In the not-too-distant future, you might hear someone in Rolling Meadows shout, “I’m going to run down to Glorified Meadows-do you need anything?” Or maybe Meadowsites will be making plans to meet at the bike trail near Rolling Thunder. Or just go hang out for a while at the Meadows Mecca.
Rolling Meadows, in case you haven’t heard, is deep in the throes of rebuilding its mostly shuttered downtown, and in a recent issue of the city newsletter, the Economic Development Committee invited residents to try their hand at coming up with a logo for what they hope will be the hot new center of the city.
According to city manager Robert Beezat, merchants will get their say before any slogan is adopted, but so far, city planners seem partial to Meadows City Center.
Beezat said the city got more than 70 suggestions for naming the strip off Kirchoff Road that will eventually include a McDonald’s, a Sears Paint and Hardware, a rejuvenated mall, some groceries, parkland and bike paths.
He said the goal in naming the area is to give it an identity. He indicated that if merchants go along, he would hope that whatever name is chosen would eventually be used in signage and advertising.
“We would like the area to become a destination-maybe not from Wisconsin, but we would like to see the downtown business district thought of as a little more than just a shopping strip,” he said.
Beezat further indicated that the city is looking for a term that would be “descriptive” without being “too unusual.”
Well, that probably rings the death knell for Rolling Thunder and Glorified Meadows, not to mention The Right Bank, Avenue of the Meadows, Meadows Magnificent Midtown Mall, Bright Meadows and Meadows on the Pond.
Other suggestions: Meadows Promenade, Meadows Waterfront (well, Salt Creek does run through the area), Whispering Meadows, Spring Meadows Trails, Rolling Hills Center, Meadows Strip, Kirchoff Krossing, Kimball Hill Mall of Rolling Meadows and West Point.
Come to think of it, Meadows City Center does sound pretty good, even when it’s spelled Meadows City Centre, which was the way it was originally submitted.
Stranger than fiction? Just when it seemed that things might be improving for the Troy Albuck family of Barrington, the gulf war vet’s life has taken another bizarre turn-and apparently not for the better.
Albuck is the outspoken Desert Storm veteran who suffers from Gulf War Syndrome, a mysterious and debilitating illness contracted during his military duty in the Mideast, and which he believes was passed on to his 2-year-old son.
We spoke to Troy and Kelli Albuck just a few weeks ago about their relief that their new baby, though premature, seemed to suffer from none of the life-threatening ailments that had plagued their other son. Though still resentful of the way he says he’s been treated by the government he fought for, Troy Albuck seemed a little more upbeat than he had in the past.
So imagine our surprise to learn that Lake County police are investigating an episode in which Albuck claims to have been abducted from his Barrington home Friday by Iraqi prisoners of war, who put duct tape over his eyes and around his wrists, drove him around wooded areas of Lake County and poked him the back with a sharp object before he escaped to the safe confines of a McHenry tavern.
The Albucks have been unavailable for comment, but Lake County police have had plenty to say, and they are clearly skeptical of his story.
“At least he has agreed to take a polygraph test, which we are in the process of setting up with the FBI,” said Lt. Chester Iwan. “It’s a rather bizarre story and series of events, which we can’t corroborate and so far can’t disprove.”
Iwan admitted his office is putting more effort into “disproving than proving” Albuck’s story, which he says police feel is somewhat implausible from a practical standpoint.
“Is it humanly possible, with duct tape over your eyes and hands, to run full speed through a totally unfamiliar area and elude two armed individuals?” he asked. “It seems to be a rather far-fetched physical feat.”
But considering Troy Albuck’s luck in the last few years, we have to say that if anybody in Barrington is going to be the victim of Iraqi terrorists, it would without a doubt be him.
