What a difference a year makes...

So here it is, the end of the year.

At this time last year we were looking back on a rather tumultuous year highlighted, for lack of a better word, of recalls, EPA hearings, clashes between board members and village staff, the resignation of a long-time, well-respected village manager, the hiring of a new village manager and the Cubs going nowhere.

What a difference a year makes.

Most of the above has ebbed -- with of course the fact the Cubs went nowhere.

The past year was highlighted by changes on the Village Board as Elliott Hartstein hung up the gavel with Jeff Braiman taking center seat. Three newcomers joined the Board, Andrew Stein by defeating Denise Bocek in the April election, Mike Terson by virtue of an unopposed race, and Lester Ottenheimer III by appointment.

But what would be a year in the history of Big Animal Grove without a little sabre-rattling.  

Two elections gave residents an opportunity to see some rather unusual campaign rhetoric. 

The race for District 125, which is Stevenson High School, the “125for125” slate of Kathy Powell, Kim Brady and Charles Cardella and the United4Stevenson slate that included incumbents Bruce Rubin, Merv Roberts, and Terry Moons along with newcomer David Weisberg.

At face value, it was the old-boy incumbents (along with Weisberg) who were spending the district to death, facing off against Don Quixote and his band of windmill fighters who were going to cut spending and save the district from financial ruin.  What they failed to say was how they were going to maintain the academic integrity of the Mecca on 22 while cutting funds.  Oops.  They also forgot to mention their hidden moral agenda and their alliance with the Illinois Family Institute.  Oops.

What was lost in their rhetoric was the impact on the students.  But wait, wasn’t that supposed to be the focus of a school board race?

Granted, the United4Stevenson candidates made some bonehead calls during its previous term, but at least, so it seemed, you had an idea which direction they were going in.  The 125for125 slate seemed to vacillate in its positions, so voters were not quite sure just exactly where they stood.

And on Election Day, the results seemed to back that up.  United4Stevenson came out on top.

While the campaign was heated, it was focused on the issues -- unlike the race for Buffalo Grove Village Clerk.

That contest had incumbent Jan Sirabian facing everyone’s favorite question mark, Rob Sherman.  Sherman whose sole intention appeared to (surprise) do little more than keep his name in the news, did little more than castigate Sirabian for being a long-serving village clerk – and for being a woman. 

Instead of addressing the needs of the village, Sherman, instead opted to spend time having his car washed by employees of Hooters, attending presentations on women’s underwear and showing up at public hearings, soliciting signatures – and then leaving.

Was it any surprise that Sirabian garnered 80 percent of the vote?  Not really – except when Sherman saw it as a moral victory.  Somehow Sherman and moral don’t fit in the same sentence together.

And to think that was in April.  After that things seemed to run their course on a fairly routine basis.

Routine?  Buffalo Grove?  It looks like 2011 has been that kind of a year.

One thing that did go unresolved, however.   The fate of the evil “Hipcheck16”.

Despite the efforts of deposed board member Lisa Stone, who claims the anonymous Daily Herald poster defamed her son, and wants to know Hipcheck 16’s true identity, the Cook County Appellate Court has ruled to the contrary.

So another year and another unsolved mystery.

However, I have a suspicion as to who may be behind the dastardly Hipcheck 16.

Kim Jong-il.