8
Kane County CHRONICLE MONDAY, JANUARY 20, 2014 | KCCHRONICLE.COM WORK OF ART PRINTLAB HELPS WATER STREET STUDIO EXPAND ACCESS IN REGION. PAGE 3 Mary Beth Nolan for Shaw Media Printmaker Kim Fredricks of North Aurora inks a silkscreen while demonstrating technique Saturday during a grand opening at Water Street Studios PrintLab in St. Charles. LOOKING FORWARD THE WEATHER Fun at Fireside Weekend at Durant House Museum ST. CHARLES – A Fun at Fireside Weekend is set from 1 to 4 p.m. Feb. 15 and 16, at the Durant House Museum, in the LeRoy Oakes For- est Preserve, 37W700 Dean St., St. Charles. Admission to the Durant House is $2 for adults and $1 for children between the ages of 3 and 12. For information, visit www.ppfv.org or call 630-377-6424. Dirty Dozen Brass Band to play at Fermilab BATAVIA – The Dirty Dozen Brass Band will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday at Fermilab’s Ramsey Auditorium. Fermilab is at Pine Street and Kirk Road, Batavia. The cost is $30, $15 ages 18 and younger. For information or reservations, visit www.fnal.gov/culture or call 630- 840-2787 weekdays. Today Partly sunny, a slight chance of snow. Tuesday Mostly sunny and very cold, mostly cloudy at night. High 23 Low 1 High 8 Low -6 SPONSORED BY TICKETS 630.896.6666 PARAMOUNTAURORA.COM SPECIAL VALENTINE’S DAY PERFORMANCES Singing “Sixties Hits” from The Beatles, The Rascals, Motown, The Four Seasons and more! 4 STARS FROM THE ORIGINAL CAST OF JERSEY BOYS Sin Singin gin g g Six Sixtie tiesH sHits its f from rom Th TheB eBeat eatles les,T ,T he he Ras Rascal cals, s, Mot Motown own,T ,T he he Fou FourS rSeas easons ons an andm dmore ore! !

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Kane County

CHRONICLEMONDAY, JANUARY 20, 2014 | KCCHRONICLE.COM

WORKOF ARTPRINTLAB HELPSWATER STREETSTUDIO EXPANDACCESS IN REGION.PAGE 3

Mary Beth Nolan for Shaw Media

Printmaker Kim Fredricks of North Aurora inks a silkscreen while demonstrating technique Saturday during a grand opening at Water Street Studios PrintLab in St. Charles.

LOOKING FORWARD THE WEATHER

Fun at Fireside Weekend at Durant House MuseumST. CHARLES – A Fun at Fireside Weekend is set from 1 to 4 p.m.

Feb. 15 and 16, at the Durant House Museum, in the LeRoy Oakes For-

est Preserve, 37W700 Dean St., St. Charles. Admission to the Durant

House is $2 for adults and $1 for children between the ages of 3 and

12. For information, visit www.ppfv.org or call 630-377-6424.

Dirty Dozen Brass Band to play at FermilabBATAVIA – The Dirty Dozen Brass Band will perform at 8 p.m.

Saturday at Fermilab’s Ramsey Auditorium. Fermilab is at Pine Street

and Kirk Road, Batavia. The cost is $30, $15 ages 18 and younger. For

information or reservations, visit www.fnal.gov/culture or call 630-

840-2787 weekdays.

Today

Partly sunny, a slight chance

of snow.

Tuesday

Mostly sunny and very cold,

mostly cloudy at night.

High 23

Low 1

High 8

Low -6

SPONSORED BY

TICKETS 630.896.6666PARAMOUNTAURORA.COM

SPECIAL VALENTINE’S DAY PERFORMANCESSinging “Sixties Hits” from The Beatles, The Rascals, Motown, The Four Seasons and more!

4 STARS FROM THE ORIGINAL CAST OF JERSEY BOYS

SinSinginging ggg SixSixtieties Hs Hitsits ffromrom ThThe Be Beateatlesles, T, T, hehe RasRascalcals,s,, MotMotownown, T, T, hehe FouFour Sr Seaseasonsons anand md moreore!!

Kane

CountyChronicle/KCChronicle.com

•Monday,January20,2014|LOC

ALNEWS

2 OUT AND ABOUT

IMSA accepting applicationsAURORA – The Illinois Mathematics and Science

Academy is taking applications from Illinois ninth-gradestudents passionate about math and science for consid-eration to its three year (grades 10 through 12) advancedcollege preparatory program.Admission to IMSA’s teaching and learning laboratory is

competitive, with approximately 250 students invited tolive on campus out of about 750 applicants.IMSA is a state agency and tuition and most room and

board expenses are provided by state funds.No student is ever refused because of inability to pay.

Students must submit an admissions application electron-ically, which can be found at www.imsa.edu/admissions,by March 1.Admission notification letters will be mailed in May.

Students also can contact their high school guidancecounselor or IMSA’s Office of Admissions at 630-907-5028 to request a paper application if Internet access isnot available.

Bridges Montessori plans open houseST. CHARLES – Parents of potential preschool and kin-

dergarten students for the 2014-15 school year can meetthe staff and check out the classrooms during BridgesMontessori Academy’s open house from 9 to 11:30 a.m.Saturday at the academy, 716 Oak St., St. Charles.The academy offers a multilevel guided curriculum for

children in preschool through kindergarten.Private tour appointments are available for those who

would like to see a Montessori classroom in action duringschool hours.For information or to schedule a visit, call 630-513-9742.

Tours of the elementary campus, Bridges Academy, alsoare available.For information, visit www.BridgesMontessori.org, or

check out Bridges’ Facebook page.

Fermilab Arts Gallery Chamber Series setBATAVIA – The 2014 season of the Fermilab Arts Series

Gallery Chamber Series has been set. The Chicago BrassQuintet will perform Sunday. Cavatina Duo will performFeb. 16. Rembrandt Chamber Players will performMarch 9.The events start at 2:30 p.m.The performances take place at the second-floor Art

Gallery at Fermilab, which is at Pine Street and Kirk Road,Batavia.The Gallery Chamber Series tickets are $42 for all three

concerts, each of which includes a reception with theperformers immediately after the concert.Often the exhibiting visual artists will also be in the

audience.Tickets for individual concerts are $17.For information or telephone reservations, call 630-840-

2787 or visit www.fnal.gov/culture.The gallery is in Wilson Hall, the central building of

Fermilab.

Have news to share?To submit news to the Kane County Chronicle, send a

news release to [email protected] sure to include the time, the date and the place, as

well as contact information.

Wedding expo draws crowdsBy CHARLES [email protected]

ST. CHARLES – Brides-to-begathered in the Hickory KnollsDiscovery Center on Sunday toget ideas and meet vendors fortheir big day.

A total of 12 vendors wereon hand to display their ser-vices, which included food, DJ,photography, jewelry, flowersand more. The expo brought in45 separate families Sunday, upfrom 19 during its first event in2013, said Tricia Claypool, thecenter’s wedding and event coor-dinator.

Claypool attributed thegrowth in attendees to the inclu-sion of the expo in the latest St.Charles Park District winter bro-chure and also mentions of theevent in local media.

The center did not reallystart promoting itself as a wed-ding venue until 2012, and thenan expo site until 2013, Claypoolsaid. The center can host a vari-ety of events, including weddingceremonies, with seating for125 people in the main exhibithall. There also are the confer-ence-style Twin Leaf rooms eastand west, which together canhold about 160 people.

“After several of the eventsthat we had, we then decided thatwe needed to have the expo todraw attention to the venue andalso local businesses,” Claypoolsaid.

Chris Bethel of St. Charles isconsidering Hickory Knolls asthe rehearsal wedding dinnersite for her son, who is marryingBridget Orkfritz of Elgin. Beth-el came to the Sunday expo withher daughter, Lindsay Hutchins,and Orkfritz to also look into acaterer for the dinner.

Orkfritz said she hasn’t donetoo much wedding planning yet,so she enjoyed visiting with thevendors.

She is leaning towards havinga photo booth after meeting with

Tiffany Kufer of Wheaton-basedBest Booth Plus.

Other vendors included SuePeterson Designs Unlimited, whoreturned for a second straightyear at the expo. Owner Sue Pe-terson handed out sample bou-quets for the guests and answeredquestions about color trends andaverage prices for flowers.

Wedding budgeting is onething that newly engaged MissySulita of Naperville is learning.She completed her first expo vis-it at Hickory Knolls on Sundaywith her friend, Kelly Olen of Au-rora.

“Some places can be verycrowded and large,” Olen said ofother expos. “The amount of ven-dors here is the right size.”

Photos by Charles Menchaca – [email protected]

ABOVE: Sue Peterson, owner of Sue Peterson Designs Unlimited, wraps flower bouquets with her granddaughterLexi Leifel at a wedding expo Sunday at the Hickory Knolls Discovery Center in St. Charles. BELOW: Cindy Shuler(left), owner of Cindy’s Creative Cuisine, talks to St. Charles residents Chris Bethel and Lindsay Hutchins andBridget Orkfritz of Elgin at a wedding expo.

LOCALNEW

S|Kane

County

Chronicle

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Water Street Studio PrintLab in St. Charles holds grand openingBy BRENDA [email protected]

ST. CHARLES – KimFredricks squeegeed a blastof bright blue ink across asilk screen, demonstratinghow to pull a print thatannounced – appropriate-ly – Water Street StudiosPrintLab.

For the uninitiated, itwas like magic that a sweepof color on one side couldproduce a perfect print onthe other. Next up was St.Charles 2nd Ward AldermanRita Payleitner, followed byAthena Hanson, also of St.Charles.

“I thought it was awe-some,” Payleitner said. “Iwas surprised by how easy itis. I’m excited about bring-ing arts to the city and thecity to the arts. We’re veryexcited about them beinghere.”

An oil pastel artist her-self, Hanson was thrilledat the hands-on experienceavailable Saturday at thenew Water Street StudiosPrintLab, 117 W. Main St.,St. Charles.

Although it has beenopen for several months,the recent addition of a signpointing the way down thestairs to a below-level spacewas cause for a celebrationand ribbon cutting, as about20 people attended, mingledand got to see some printwork.

“I love it,” Hanson said.“It’s neat. I’m definitelycoming back and with mykids as well.”

Director of DevelopmentJim Kirkhoff and a found-ing member of Water StreetStudios, said it was part ofthe mission to grow as anarts organization to help theregion.

“What PrintLab is, is a fa-cility for children’s classes,as well as fine art printmak-ing,” Kirkhoff said. “Butanother really neat elementof what it is, is a shared stu-dio for artists who work inprinting. ... We’re really gladto be here.”

What PrintLab will

provide for printmakers,Kirkhoff said, is access toexpensive equipment thatthey can use for a month-ly or annual membershipfee. Although Water StreetStudios is based in Batavia,its mission is to develop thepromotion of fine arts inneighboring communities,said Jill Kramer, generalmanager of Water StreetStudios.

“The PrintLab is import-ant because it’s one of theonly printmaking facilitiesoutside of a university inthe western suburbs ofChicago,” Kramer said.“It’s a facility that allowsartists that are interestedin pursuing that practiceto come here and learn newtechniques, continue with

the techniques that they arealready familiar with andare working with, withouthaving to make a large in-vestment in studio space [or]equipment.”

Kramer said printmakingin general is a democraticpractice of art, usually donein groups, so having a cen-tral location like this bringspeople together.

“Printmaking is a pro-cess-oriented practice,”Kramer said. “Where inpainting, you are putting animage on the final canvass.Printmaking is – whether itis color-separating, cuttingmultiple blocks, etchingmultiple plates – printing ismulti-process. Traditionallyprintmaking has been usedfor everything from social

revolutions to rock-and-rollposters.”

Information about the

PrintLab is available onlineat www.waterstreetstudios.com.

A NEW AVENUE FOR THE ARTS

Mary Beth Nolan for Shaw Media

Printmaker Kim Fredricks (right) of North Aurora helps Athena Hanson of St. Charles pull a silkscreen Saturday during a grand opening at WaterStreet Studios PrintLab in St. Charles.

KaneCountyChronicle/KCChronicle.com

•Monday,January20,2014|S

PORTS

4 ST. CHARLES EAST 90, ST. CHARLES NORTH 55

Saints hits high gear, rout North StarsBy JAY SCHWAB

[email protected]

ST. CHARLES – St. CharlesNorth boys basketball coachTom Poulin can’t recall an op-ponent ever raining 16 3-pointmakes on his team, nor can herecollect 90 points being hungon his North Stars in regula-tion.

But Poulin has a theoryon why that dubious triviasurfaced Saturday, after St.Charles East embarrassed thevisiting North Stars, 90-55.

North showed up to play agame. East laced ’em up withmuch more in mind.

“We came and played St.Charles East,” Poulin said.“And they came to kick ourbutts.

“They came to send a mes-sage and blow us out and getsome payback and things likethat. They came to win andcompete with everything theyhave, and we showed up toplay the game.”

East entered the seasonboasting a deep reservoir ofperimeter snipers. On Satur-day, all that promise was de-livered upon in astoundingfashion as East canned eight3-pointers in each half, rollingoff the fingertips of six differ-ent shooters.

North (11-6, 5-2 UEC River)entered play winners of fourstraight games, having heldits past two opponents – Bart-lett and Streamwood – to acombined 63 points.

Dealing with East (11-7, 5-2UEC River) at its best was acompletely different animal.

“You never know whoto guard because if we’re allknocking down shots, youcan’t guard everyone,” Eastreserve guard Zach Manibogsaid.

Saints coach Pat Woodsperhaps stated the obviousin calling East’s performanceone of the best he’s seen in histhree years on the job.

“That’s what people don’trealize, we have so manykids that can shoot the ball,”Woods said. “And the wayI play, I give them the greenlight. They had their confi-dence going, and shots werefalling.”

East senior guard Dom

Adduci, coming off a 40-pointbonanza last time out againstElgin, hadn’t cooled off much,scoring 18 points in the firsthalf, including a 25-plus footstrike to give East a 20-5 leadlate in the first quarter.

It was a walk-on-waternight for the Saints in justabout every way imaginable,including buzzer-beating3-pointers by Manibog for a50-22 halftime lead and fromCole Gentry for a staggering68-33 lead to close the third

quarter.Gentry didn’t feel himself

when the teams met the firsttime at North, a 68-58 NorthStars victory in early Decem-ber. At the time, Gentry wasstill bothered by back troublethat dogged him during theoffseason, but Saturday, hewas the difference-maker theSaints expect, splitting doubleteams with regularity and ac-counting for nine of East’s 23assists to go with eight points.

“The key is to attack their

wings and make them makea decision, and tonight every-body made the right decisionskicking it out, and we werejust finding everybody andhitting shots,” Gentry said.

In addition to Gentry’s re-surgence, East enjoyed a mo-rale boost with the return of6-foot-7 senior David Mason,who made his season debutoff the bench after undergoingfoot survey in November.

As much progress as theSaints made from Round 1to Round 2 against the NorthStars, Adduci recognized Sat-urday’s performance offers noguarantees if the teams wereto meet for a third time in re-gionals, a realistic prospect.

“Basketball definitely hasits ups and downs,” Adducisaid. “Some nights you’ll beon, you’ll feel like you’re ontop of the world, and somenights you’ll just have a badgame. We recognize that. Wefight through the highs andthe lows. Credit to our teamfor battling through thosetough losses we had early onand getting to where we arenow.”

Adduci scored 23 pointsbefore sitting for the entirefourth quarter. Senior for-ward AJ Washington scored

all 10 of his points in thefirst half while junior guardJake Clodi scored all 10 of hispoints in the fourth quarter,including a pair of 3-pointers.East was 16 for 29 from 3-pointterritory on the night. JakeAsquini made 3 of 4 from be-yond the arc.

North’s heralded guardduo of Alec Goetz (17 points)and Jake Ludwig (12) pacedthe North Stars, but Poulinsaid his team was “stuck inmud” at both ends of the floor.

“We allowed the ball to getto the high post and the lane,which just collapses you, con-sistently, and we haven’t donethat all year,” Poulin said.

Now East and North eachhave two conference losses.Both teams have one gameremaining with Larkin, theUEC River’s lone unbeatenteam.

Gentry said treating thehuge crowd Saturday to sucha sizzling performance couldpay dividends in the comingweeks for the Saints.

“It’s big just to keep gen-erating the support so nowwhen we play Larkin comingup or Geneva coming up, westill have that many peoplehere, because we really feedoff the crowd,” Gentry said.

Photos by Jeff Krage for Shaw Media

ABOVE: St. Charles East’s Zach Manibog is guarded by St. Charles North’s Johnny Davern during Saturday’s game. BELOW: St. Charles East’s Cole

Gentry smiles as the Saints enjoy a big lead. St Charles East won, 90-55.

SPORTS|Kane

County

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/KCChronicle.com

•Monday,January

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LOOKING FORWARD

TuesdayCoverage of the Batavia girls basketball competing against Jo-

liet Catholic today at the McDonald’s Shootout in Willowbrook.The Bulldogs are the final area team to take part in the

multiday event after Geneva and Burlington Central played in theshootout on Saturday.

ThursdayFeature story on the 25th reunion of the St. Francis boys bas-

ketball team’s 1988-89 state tournament team. That team willbe honored Saturday during the Spartans’ “Alumni Night” gameagainst Prairie Ridge.

SaturdayLog on to KCChronicle.com/preps for weekend coverage of

the final day of the Upstate Eight Conference Wrestling Tour-nament, the Geneva-St. Charles East girls basketball game, theBatavia-Elgin boys basketball game and the Marmion-WheatonAcademy boys basketball game.

TODAYGirls basketball: Batavia vs. Joliet Catholic at Willowbrook McDonalds

Shootout, 1:30 p.m.; St. Francis vs. TBD, at Marshall High School, TBD.Girls bowling: St. Charles East at Zion-Benton Invite, 9 a.m.

TUESDAYBoys basketball: Glenbard North at Geneva, 7:15 p.m.; Sycamore at

Burlington Central, 7:15 p.m.Girls basketball: Glenbard North at Geneva, 5:45 p.m.; Aurora Central

Catholic at Immaculate Conception, 7:30 p.m.; Montini at St. Francis, 7p.m.; Rosary at Aurora Christian, 7:30 p.m.; Guerin at Wheaton Academy,7:30 p.m.Girls bowling: Geneva at Streamwood, 4 p.m.; St. Charles East at St.

Charles North, 4 p.m.; Rochelle at Kaneland, 4 p.m.Girls gymnastics: Geneva at Neuqua Valley, 6 p.m.

THURSDAYBoys basketball: St. Charles East at Metea Valley, 7:15 p.m.; North

Boone at Burlington Central, 7:15 p.m.Girls basketball: Batavia at Larkin, 7:15 p.m.; Streamwood at St.

Charles East, 7:15 p.m.; Elgin at Geneva, 7:15 p.m.; St. Francis at GlenbardSouth, 7 p.m.; Rosary at Walther Lutheran, 7 p.m.Boys wresting: Aurora Central Catholic, Walther Lutheran at St.

Francis, 5:30 p.m.Boys swimming: Neuqua Valley at St. Charles East, 4:30 p.m.; St.

Charles North at Bartlett, 5 p.m.; Walther Lutheran at St. Francis, 5 p.m.Girls bowling: UEC Conference Tournament at St. Charles East, 4 p.m.

ST. CHARLES NORTH 63, ST. CHARLES EAST 54

North Stars showcase theirdepth, conditioning in win

By JAY [email protected]

ST. CHARLES – Quicker,deeper and healthier, the St.Charles North girls basket-ball team had little troubleSaturday evening the regularseason series with rival St.Charles East.

The North Stars pulledaway in the middle stages ofthe game and drew upon theirsubstantial cushion to fend offthe host Saints on Saturday,63-54.

The game was played at abrisk pace, which seemed tofavor the North Stars, espe-cially in the aftermath of Eastpoint guard Amanda Hilton’srecent season-ending injury.

For large stretches of thegame, any possession thatresulted in a half-court setwas the exception to the rule– drive it at the rim as quick-ly as possible, preferably intransition.

“That’s all we do in prac-tice,” North forward NicholeDavidson said. “We alwaysjust run the floor, run the floor.That’s what our coach expects,and that’s what we do.”

North coach Sean Mason-cup said playing fast is his ex-

pectation.“That’s what I know best,

and that’s what the girls liketo play,” Masoncup said. “Andit’s a fun game for the girls,playing uptempo and gettingup and down. And I thoughtthey did a great job of it.”

Davidson scored 18 pointsand had six rebounds, andeach of North’s five startersscored at least six points, withforward Morgan Rosencrantschipping in 12 points and sixrebounds.

The North Stars (10-10,4-3 UEC River) also receiveda boost from reserve centerLiz McNally, who recentlyreturned from injury to en-hance the team’s frontcourtdepth. McNally had sevenpoints, two rebounds and ablock.

North’s interior passingwas successful, often result-ing in point-blank shots orEast fouls.

“That was the key tonight,is we had to get them in foultrouble because they’re notas deep without Hilton,” Mas-concup said. “And I feel terri-ble for that kid. She’s a greatkid.”

Saints forward Kyra Wash-ington scored a game-high 25

points, 19 of which in the sec-ond half, to keep East (10-11,4-4 UEC River) competitive.

“I came an hour before wewere supposed to be here, andI worked on my shot and stufflike that, and it paid off, sothat was good,” Washingtonsaid.

East trailed 31-21 at half-time and 48-34 after the thirdquarter, only returning themargin to single digits on aWashington 3-pointer in theclosing seconds.

North’s Ashling Davernand Kyla Helsel scored ninepoints each, while KatelynClaussner had nine pointsand MacKenzie Meadowsadded eight for East, whichdefeated North, 72-68, in De-cember.

In that one, the Saints hadHilton, East’s four-year start-er at point guard who is donefor the year with a kneecapfracture.

“We’re not pushing theball up the court as fast, andit’s hard to set up the plays,”Washington said of moving onwithout Hilton. “She usuallygets everyone under control,so it’s hard doing that. She’sjust a great team leader. It’shard to replace that spot, too.”

Jeff Krage for Shaw Media

St. Charles North’s Nicole Davidson drives around St. Charles East’s Kyra Washington during Saturday’sgame. St. Charles North won 63-54.

KaneCountyChronicle/KCChronicle.com

•Monday,January20,2014|C

OMICS

6 Arlo & Janis

Big Nate

Crankshaft

Stone Soup

Dilbert

Garfield

Frank & Earnest

Soup to Nutz

Rose Is Rose

The Born Loser

COMICSANDADVICE|

Kane

County

Chronicle

/KCChronicle.com

•Monday,January

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147

Teen’s taxi servicehas disgruntled rider

Dear Abby: I’m a high-school senior. At thebeginning of the schoolyear, I agreed to drive mybest friend to school in themornings, and for a while itwas nice.

Last month she startedto refuse to talk while I wasdriving. If I tried talkingto her, she wouldn’t re-spond. She recently told herboyfriend (who she texts con-stantly while riding with me)that she didn’t like my driv-ing. I found out because of apost he made on Facebook.When I asked her about it,she said that morning I hadslammed on the brakes andit scared her.

This has made me tenseand stressed out in the morn-ings, and I want to stop driv-ing her. My grandmothersays I should stick it outinstead of causing friction.My mom thinks I should stopdriving her, but only if shecan find another ride.

I tried to explain this toher, but she won’t listen andI’m still stuck with her. Thishas ruined our relationship.I feel like she hates me, but Idon’t know what to do aboutany of it. Help! – DrivenCrazy In Florida

Dear Driven Crazy: Yourformer best friend may havestopped talking to you onthe way to school becauseshe was too busy texting herboyfriend. She is ignoringthe fact that you have beendoing her the favor of trans-porting her and is using youas a private taxi service.

If she was frightenedbecause you braked sudden-ly, the person she shouldhave said it to was YOU. So,stop “explaining” to her andTELL her that if she wantsto continue getting a freeride, she had better adjusther attitude or make otherarrangements for transpor-tation.

Dear Abby: My daughter,the mother of a toddler,just had twins. We live fourhours away, so I stayed withthem for a few weeks to helpher and her husband adjustto their larger family. Ittaught me a lot about how to

help new mothers who arefeeling overwhelmed.

It’s not about holding thebabies; everyone wants todo that. Instead, if you reallywant to help tired parents,do one of the following:

Take the older children tothe park, the library, the zoo,to a diner for breakfast. Keepthem happy and safe, andbring them home worn out.

Bring dinner or takeoutwhen visiting. Wash, dryand fold the laundry. Get thekids ready for bed, give themtheir baths, read books tothem and wait until they areasleep to leave.

Clean the house, run thevacuum, empty the garbageand change the beds. Buygroceries (the basics), includ-ing paper goods, and graba box of gallon plastic bags,masking tape and Sharpies(to date frozen foods).

The gift of your time isever so much more help-ful than cute baby outfitsthat are quickly outgrown.Thanks, Abby! – ProudGrandma In New York

Dear Proud Grandma: Mywarm congratulations onthe new additions to yourfamily. Your daughter is alucky woman. Your lettershould be clipped and savedby anyone who is lookingforward to grandparenthoodbecause it is a classic.

Dear Readers: Today wecelebrate the birthday ofthe Rev. Martin LutherKing Jr., the visionarycivil rights leader who wasassassinated in 1968. Manyof his words ring as truetoday as when they werefirst spoken.

The quote I have inmind as I write this is, “Allprogress is precarious, andthe solution of one problembrings us face-to-face withanother problem.” It appliesto many aspects of life.

• Write Dear Abby atwww.dearabby.com.

JeannePhillips

DEAR ABBY

Beetle Bailey

Blondie

The Argyle Sweater Real Life Adventures

Pearls Before Swine

KaneCountyChronicle/KCChronicle.com

•Monday,January20,2014|P

UZZLES

8

Try not to beton a 3-3 split

BRIDGE by Phillip Alder

Wayne Gretzky, the ice hock-ey superstar who surprisinglywon the Stanley Cup only fourtimes (the record for a player is11, held by Henri Richard of theMontreal Canadiens), said, “Youmiss 100 percent of the shots younever take.”

Experts carry a fair numberof percentages around in theirheads. Less capable players knowa few. This means that when twolines of play present themselves,the expert can usually calculatewhich is mathematically better.But someone else might have torely on instinct.

In this example, how shouldSouth play in three no-trumpafter West leads the club queen?

North might have used Stay-man to try to find a 4-4 major-suitfit. However, with his points inhis short suits, it was reasonableto raise to three no-trump. UsingStayman is fine when you have a4-4 major-suit fit and game in thatsuit makes. But when you do nothave a fit, employing Staymanjust gives the defenders extra in-formation about declarer’s hand.

South starts with seven toptricks: one spade, one heart,three diamonds and two clubs. Ifdeclarer can take five diamondtricks, he will be home. Butshould he cash the top honors orstart with a finesse of dummy’s10?

A priori, a 3-3 split has aprobability of 35.53 percent. Mostplayers know that. But few willbe aware that the finessing linewill work 42 percent of the time,making it the preferable choice.

Win the first trick with yourclub ace, play a diamond to dum-my’s 10, cash the diamond queen,and claim nine tricks.

In general, try not to bankeverything on a 3-3 split.

CROSSWORD

CELEBRITY CIPHER

SUDOKU

Answers to Puzzle

SOLUTION