CARDINAL NEWS awards the 2024 Insensitive and Ineffective Government/Absent Protector of Residents Award for the Village of Arlington Heights Board performance at the Village Board Meeting on June 3, 2024. An Arlington Heights family that lives near Rolling Green Country Club sought help from the Village of Arlington Heights regarding dangerous stray golf balls hitting their property from the golf course, but Mayor Thomas Hayes replied that he doesn’t see the family’s predicament as a public safety concern, and none of the village board members recognized the hazard that exists on a public street.
UPDATE …
Meet the Cevapovic family. They live in the block of 1100 Waterman Avenue — a small rural type street in a residential neighborhood that divides Rolling Green Country Club from a residential neighborhood, and also connects Oakton Street to Rand Road (US-12). The Cevapovic’s property during golf season is bombarded daily by golf balls. Unfortunately, bad golf shots from golfers playing at the Rolling Green Country Club result in golf balls landing in their yard, damaging their home and vehicles. They also say they are at risk of being hit and seriously injured by golf ball projectiles when trying to enjoy being outdoors on their property. The homeowners say their property is made dangerous by the daily bombardment of golf balls.
They went to the June 3, 2024 Village Board meeting to seek help with the problem because they were getting no response from the Rolling Green Country Club, 2525 East Rand Road in Arlington Heights.
Mayor Thomas Hayes and Village Manager Randy Recklaus both declared that the risk created on the family’s property was a private issue between the Arlington Heights family and the Rolling Green Country Club. Hayes even added that the flying golf balls are not a public safety concern. However, people in a car, people bicycling, and people walking or jogging are equally at risk on the Arlington Heights public street (Waterman Avenue) located between the family’s Waterman Avenue address and the Rolling Green Country Club. In other words, if you’re at risk standing in the Cevapovic’s backyard or front yard, you’re also at risk traveling on the public street known as Waterman Avenue.
The basic response from the village board was, “we can’t help you” and “you knew you were moving next to a golf course” — not an airport, not a sewage treatment, not a loud factory; but a golf course where several other homes are located even closer to the golf course. Unfortunately, the Cevapovic family probably trusted that a nice village like Arlington Heights regulated the hazards near the golf course. If the Cevapovic family had that trust, they were wrong, because the village board is not so nice. They shouldn’t have trusted that the Village of Arlington Heights has the innocent family in mind. More likely, the village board has the Rolling Green royalty in mind … the people they rub elbows with at their wine and cheese outings.
Golf Ball Injuries Can Be Catastrophic
Just a note about injuries caused by golf balls … A 2004 study at the Department of Ophthalmology, Karl Franzens University of Graz, Austria regarding eye trauma while golfing studied seven patients with golf-related eye injuries. Four of the patients suffered blunt closed globe trauma and four suffered ruptured eyeballs. Immediately following the injuries, the patients’ initial visual acuity ranged from no light perception (that’s blind) to 20/40. All of the patients required surgery, with the resulting post-treatment visual acuity ranging from being able to detect moving hands in front of their face to 20/20. Three eyes required enucleation (removal of the entire eyeball from the eye socket). The conclusion of the study? Visual outcome from surgery is frequently very poor in golf-related injuries, which are associated with a high enucleation rate. The researchers recommended the use of eye protection while golfing. A 2016 study of 102 patients injured at golf courses discovered that 72 percent of the injured people were struck in the eye by a golf ball projectile. Fifty-one percent of injuries resulted in an open globe (ruptured eyeball), and 33% of the eye injuries resulted in enucleation. None of the injured patients had been wearing eye protection.
The eyeball isn’t the only type of globe that can be injured by a golf ball projectile. Chicago physician Michael J. Young, M.D. was published in GolfDigest (May 31, 2018) telling his story of being on call at the Emergency Room when a patient arrived with a ruptured testicle that he suffered during practice at a golf range. The patient had been practicing at a two-tiered golf range when someone practicing next to him hit a slice with a driver. The golf ball hit a light pole and ricocheted back to the patient, struck him in the scrotum and seriously damage a testicle. The treatment required surgery, but the testicle was salvaged.
Also, impact by golf ball projectiles can cause skull fractures, and can also cause life-threatening subdural haematomas without skull fractures. The Queen’s Medical Center in the United Kingdom in 2017 reported a depressed skull fracture sustained by a 16 year-old. Traunstein Hospital Department of Neurology in Germany in 2008 reported a case of severe intracerebral haematoma without skull fracture caused by a stray golf ball.
Unfortunately, the Cevapovic’s conversation at an Arlington Heights Village Board Meeting on June 3, 2024 was mostly up against Mayor Thomas Hayes, an attorney by day, whose practice involves the representation of defendants in toxic tort litigation, with a focus on the defense of personal injury claims related to asbestos exposure. Therefore, Mayor Thomas Hayes is probably more adept at defending corporations, and not small families.
Hayes concluded that the homeowner knew he was moving in next to a golf course and that since there was no public safety concern, the conflict was private between the family and the corporation that owns Rolling Green.
“You know it is a private business, and you guys are private homeowners, and so it is essentially a private dispute as long as it doesn’t raise significant public safety concerns.”
— Mayor Thomas Hayes
Hayes also acknowledged that he understood that the family lived across Waterman Avenue from the golf course.
Mayor Hayes: “So you’re on the other side of the road so your backyard, for example, is not actually on the golf course?”
Mrs. Cevapovic: “Yes, we’re adjacent to the golf course, and the hole is adjacent to our home. They’re shooting it towards our home because the hole is right next to it but it’s next to a small road.”
The Cevapovic’s property is located north of Waterman Avenue and the Rolling Green Country Club property is south of Waterman Avenue where it runs east and west as a narrow rural type road.
Since Waterman Avenue is located closer to Rolling Green County Club than the Cevapovic’s backyard or front yard, there is a similar risk of being seriously injured or even killed by a stray golf ball from the Rolling Green Country Club golf course while traveling on Waterman Avenue.
The Village of Arlington Heights is entrusted by its citizens to keep streets safe. Therefore, since Waterman Avenue is an Arlington Heights public street subject to the hazards from Rolling Green Country Club’s golf course, the stance of Arlington Heights Mayor Thomas Hayes and Village Manager Randy Recklaus doesn’t make sense. The fact that none of the Arlington Heights Village Board members recognized the risk to travelers on Waterman Avenue is perplexing.
Richard Baldino, James Bertucci, Wendy Dunnington, Robin LaBedz, Thomas F. Schwingbeck Jr., Scott Shirley, Jim Tinaglia, and Mayor Thomas Hayes were in attendance. Nicolle Grasse was absent.
Village Board/Cevapovic Transcript
June 3, 2024
Mrs. Cevapovic: We’re here tonight to voice our concern. We just recently moved to Arlington Heights, which we were very excited about. Our house is right next to the Rolling Green Country Club, and we have a road dividing us between our home and the country club, and we are a very “outdoorsy” family … we love to be outside, and it’s just gotten very dangerous for us to be outside. We’re concerned with the amount of balls that are coming into our house, especially because we have a one year-old so we’re scared that it’s going to hit him. Those balls are very heavy, and they come flying into our yard. These are just some of the balls that we’ve collected the last two to three weeks, and we’ve spoken to the country club managers and their response is that the members accidentally hit the balls over to our yard.
Mr. Cevapovic: But actually the hole is literally close by our house, and they keep falling every day, so it’s very dangerous lately. You know once in a while it’s fine,’ but it’s literally every single day, and we can’t go out … even like in this beautiful weather today we have to stay in the house … like we can see on the facade of our house that there’s already like six or seven holes. They hit our car … my dad and mom they have to stay inside … they’re older people. It’s dangerous for them being out so they don’t want to give us an answer, they don’t work with us. They don’t want to do anything about us (this) so that’s why we’re here … to talk to you guys to figure out something.
Mayor Hayes: I know I did receive an email from you, and I appreciate that; and the village manager and I did talk about this situation last week. Just to clarify, you live right on the golf course, right?
Mr. Cevapovic: It’s divided by road.
Mayor Hayes: So you’re on the other side of the road so your backyard for example, is not actually on the golf course?
Mrs. Cevapovic: Yes, we’re adjacent to the golf course, and the hole is adjacent to our home. They’re shooting it towards our home because the hole is right next to it but it’s next to a small road.
Mr. Cevapovic: Yes, It’s a very small road that divides, but we don’t know what to do?
Mayor Hayes: This is a difficult situation because the village has no official jurisdiction. We don’t own the golf course … we don’t control it. You know it is a private business, and you guys are private homeowners, and so it is essentially a private dispute as long as it doesn’t raise significant public safety concerns. I understand your concern about the golf balls (chuckling) that are coming into your yard, and if there’s some pretty bad shots (chuckling), I think if they’re getting all the way into your yard, so I’m not quite familiar at the look exactly where you’re at with respect to the golf course itself, but it’s a difficult situation that we would suggest you try to resolve with the property owners and managers of Rolling Green Country Club. You did mention in your email that they have netting in some of the other areas for the homeowners who live right on the golf course. This is a different situation that you describe, and if you’re across the street from them, so I’m not sure what solution they could come up with that might settle your problem. But they’ve been there for many, many years, and I’m sure this is not the first time this has come up. So you just moved there when?
Mr. Cevapovic: Three months ago.
Mayor Hayes: Three months ago … and unfortunately you knew you were moving close to a golf course?
Mr. Cevapovic: Yes. But there’s probably some safety (decisions involved) … because we can see them like shooting from inside out straight toward our home, and I spoke to them suggesting at least if they can move a hole somewhere else, or put a sign, or at least tell the members you know don’t shoot it this way or something. I’ve been there like three or four times, and being polite trying to talk to them, but they refuse to do anything, and that’s why we’re here, if you guys can help us do anything at least on our side, or let us build a fence or something.
Mayor Hayes: Mr. Recklaus, if you have any suggestion at this point … ?
Village Manager Recklaus: I would agree with you. There’s nothing the Village can do to legally impose a change. They are operating the golf course within the bounds of their annexation agreement which was done in 1999. We did take a look at it when the email came in this past week, but the one thing I’m happy to do is call representatives of the gold course and express that we have those concerns and (tell them) this was something that was brought up in a board meeting and see if there’s any ideas they have. Sometimes a business owner will respond differently to phone call from us than from a resident, and we’re happy to share those concerns, but so you understand there’s nothing we can do to compel them to change, but we certainly can help you advocate for making sure that they’re doing what they can to ensure the safety of the residents around them.
Mayor Hayes: We’ll take another look to see exactly where your home is, because I thought that you’re right on the golf course, but that clarifies a little bit at least in my mind trust
Trustee Bertucci: The Rolling Green Country Club is no longer member owned. It’s corporate owned. It was owned by I think what was called Club Corp. It’s my understanding it’s no longer owned by them. There’s a new corporate owner recently, and you know my thought is that the local manager or whatever is not going to give you much help. You’re going to have to go to the corporation level probably, and certainly our village manager is very good with you know being able to talk perhaps with him and you we might be able to get, but I guess Randy’s we’re gonna have to go beyond the course manager.
Village Manager Recklaus: Sure we can make an attempt, and see how far we can get up the ladder (laughter).
Trustee Bertucci: It is a situation you know you have to find some way to move them to that position because they’re going to say the golf course was there when you bought the place.
^^ MOBILE? USE VOICE MIC ^^
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