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Chicago Tribune
6 days ago
- General
- Chicago Tribune
Southland crime: Oak Forest robbery, Alsip carjacking, and more
CARJACKING: Luis F. Plascencia Gomez,35, 4800 block of Engle Road, Alsip, was arrested April 27 on a warrant charging him with vehicular invasion and attempted vehicular hijacking in connection with a March 11 attempt to break into an occupied motor vehicle in the 12700 block of Lacrosse Avenue, police said. DEALING ALLEGED: An Alsip man was arrested May 2 at 123rd Place and Cicero Avenue after officers recovered 3 ounces of marijuana individually packaged in 14 mylar bags, $1,252 cash and a digital scale, police said. Clifton C. Coleman, 24, 4000 block of Engle Road, Alsip, was charged with manufacture/delivery of 30-100 grams of cannabis, police said. GUN POSSESSION: Kaleb Darden, 23, 600 block of Sullivan Lane, University Park, and Childale Henderson, 24, first block of Olympic Village, Chicago Heights, were arrested and accused of aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon during a May 11 investigation of armed subjects in a vehicle in the 17900 block of Halsted Street, police said. TRESPASSING: Keyante McKinney, 35, Chicago, was arrested May 11 in the 2000 block of 175th Street after breaking a residential window and entering without the owner's permission, police said. DUI CRASH: Joan L. Meyers, 62, Orland Park, was arrested and accused of drunken driving and driving under the influence of an intoxicating compound/drug during a May 13 single-car crash investigation in the 25700 block of Governors Highway, police said. VEHICULAR THEFT: A group took a car May 22 from an auto transport trailer at a truck stop near the intersection of Monee-Manhattan Road and Interstate 57, then fled to a waiting car when the auto transport driver prevented them from taking a second vehicle, police said. RETAIL THEFT: Wesley D. Hatten-Lovett, 32, Long Island, New York, was accused of retail theft and burglary May 28 after taking a gaming console, selling for $499, from a broken glass display case at Walmart, 501 E. Lincoln Highway, police said. FACEBOOK SCAM: A New Lenox resident was bilked out of $2,500 during a Facebook Market transaction for two vehicles with a person posing as a friend, police said. The resident told police he made the down payment but refused the seller's demand for more money and his phone number, which the resident's real friend already had, police said. ROBBERY CHARGE: Jamal Flex, 25, Harvey, Lajuan Pouncey, 22, Riverdale, and Brandon Smith, 24, Chicago, are charged with armed robbery in connection with the Christmas holdup of a 7-Eleven convenience store, according to police. The three entered the store at 4901 167th St. at 1 p.m., forced the clerk to the back and took money and merchandise, police said. Flex and Smith are being held without bail in Cook County Jail, according to sheriff's records online. AGGRAVATED ASSAULT: Matthew R. Chavez, 47, Chicago, was arrested and accused of aggravated assault April 25 after wielding an open pocket knife during an argument outside a store in the 10600 block of Cicero Avenue, police said. AGGRAVATED BATTERY: Jamie C. Moore, 31, Chicago, was arrested May 22 and charged with aggravated battery and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon after striking a woman with a 9 mm handgun after she ran out of the Miami Inn and Suites, 9041 Cicero Ave., police said. IDENTITY THEFT: Bennie L. Fort, 30, 3800 block of 153rd Street, Midlothian, was arrested May 1 at 94th Street and Orland Square Drive and later charged with possession of another's credit/debit/identification card after police recovered the personal information of two people who denied knowing Fort, police said. GUN POSSESSION: Jeffrey K. Sims, 59, Pingree Grove, was arrested May 13 in the 9300 block of 159th Street and subsequently charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon after officers recovered a loaded 9 mm pistol and loaded magazine and determined he lacked a gun permit, police said. DUI: Officers investigating a May 26 report of a person asleep at the wheel in the 8800 block of 95th Street arrested Armando Cruz Jr., 26, Hickory Hills, on suspision of driving under the influence, possession of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of Nitrous oxide, police said. BURGLARIES: A May 28 video surveillance recording showed four males arriving in a stolen car at the time rocks were hurled through the front glass of two businesses in the 10100 block of Roberts Road, but investigators found nothing taken, police said. BURGLARY: Malik S. Neal, 30, 300 block of Wilshire Street, Park Forest, was arrested at 8 p.m. May 10 and accused of burglary and damaging property after entering the closed Park Forest Public Library, 400 Lakewood Boulevard, through a window he damaged, police said. GUN POSSESSION: Anthony G. Brown, 37, 500 block of Nathan Road, University Park, was arrested May 14 at the Western Avenue at the CN rail crossing, and accused of aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon after officers recovered a loaded 9 mm pistol and loaded magazine and determined his gun permit was suspended, police said. Brown was also accused of drunken driving, illegally transporting alcohol and illegal stopping/standing, police said. CHILD ABDUCTION: Brian E. Chavez, 22, 15600 block of Emerald Avenue, Harvey, was charged May 19 with child abduction and domestic battery after taking a toddler from the 3100 block of Chicago Road against the wishes of the mother, police said. GUN POSSESSION: Joshua K. Bielefeldt, 31, 3300 block of Wallace Avenue, Steger, was arrested May 26 after displaying a 9 mm subcompact pistol during an argument outside a gas station in the 3400 block of Union Avenue, police said. Bielefeldt is charged with being a felon possessing a gun and aggravated assault in a public place, according to Will County sheriff's and court records online. SUCCESSFUL SEARCH: A May 30 multi-agency, yard-to-yard search that included a police helicopter ended in a wooded area near Pawnee Park with the apprehension of a person suspected of driving a stolen Corvette, police said. The individual initially fled a traffic stop in Homewood, drove onto Interstate 80 to the Lincoln Oasis and then abandoned the vehicle before running, police said.
Otago Daily Times
09-05-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Pair going to great lengths on NZ-made
The co-founders of a Christchurch furniture-making business are about to bring in scientists to make a finishing oil in their challenge to use only locally-made products. Innate Furniture owners Guido Loeffler and Nick Lee insist on working with sustainably harvested native timbers and domestic steel sheets for their modern and minimalist furniture designs. They want to take this a step further. After experimenting with their own recipes from natural oils and waxes, they are going to experts to help them produce a commercial-grade coating. The finishing oils must be made from plant-based materials locally grown sustainably without detriment to the environment. Mr Loeffler said they were working towards a commitment to produce 100% New Zealand-made furniture. Eventually, every part of a table or other furniture - down to felt caps for their feet - would be locally sourced, he said. ''As far as the oils are concerned we are talking with AgResearch and local universities around the development of natural oil finish product that uses 100% New Zealand raw ingredients including hemp seed oil, bee wax as well as lanolin finishes for our steel and then natural pigments.'' The plan was to sell the finished product to other users. By using local products, they knew they were ethically-sourced, supported local communities, and were transported with low carbon emissions, he said. ''Put it like this, we grow a lot of trees here, cut them down and put them on a boat overseas where someone builds a table and it comes back to New Zealand and we buy it,'' Mr Lee said. ''The New Zealand economy doesn't get the kicker in this and that seems like a silly process when we can do it here.'' Innate Furniture was born from lockdowns after Covid-19 swept the world. Mr Lee was making furniture from recycled timber in the backyard of his flat as an amateur woodworker in between a 16-year music career as a solo artist, then playing 1980s covers with bands before moving into country music. African-born Mr Loeffler had just arrived back from a charity project raising money for a school in Tanzania and had previously worked for a company manufacturing and supplying sustainable building materials. When the pandemic arrived the two flatmates began ''connecting the dots''. Mr Lee said they started selling furniture firstly on the NZ-made Facebook Market page. ''After Covid hit the import stuff started drying up and there was a bit of this talk we needed our own economy and the world's about to go into this sort-of zombie-apocalyptic world. People got quite excited by this New Zealand-made dynamic and liked our designs from beautiful pieces of timber and we got heaps of orders.'' Step one was to get a workshop and within weeks they had outgrown their small leased premises. To keep up with backed-up orders for tables and other furniture they had to work 18-hour days. Today, they have a fully fitted-out workshop and contract out work for their own modern designs combining different native species with often steel milled at Glenbrook by New Zealand Steel. ''They take the iron sand from the beach, extract the iron, put the sand back on the beach, plant flaxes and natives and then they melt it down to make it into sheets,'' Mr Lee said. ''We get the sheets cut down to strips and get our table legs from that. It's got a really cool land and sea story.'' He said they were working to connect with New Zealand screw manufacturers for a custom run of steel fixings. With only a few exceptions such as Italian porcelain for outdoor tables, the main focus is on using locally sourced materials. After persevering, they now have a secure supply of sustainable native timbers from recyclers, saw millers, trusts and forestry associations around the country. Rimu is salvaged from buildings damaged by the Christchurch quakes, while other native species come from continuous covered forestry. Mr Loeffler said they liked to work with native timbers harvested under a sustainable forest managed permit with each tree tagged and receiving a GPS co-ordinate. Only a small percentage of mature trees over a large area was removed from native blocks, he said. ''It's calculated in such a way that the forest canopy is never compromised. Often, it's even helicoptered out so it doesn't get dragged through forest and damage it. It's done in small clusters of three or four trees to create a small opening so sunlight can hit the forest floor for seedlings to return strongly.'' Among their favourite permit-harvested species are regenerated totara growing thickly on marginal farmland in Northland because of its beautiful grain, paler colours for the Scandinavian look and history as the main timber for Maori carving. West Coast-sourced red and silver beech are another of their preferred species. This was found abundantly in large stands, unlike rimu which was why they focused on recycled supplies, Mr Loeffler said. Their furniture range is sold to homeowners through their online store and designers, while they also make hospitality furniture. Nothing goes to waste as off-cuts are made into chopping blocks.
