Top Evergreen Park Stories of 2011 (Part 2 of 2)

Yesterday we gave you the . Today, we bring you more memorable news from over the year.

What was your most memorable moment from 2011? Whether you protested the Sisters of Mercy or Meijer/Menards developments, were trapped in an 18-inch snow blizzard, or witnessed the Army Spc. Jared Stanker street sign dedication, our town has had an interesting year filled with ups, downs and a few stories that have landed on national pages. Patch recounts a few of them here, not in any particular order.



On Nov. 14, we profiled Marge Nykaza, 57, who combined her two passions to found Harmony, Hope and Healing, non-profit organization that collaborates with social service agencies and community-based organizations in the Chicago area to help people “find their voice” through the pain and heartache that results from addictions, incarceration, homelessness, abuse and being cast out of society. Later that week, The Huffington Post chose Nykaza as its "Greatest Person of the Day"—an honor recognizing people who confront issues in their community with creativity and passion.



We had quite a wet year! Snowmageddon 2011--and the quick melting thereof-- kicked it off with 18 inches of snow in early February. Then in June, heavy thunderstorms decended upon Evergreen Park, flooding parts of the village.

reunited with family and friends after being wounded during a remote mission in Afghanistan with his unit in March. Hojek was shot several times and sustained severe injuries to his pelvis, left leg and both of his hips. Hojek's family and friends threw a benefit to help defray the cost of trips that his family would have to take to and from his rehabilitative treatment in Fort Benning in Columbus, GA.

In late October, more than 200 family members and friends, including Mayor James Sexton, in , a place where Stanker spent countless hours playing as a child. Next to the Evergreen Park street sign sits a boulder dedicated to Stanker last year with the inscription, “We love you and you will never be forgotten.” Stanker was killed in Afghanistan on Oct. 27, 2009, with six other U.S. soldiers in a roadside bomb attack. This article made the Huffington Post Neighborhood Pick of the Day for Oct. 24.

In early June, U.S. Marshals auctioned off items belonging to Ted Kaczynski, the Evergreen Park-raised Harvard graduate who was responsible for a nearly 20-year mail-bombing rampage. The online auction held May 18 to June 2 brought in $232,246.

After a man from Chicago lied to his mother about being robbed, he wound up in jail. On Oct. 13, shortly after 5 p.m., Clyde Glover, 55, of Chicago, claimed someone took $19 from his shirt pocket at gunpoint at McDonald's, according to Evergreen Park police, after his mother lent him the money to get something to eat. Glover's mother was at Little Company of Mary Hospital and Health Care Centers, and he returned to the hospital and told his mother he'd been robbed, police said. After requesting police in the hospital and changing his story a few times, Glover confessed that he had not been robbed, but owed someone $19. This article made the Huffington Post's Dumb Criminals Page.