Cheyanne saves the day

A white Labrador retriever named Cheyanne helped alert humans to a house fire in an Elgin neighborhood last month.

It was just after 8 a.m. Sept. 30 when Natalie Bozich let 2-year-old Cheyanne outside to do her duty.

Instead of staying in the yard like usual, Cheyanne bolted across the 1800 block of Pebble Beach Circle to a neighbor's house.

Bozich called after her puppy and, when the dog did not return, she decided to looked closer.

"I looked up and saw smoke coming out of the second level of the house. Lo and behold, it was fire smoke," Bozich said.

Bozich and another neighbor went to the house and helped members of the Brozek family, including a cat and a dog, outside to safety.

The fire department responded about 9 a.m. and extinguished the fire, which officials say originated in the laundry room and caused about $8,500 worth damage.

Bozich gives Cheyanne all the credit.

"Basically, it was the dog. She just bolted over there," she said.

Personnel in the Kane County Elgin Branch Court heard a new one during bond call on Wednesday.

Jordan S. Christensen of South Elgin claimed that his pets' welfare would be at stake if he was held in jail on his Class 3 felony retail theft charge.

Christensen was arrested Tuesday after he allegedly stole more than $150 worth of merchandise from the Kohl's department store in the 300 block of Randall Road in South Elgin, a report said.

"My animals are at home," Christensen told Kane County Judge Bruce W. Lester during his bond court appearance. "They haven't been fed in 24 hours."

Apparently, Christensen's family is out of town due to a medical emergency, and no one is available to feed the cats and dogs while he is in jail.

Christensen petitioned Lester for a recognizance bond on the felony charge so he could go home and feed his furry friends.

Due to Christensen's previous criminal convictions and the felony level of the theft charge, Judge Lester refused to grant Christensen's request.

The judge did, however, order an officer from the Kane County Sheriff's Department and a South Elgin police officer to contact the local animal control so that Christensen's animals would be taken care of while Christensen is in jail.

Christensen's bail was set at $3,000. He is to appear in court 9 a.m. Nov. 3.

This year's "Friends of the Festival" at the Sycamore Pumpkin Festival have had a ringside seat to the annual Pumpkin Fest parade for 25 years. Sue and Denny Leifheit live along Somonauk Road, and the parade goes right past their home. In fact, they note, for the past few years, the judges who decide which marching band is best have set up on the Leifheit lawn.

But if your name isn't Leifheit, don't you dare try to set out chairs, blankets, etc. to reserve your juicy parade-watching spot until at least 5 o'clock Friday afternoon. "All items placed on the parkways prior to Friday afternoon will be removed by the city!" warns a press release from the Sycamore Police Department.

"City employees work hard to prepare the roadway and spectator areas for the parade, and the presence of chairs, blankets, marking tape and barricades hampers their efforts to pick up fallen leaves and roadside debris," the cops say.

Members of the Elgin Fire Department were recognized last week when a crew from the ABC morning show "Good Morning America" came to town to highlight their efforts in raising $5,000 throughout last year's holiday season to buy 10,000 pounds of food for local food pantries. The segment aired Monday on the national morning program, and featured members of Elgin Fire Station 2 as they prepared to host a dinner as part of the fundraising program Feeding America.

DECOevents, Elgin's environmentally conscious event and wedding planning firm/couture service provider, recently was picked to be included in a comprehensive online directory of green wedding vendors, www.GreenBrideGuide.com. The site bills itself as a "yellow pages of eco-friendly wedding resources."

DECOevents' office is in the Professional Building, 164 Division St. in downtown Elgin. According to the company Web site, www.decoevents.biz, owner-operators Meghan Donovan and Liz Nunez "pledge to use local and national vendors that have the same environmentally kind morals as our clients and our company."

And if Al Gore ever gets divorced and remarries, well ...