Helping Cub Scouts “Build A Better World”

Cub Scouts from Kildeer Elementary Pack 56 and Country Meadows Elementary Pack 964 met with me at Village Hall on January 20th, 2017.

Cub Scouts from Kildeer Elementary Pack 56 and Country Meadows Elementary Pack 964 met with me at Village Hall on January 20th, 2017.

I can’t think of a better way to carry out the spirit of Inauguration Day today than by meeting with (and maybe inspiring) some potential future leaders of our country. It was my pleasure to welcome two 5th grade Cub Scout dens from our local elementary schools to Village Hall this afternoon, and work with them towards achieving their “Build A Better Word” requirement. The boys had great questions for me about my job as Village President, and also about some of the important current issues facing Long Grove. We discussed the Rt. 53 extension, video gaming machines in the downtown, revitalization of our historic business district, and the recent extension of our municipal water system.

To cap off the experience, we had a mini Village Board meeting in which the students got to role play as Village Board members, and sit at the actual table and discuss and debate an actual issue from Tuesday’s upcoming agenda. The topic: Report of the Village Engineer on the options for renovation or replacement of our iconic Covered Bridge. I got to have fun impersonating Mike Shrake, our Village Engineer, and explained the various options of restoring, rebuilding, or expanding our current one lane bridge to two lanes. Opinions varied with some favoring history, some concerned over safety, and others mindful of the fiscal implications. Strikingly similar to our real-life Trustees, I must say! The kids did come to a consensus that our Village Engineers should continue their studies of the variables.

Meeting and interacting with our youngest residents has always been one of the greatest joys of this job for me. The scouts asked me if I had been active in government as a student, and in fact I was a member of Student Council in high school. I learned that many of these boys are also involved in the student government at their elementary schools and have already started gaining leadership skills that will be useful throughout their entire lives. It makes me hopeful for the generations to come, and for all those inaugurations yet to be!

Role playing a mini Village Board meeting and debating a real issue from the upcoming agenda.

Role playing a mini Village Board meeting and debating a real issue from the upcoming agenda.

 

Hayrake Trail

Grovetrotter walking group member Jane Primack at the entrance to the Hayrake Trail.

Grovetrotter walking group member Jane Primack at the entrance to the Hayrake Trail.

Thanks to the hard work of a Long Grove Eagle Scout, one of our neighborhood pathway trails was recently extended and restored. Known as the Hayrake Trail, this path along Indian Creek starts on Port Clinton Road and runs north, just to the east of the Com Ed right of way. This path is attractive for a variety of reasons:  it contains woodland wildflowers, winds alongside a lovely creek, features benches on which to rest, and a vintage artifact (old hayrake salvaged from the creek) as a point of interest. But my personal favorite feature of this trail is that it is entirely in the shade. And on the hot and humid August day that I recently hiked it along with my fellow Grovetrotters, that shade was most welcome!

We have Stevenson High School Senior William Jacob to thank for this, as he was the most recent local Boy Scout to choose the Hayrake Trail as his Eagle Scout project. William and his crew of volunteers spent several workdays this summer hauling mulch and clearing brush to restore the front section of the trail, and then extended the trail further north towards an eventual connection to Oakwood Road. In addition, William added a wooden entrance sign to the trail (pictured above) which is visible from Port Clinton Road so that residents can more easily access this community path. William was thanked for his service to the Village and the Park District at the August 9th Village Board Meeting, pictured below.

Long Grove is a community that depends on volunteers to step forward when needed to maintain and improve our many beautiful open spaces. Congratulations to William for gaining some valuable leadership skills, and at the same time giving all of us one more shady spot to appreciate the wonders of nature.

Honoring students at our August 9th Village Board Meeting: (L to R) Ted Tapas, Stevenson High School State  Championship Men's Bowling Team Captain, Dave Lothspeich, Village Manager, Angie Underwood, Eagle Scout William Jacob.

Honoring students at our August 9th Village Board Meeting: (L to R) Ted Tapas, Stevenson High School State Championship Men’s Bowling Team Captain; Dave Lothspeich, Village Manager; Angie Underwood, Village President; Eagle Scout William Jacob.