharpton said those moves enough. If the Olympic Games come to Chicago, experts have said, it will mean a revitalizing boost to city businesses and to the Washington Park-area neighborhoods on the South Side that will likely become sites for events. SHARPTON: Recent action not sufficient, activist says CONTINUEDFROMPAGE1 barn dances that most people associate with the term into a worldwide subculture with fanatic followers who join clubs, memorize hundreds of calls, and are just as likely to be wearing jeans and sneakers as starched petticoats and cowboy hats. About 1 million people worldwide perform some form of modern square dancing.

They have organized themselves into distinct that require lessons and study, developed a standardized database of calls, and plan dances and conventions in cities across the globe. In the U.S., devotees come from every walk of life, and clubs exist in small rural towns and the largest cities. Many gay communities in urban areas also have clubs, such as Chi-Town Squares. At its highest and most complicated levels, puzzle lovers, engineers, computer programmers and math teachers dominate the ranks. Square-dance clubs at Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology are thriving, and North Central has a fledgling club, the Square Roots.

a constant to fight the stereotype, said Clark Baker, a computer programmer who has been dancing with Tech Squares since 1974. think of a jug of moonshine and hay bales, and that it might be a nice activity for your Baker also is a caller. The dancers, organized in a square of eight, begin in a home posi- tionbut have no idea which calls are coming. One call necessarily flow into any other, so the caller has to work to keep the square working in precision. After several sequences, the final call must bring the dancers back to their original position.

like puzzle-solving in real Baker said. Most modern square dancers stick to a set of about 70 calls, wear the traditional get-up and dance regularly with a club. But a small fraction are challenge dancers, who know up to 1,000 calls and 100 and add imaginary dancers to increase the complexity. North Schmitz, a dancer for more than a decade, is of the challenge persuasion. Like many square dancers, he worries about recruiting new fans to fill the ranks.

So he pitched a three-week course to college officials in hopes of exposing young people to an activity that lured him when he was a graduate student, he said. All those who signed up are math, science or computer majors. At first glance, the class might not seem relevant to them. But like math, square dancing depends on dancers performing actions based on definitions, Schmitz explained. In class, students laughed and teased one another while learning pass and But they also took breaks to discuss snippets only math lovers could appreciate: the number of permutations possible in one call or how a rectangle formation could be sheared to create a parallelogram of a typical call.

Not everyone views square dancing as a big math problem. Baker said some devotees disagree about the square- dancing experience. Some traditionalists contend there needs to be live fiddle music and costumes, and that challenge dancers sap the fun out. But some challenge dancers think dancing only mainstream is boring, he said. Jerry Reed, executive director of Callerlab, a national organization that maintains the standardized list of calls, said square allure tran- scends puzzles and petticoats.

bigger than the puzzle solving and bigger than the choreography and the he said. really about the As the debate continues, national membership is slipping, Reed said. Americans are joining fewer social organizations and clubs as other entertainment options have exploded, he said, making it harder to find recruits willing to invest time in square dancing. In addition, his organization held focus groups that found many non-dancers still connect square dancing to a hayseed image or awkward junior high school memories. But Schmitz is convincedthat once exposed to the dance, that notion is dispelled.

Nathan Pierson, a freshman in math, is one such convert. After taking the class, he may may North square- dance club, he said. is a much more intellectual experience than my Pierson said. it was just a lot more fun than I thought DANCE: Some like social aspect, others math CONTINUEDFROMPAGE1 DuBois moved into the home three years ago and has no regrets about the location. He likes to say he bought the river, not the house.

He landscaped the yard, put in a dock and moored his boat. The August flood was his first experience with the darker side of living on the waterfront. Raintransformed front yards into lagoons. His curving, two- lane street became a river complete with fish. The water rose 4inches or more a day, and walls of sandbags protecting some of the homes climbed to 3 feet.

was amazed that people came down to help when all we knew of each other was a DuBois said. Lorna Fiscus and her husband, Jerry, sandbag because of health problems but they set up a table and chairs on their driveway. Their home became the place, she said, for rest, water and moral support. think all come through it pretty well. But dreading the next time it hap- Fiscus said.

need be, you see what kind of neighbors you they are all Drastic measures may be necessary for some families who want to stay in the neighborhood. Bill Strait, who lives next door to DuBois, has asked engineers to determine if his ranch home could be raised 2 to 3feet above the flood level. like it here. Physically and mentally, it takes a toll on people. But we want to see what we can do to Strait said.

want to invest a lot of money if not going to correct the In Des Plaines, the homes on Big Bend Drive had water lapping at their front and back doorsteps because their street is a peninsula. Resident Carol Dace lost her home in the 1986 flood. This time, her son brought over a powerful generator typically used at construction sites. It kept her pumps running and water out of the house. Most of the other homeowners so lucky: Water seeped into basements and power was lost for nearly a week.

The work was so daunting and tiresome that Dace sure she has the energy to haul out holiday decorations from the basement. Normally, they would be up by now. she said. Gov. Rod Blagojevich had declared a state of emergency for Lake, Cook, DuPage, McHenry and Kane Counties, but the Federal Emergency Management Agency did not declare McHenry County a disaster area, which left residents with little financial help for repairs other than homeowners insurance.

DuBois said he spent about $4,000 on cleanup and repairs. For his part, Dubois said he is looking into building some type of permanent barrier around his home, complete with a portable wall that could be quickly erected. He still has 1,000 sandbags to remove. spirits dampened. But plan a little in case the water rises again, he said.

FLOODS: Neighbors think of other solutions CONTINUEDFROMPAGE1 Tribune photo by Nancy Stone Howl-elujah Nadine Walmsley and beagle mix puppy up for to the Ralph Wilder Orchestra perform Sunday at the Anti-Cruelty Society in Chicago. The teenager who died early Saturday when his car swerved into oncoming traffic and struck another vehicle in Barrington Hills has been identified as a 17-year-old from Carpentersville. Edgar Ricoof the 1600 block of Seminole Lane was driving east on Illinois Highway 62 just before 4 a.m. when his car crossed the center line and hit an oncoming car. He was pronounced dead at the scene minutes later, Kane County Coroner Charles West said.

Two passengers in the other 37-year-old man from Lake in the Hills and a 26-year- old woman from non-life-threatening injuries and were taken to Sherman Hospital in Elgin. West said there were no signs that alcohol or drugs were involved, adding that it would take about two weeks for toxicology test results. Victim of collision identified By Joseph Sjostrom Tribune staff reporter The investigation into the slaying of Elmhurst resident Albert Seaburg outside a Tallahassee, motel in 1997 has gone cold, but authorities hope a game of poker in prison can produce some clues. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has produced two editions of a full deck of playing cards that show photos of murder victims, some information about the case and a phone number to call to offer police more information. Authorities say they distributed 100,000 decks in 129 state prisons.

First distributed last summer, they have produced 66 tips that solved two cold-case murders, both from 2004, and significantly advanced several others, police there said. Police identify the cases in which the cards produced helpful tips, but the cards were considered effective enough that Florida authorities plan to produce a third deck to help with the 400 to 500 unsolved murders. Authorities in San Diego, Kansas City, and Odessa, Texas, have since created their own decks. Seaburg was a 71-year-old retired civil engineer traveling on business when he was shot at a Tallahassee motel on Sept. 4, 1997.

Police say the shooting occurred during a robbery attempt. Awareness of case and other unsolved killings also is being kept up by nephew, Robert Hansen of Oakbrook Terrace, who maintains a Web der.com—featuring photos and information. is something I have to do for him because he was such an awesome said Hansen, 48, the youngest of five children, who lost his father at age 7. my father died, took over the duties and was just really good to us Florida investigator Tommy Rayand cold-case colleagues in Polk County first produced a similar set of cards in 2005 for the county jail. They were inspired by the most-wanted deck of Saddam Hussein and other fugitives issued to U.S.

troops after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The Florida cards generated a tip that solved a murder two months later, prompting Ray and other investigators to advocate a statewide version of cold- case playing cards. A fund fed by a court fee supplied the $68,000 for production and provided $7,000 to pay tipsters. of the have asked for any rewards so Ray said. guys are serving time for non-violent, less-serious offenses.

They might not turn in a drug dealer or a burglar, but they feel like murder is different because the victim could have been their mother, their father, their brother or Ray played down the concern about the cards producing false leads. very little information on each case on the cards, so hard for somebody to make up a credible he said. the cards in prison is like interviewing thousands of inmates on 104 homicides. It would take years to do Investigators hope tips are in the cards Cold cases featured on decks Tribune photo by Terry Harris Robert Hansen of Oakbrook Terrace holds playing cards featuring unsolved murders, including that of his uncle. By Tim Kane Special to the Tribune About three years ago, a doctor told Ted and Debbie Sulaski of Aurora that their newly adopted daughter, Danielle, had something seriously wrong with her and might have suffered a stroke at birth.

Because she healthy, they could, if they wanted, give Danielle back to a South Korean adoption agency. would just lie there on her stomach, and if she was touched or if we rolled her over, she would Debbie Sulaski said. got her when she was 6 months old. She was in a foster home, and her mother was an alcoholic, we were told. She making the milestones of development.

She just lay there in her crib. But give her back? That going to happen. She was Looking for ways to help her develop, the Sulaskis 18 months ago found out about horseback therapy. In June, Danielle started riding at the non-profit Walk On Equine Assisted Activities, Cuba and Hart Roads in Barrington, which had a special event Sunday that allowed ex- tended family members, including her 6-year-old adoptive brother, Tony, also from South Korea, to watch her ride. Danielle usually rides for a half-hour Wednesday mornings without fanfare.

This time, Tony took pictures with a digital camera of his little sister on horseback. who ride here are in wheelchairs, and they usually look up at people their whole lives, but from the top of a horse, it changes your said Marion May, 70, president of Walk On and an occupational therapist. is the warmth of the horse and the natural swaying motion. The riders have to make small adjustments to stay in the saddle and it helps improve their May said. Dick Spicuzza of Barrington said his 8-year-old grandson, Gabriel Gustafson, has a high- functioning form of autism called Asperger syndrome.

comes here for an hour- long session once a Spicuzza said. learned the vocabulary of feeding the horses and the different parts of a horse. He spends 20 minutes grooming the horse. He tells me, I walk them, I groom them and I feed And his balance has improved In the saddle Sunday, Danielle Sulaski told her horse, Cocoa, to to get her horse moving and to get the horse to stop. (The program takes its name from the first command given to the horse.) Where the pommel should be on saddle is a stuffed zebra.

She holds it to sit up straight. has had such an improvement and she has such a sense of Debbie Sulaski said. walking now with help from us. There anything she Horseback therapy gives kids a lift Tribune photo by Danielle Sulaski, 3, of Aurora waves to her parents while riding a horse in Barrington. Tribune photo by Charles Osgood Science, art come together on new opera Dr.

Norman Ramsey, (right) 92, who worked with atomic bomb scientist Robert Oppenheimer at Los Alamos, greets Peter Sellars, librettist for the new opera, at the Art Institute of Chicago. Watch students at North Central College practice their dance steps at chi- cagotribune.com/squaredance IN THE WEB EDITION By Alexa Aguilar Tribune staff reporter Northern Illinois University in DeKalb is under a security alert through the end of the semester after police found threats on a bathroom wall that included a racial slur and references to the Virginia Tech shootings, a university spokeswoman said Sunday. Campus police are investigating two separate messages found by a student Saturday night on a restroom wall in the Grant Towers complex that read that will change most in the final days of the semester, which ends Friday, said Melanie Magara, a university spokeswoman. The first set of messages, found written in black ink in a restroom, includes a racial slur and reads OUT Die Sem Burr 10th Hmz Sdn in what officials believe are references to Dec.10 and the Holmes Student Center. Underlined letters also spell out the word The second entry, which appears to be in different handwriting, reads, time? The VA tech shooters messed up having only one shooter NIU officials increased campus security and notified people on campus about the threats by e-mail, voice mail and fliers, Magara said.

NIU President John Peters said officials are being especially cautious. will not tolerate threats against individuals or Peters said in a statement. will we tolerate hate speech of any type on this Magara said this final exams will proceed as usual, but that any reassurance for some students and parents. just think that doing enough. I think they should be canceling classes, or at least let them do their finals online, or something, because this should not be taken said Dianne Faulkner, who has a son and a niece that are NIU students.

She said she is afraid for their safety, especially because the message appears to be targeting black people. Anyone with information should call police. NIU officials also have set up hot lines to answer concerns. Those numbers are 815-753-1573, 815-753-1585 and 815-753-6257. NIU put on alert following threats Bathroom message mentions shooting at Virginia Tech Product: CTMETRO PubDate: 12-10-2007 Zone: ALL Edition: HD Page: 2-5 User: mmccann Time: Color:.