Pat Elwood's Fox 32 Coverage of Francis Cardinal George's Blessing of Leo Buses

Here's the lede

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Here's the Heart

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Here's Our Newest Video Star

back row - Mike Joyce, Kimberly Hickey, front row, Amir Holmes, Francis Cardinal George ( undefeated) and James Davis
Chicago News and Weather | FOX 32 News

Please NOTE - Mike " Pickle" Joyce, Esq. ( 10-1 Pro Boxing career) is the Leo Head Boxing Coach and bears no resemblance to Miss Kimberly Hickey* our Math Teacher and Leo Assitant Boxing Coach.

* Miss Hickey is not a relative of the this post-hole digger and has no relative in Local # 399 IUOE.

My Take Aways from President's Syria Lecture and Dinner in Heart of Italy

I spent a wonderful day with my President - of Leo High School - visiting St. Cajetan 8th grade boys about the Leo Opportunity ( affordable tuition and transportation)  and later tramping through a parade ground of school buses at Midwest Transit Equipment in Kankakee, IL.  Thanks to the generous outpouring of treasure from Leo Alumni and friends into the Leo Express to Opportunity campaign headed by Leo grad Sam Leno '63, my President had a blank check for the campaign account.  We bought two vehicles - a 72 passenger school bus and a 28 passenger activity bus.

My President was like an Arab and our Midwest Transit  sales manager was most receptive to Leo's needs and knocked off $ 4,500 from the total. cost.  My President acted.

The bus and the activity vehicle are now being painted to attest to Leo High School ownership.  Once out of the sub-Saharan sun and into the AC of my Malibu we celebrated with a couple of bottles of water. I dropped my President off at St. Cajetan's to retrieve his car and then went back to Leo High School to retrieve my cell phone ( left on the desk when I went for a much needed haircut prior to the St. Cajetan's visit - in the heat and humidity what passes for my hair adds nothing much to my manly bearing) and inform a lovely woman that our evening's assignation had moved from Taylor Street to the Heart of Italy - "We are eating at Bacchanalia!!!!  Park on Oakley over by Ald. Moreno's offices and see you at 6PM, Love!"

I know that squeals of delight had more to do with the splendid bill of fare there than anticipation of this freshly shorn widow-man.

The food at every restaurant in Heart of Italy sparks manly tears of joy, but Bacchanalia Ristorante's is especially compelling. We shared ( well, sort of) baked artichoke and parted ways at main course. I taking the road most travelled - *Porterhouse Vesuvio (Charbroiled, Topped with our Signature Vesuvio Sauce & Potatoes) and she with Veal Cutlet Milanese (A crisp Veal Cutlet platter).  Again we spooned in alliance over a platter of the House flagship side - Sautéed Spinach (Spinach Sautéed in Garlic and Spices).  We both hefted home sizeable portions of the delicacies.  My leftovers never seem to live through the night as my 23 year old Son gets home from work shortly after my retirement.  A good meal is not a gorging, but an event marked by talk and punctuated by forkfuls.

Conversation sparkled throughout the shared meal, touching upon the Leo vehicle purchases and the upcoming Leo/Lake Forest Academy Football, abusive male cads and bounders, sacred and choral music, jazz, The Humpday Camel commercial and Syria.

Syria is no place for Americans, no place for indigenous Christians, a horrible place for Jews and what might be the  Arab Spanish Civil War  for another global war. President Obama is finally being understood as the career anointed appointee that is his CV.  The poor man is was and ever shall be in over his head and pay-grade; unless, of course, you are All In With Obama*.

Following the lush meal that only Americans can enjoy, we sat on the benches of Oakley Street and chatted before I accompanied my lovely table mate to her car.  She headed north on Western Ave. to the Congress Expressway and I south to Morgan Park.  I cranked the AC and left the radio on to the President's Syria speech.  I listened attentively and here is what I took away.

President Obama has yet to master History "In World War I, American GIs were among the many thousands killed by deadly gas in the trenches of Europe."

The collective reference, G. I.s, did not come into common parlance  until the 1940's, as American troops were commonly termed Doughboys in WWI. The self-styled rhetorical wonder of a President engaged once again in misrepresenting historical fact., not unlike his gaffe of praising the Navy Corpsemen who saved their Leaterneck brethren in WWII. well, that rhetorical nit picked, The President droned on in syrupy humanitarian tone, crafted no doubt by Samantha Powers, until he poisoned his waterhole with this hypocrital flourish -

" The purpose of this (rhetorical?)  strike would be to deter Assad from using chemical weapons, to degrade his regime’s ability to use them, and to make clear to the world that we will not tolerate their use.

That’s my judgment as Commander-in-Chief. But I’m also the President of the world’s oldest constitutional democracy. So even though I possess the authority to order military strikes, I believed it was right, in the absence of a direct or imminent threat to our security, to take this debate to Congress. I believe our democracy is stronger when the President acts with the support of Congress."   

( emphases my own) Really?  Like HHS mandates, EPA weapons, IRS shenanigans?

Back to the issue - President Obama drew a red-line ( several) against Assad, people were horribly gassed, Congress was tossed the ball, the Administration twisted the need like a Hanover pretzel, 70 % of the public are against any intervention tiny pin-prick or not and Vlad Putin caught John Kerry's Inner Biden.  Now, Putin has brokered a deal what to do . . .""I have, therefore, asked the leaders of Congress to postpone a vote to authorize the use of force while we pursue this diplomatic path. "

Postpone the vote that world demands, for a strike against whom and what?

I took away much more wholesome goodness from the Heart of Italy neighborhood than in all of the empty calories of The President.  My dinner companion took home spinach and veal and I most of the porterhouse, spuds and the sinful artichoke hearts and garlic sauce, from Bachanalia Ristorante. 

From the Syrian Speech?  Much less.


* 

Leo High School “The LION Express To Opportunity” Safe Here & Safe Home

                             Leo Lion Sam Leno, a back of the yards kid from the Class of 1963, has crafted this great campaign to beef up Leo's ability to get Young Lions to and from school - Facta Non Verba!

                                       

“The LION Express To Opportunity”

                                                               Safe Here & Safe Home

Goal

Establish a safe,

reliable, modern

school bus system

for students who

have no other

transportation

options, to get

to/from school and

home, as well as

to/from school

events.

As the city and neighborhoods began to change, public

transportation became less reliable and less safe.

Leo High School desperately

needs our help!

Dear Leo Alumni, friends and family,

As you know, attending Leo has contributed significantly to

providing each of us a strong foundation of integrity,

discipline and sound moral values, molding us into the men

that we are today. While our backgrounds are varied, we

have all successfully transitioned from young boys to good

husbands, fathers and grandfathers. Thanks to the

commitment of the Irish Christian Brothers, as well as

countless lay-teachers, we were all blessed with the

opportunity to enjoy an outstanding education grounded in

our faith in God.

Throughout the years, most of us got to school either by

walking or riding city transportation. However, as the city

and neighborhoods began to change, public transportation

became less reliable and less safe. Many other Catholic

High Schools added their own bus transportation over the

years, but unfortunately, Leo did not. As a result of this

and other less significant factors, enrollment has decreased

2

Lorem Ipsum Dolor Spring 2016

We are all part of an important legacy and now we have an opportunity to keep that legacy

alive by helping Leo help itself. A modern and effective transportation program will:

--‐ provide much improved recruiting initiatives and results by being able to expand its

geographic reach

--‐ increase the school’s enrollment numbers, providing increased tuition proceeds

--‐ provide the means for Leo leadership to address many of its other facility needs, making

the school even more desirable potentially increasing enrollment even more

The “bottom line” - This campaign “The LION Express To Opportunity”

Safe Here & Safe Home will provide the money necessary to materially increase the

number and quality of its buses and become the “gift that keeps on giving!”

Many of you have been strong supporters of Leo with your donations over the years.

However, given the importance of this specific need, which is vital to the future of the school, I

am praying that each of you will join me and others who are reaping the benefits of having

attended Leo High School, in making a 1 time donation to this unique enrollment expanding

initiative. It is a meaningful way for us to "give back" and help students, much like us when

we were high school age, receive an education like no other.

LEO HIGH SCHOOL DESPERATELY NEEDS OUR HELP

from over 1200 at its peak, to about 160 today. This is sad to see,

especially when the school offers so much good and hope to young

men trying to make a difference in their lives by receiving a quality

education, excellent values and spiritual guidance.

The single most significant factor preventing Leo from increasing its

enrollment is it’s inability to compete with other Catholic High Schools

that do supply transportation to students who have no other means of

getting to/from home and school, as well as to/from student events.

Leo has as much to offer its young impressionable students today as it did when we all

attended, but the single biggest concern expressed by the parents of prospective students is the

need for the school to supply safe, reliable transportation for their children.

In spite of its transportation limitations, Leo has been successful at recruiting many outstanding

students and student athletes who excel and compete successfully against much larger schools,

both Public and Catholic. Imagine how much more successful they could be if they could

enhance their recruiting efforts through a vital transportation program?

3

Lorem Ipsum Dolor Spring 2016

Alumni Quote

LEO HIGH SCHOOL DESPERATELY NEEDS OUR HELP

Here are some of the specifics:

“The LION Express To Opportunity”

Safe Here & Safe Home

O Goal: Establish a safe, reliable, modern

school bus system for students who have no

other transportation options, to get to/from

school and home, as well as to/from school

events.

O Needs: 2 large school buses and 3 to 4

mini-vans

O Why: Materially improve new student

recruiting initiatives and significantly expand

the size of Leo’s student body every year.

O How: Create a targeted and highly visible

“special campaign” by soliciting 1 time

donations from Alumni and “Friends of Leo

High School”

O Target: Raise $300,000

O When: over the next 30 days

O Involvement: Alumni, student body

and key faculty members

“Looking back retrospectively at

the foundational experience

provided by Leo and the Irish

Christian Brothers, my high

school experience played a

pivotal role in molding me into a

better human being in almost

every respect. The education,

values and discipline instilled by

brothers Sloan, McCabe, Beyer,

McDermott, Acker, Miller, Shea,

Nash, Martin, Coogan,

Castellanos, McDonough,

McKenna, Ryan and the other lay

teachers, taught me how to make

a meaningful difference in my life

and expand my experiences well

beyond the South Side of

Chicago. The Leo experience

helped me become and be a

better Naval Officer, a more

effective businessman, a better

father and husband.”

The school has created a separate bank account for

these donations to ensure that all donations are used for

the explicit purpose of creating a small fleet of student

buses as described above. If you’d like discuss this

initiative or receive any additional information, please

call (773) 224-9600 and ask to speak with either Dan

McGrath, President of Leo High School, or Pat Hickey in

the Development Office.

We will keep all of you informed of the success of this

program by posting updated results at the Leo Website:

http://www.leohighschool.org

Please make your donation checks payable to:

Leo High School – The Lion Express to Opportunity

Mail your donations to:

Leo High School

Attention: Dan McGrath, President

7901 S. Sangamon St.

Chicago, IL 60620

No matter how much you are able to give, Leo

will benefit greatly from your sincere generosity!

Gratefully yours,

LEO HIGH SCHOOL DESPERATELY NEEDS OUR HELP

GO LIONS !!!