Something for everyone

Like the sprawled-out section of the city where it's located, Hall's Tavern at Covent has a little something for everybody. It's roomy and cozy at the same time, and it's a hometown refuge in a chain-dominated landscape.

When Hall's Tavern at Coventry opened eight years ago, the area southwest of Fort Wayne was booming - new housing, large schools and shopping options galore. It hasn't slowed down at all in the intervening years, but chief among the growth has been the surge of restaurants. In the intervening years, eating establishments in the area now number 50, up from a mere three in 1997.

To thrive in such a competitive environment, Hall's must be doing something right. …

Panthers-Rangers Sums

Florida 0 3 1_4
N.Y. Rangers 0 0 0_0
First Period_None. Penalties_Voros, NYR (slashing), 1:33	Booth, Fla (interference), 5:25	Zherdev, NYR (roughing), 5:25	Boynton, Fla (cross-checking), 8:06.
Second Period_1, Florida, Peltonen 3 (Dvorak, Skrastins), 9:55. 2, Florida, Weiss 3 (Frolik, McCabe), 16:01. 3, Florida, Campbell 4 (Dvorak, Bouwmeester), 16:13. Penalties_Redden, NYR (hooking), 3:09	Bouwmeester, Fla (hooking), 12:44.
Third Period_4, Florida, Frolik 2 (Weiss, Olesz), 1:00. …

Europe to oust more Libyans

BONN West Germany and Denmark yesterday prepared to expel nearlyall of the Libyan diplomats stationed in Bonn and Copenhagen, whileBritain, which broke diplomatic ties with Libya in 1984, announced itwould deport 21 Libyan students on the ground they threaten nationalsecurity.

A government source here said the West German government islikely to expel today all but two or three of the 11 Libyans nowaccredited to the people's bureau, or embassy, in Bonn.

The mass-circulation Bild Zeitung, in today's editions, said 20people out of a total diplomatic and non-diplomatic staff of 43 wouldbe ordered out.

Reliable sources in Copenhagen said the government was …

9 American Soldiers Killed in Iraq

BAGHDAD - Nine American soldiers were killed in Iraq on Monday, including eight who died in vehicle accidents that also claimed the lives of two detainees, the military said.

The deadliest of the vehicle accidents, in western Baghdad, killed seven Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldiers and wounded 11, and left two detainees dead and a third injured. The cause of the accident was under investigation, the military said.

In a separate accident, east of Baghdad, an American soldier was killed and two injured when their vehicle flipped and caught fire. A ninth soldier died of injuries sustained Sunday while on patrol in the Kirkuk area of northern Iraq.

THIS IS A …

Chris Cagle is arrested for domestic assault

Country music singer Chris Cagle has been arrested for domestic assault in Nashville after police said he and his girlfriend got into a drunken fight.

Corrections officials say Cagle and his girlfriend, Jennifer Tant, have been jailed on misdemeanor …

Architects to Prince Charles: We're staying home

A respectful audience, polite applause, and congratulatory cocktails at the inevitable reception. That's what's expected when Prince Charles gives a speech.

But there may be empty seats and pointed silence Tuesday evening when the heir to the British throne addresses the Royal Institute of British Architects, some of whose members have called for a boycott of his remarks.

They are angry not only over his long-standing opposition to much modern architecture, but his efforts to block a major steel-and-glass tower project on the site of an old army barracks in the posh Chelsea neighborhood of London.

This time, they say, he's gone too far, trying to torpedo the normal planning process by using his connections and influence to pressure developers into using a more traditional design. The royal family, they say, is supposed to remain above the fray.

"An empty room would be the best response," said Piers Gough, a prominent British architect who signed a letter urging his colleagues to stay away from the prince's talk, which marks the institute's 175th anniversary. "I think the prince has been a poor influence on architecture, and he's had a bad influence on the Chelsea barracks."

Gough said the prince takes an elitist view, advocating classical architecture _ with its origins in the grand public buildings and columns used by the ancient Greeks_ and rejecting modernist designs that typically include plans for affordable housing and increased public access.

"I can see why classical architecture suits him as he sits in his palace, but it's very bad for society," said Gough, who believes the architects should not have invited the prince to speak.

Charles used a speech to the institute in 1984 to spell out his opposition to modern architecture, launching a 25-year crusade that has had limited impact on British building styles.

He said modernists were destroying the distinctive centuries-old fabric of London by replacing classical works with modern ones. He even put his architectural and planning theories to the test by building a traditional village, called Poundsbury, 130 miles (210 kilometers) southwest of London.

In recent years his criticism has been muted and he has concentrated on a number of environmental and food safety concerns. But his opposition to the barracks project has angered some top names in the architecture world. Norman Foster, Frank Gehry and other luminaries have signed letters urging Charles to remain on the sidelines during the planning and permit process.

The barracks redevelopment plan calls for steel and glass towers designed by decorated architect Richard Rogers to be built next to the Royal Hospital Chelsea, a classical building by Christopher Wren, the renowned 17th century architect who designed St. Paul's Cathedral and other London landmarks.

The 13-acre development would include a hotel and 552 apartments, half priced by market forces and half classified as affordable housing. It is a mega-project by any standard _ the site alone cost 959 million pounds ($1.44 billion).

The majority of the funding comes from the Qatari royal family, and British press reports indicate Charles has lobbied Qatari royals to rethink the design along traditional lines.

That has angered many in the field, said architect Tony Fretton, who is urging a boycott of Tuesday's speech.

"If that's true, it's far outside the democratic process," he said. "He wrote directly to the client, who was also a prince, in an attempt to get him to modify the design. I think it's a bad thing, to try to influence things in that way. It's been recommended for approval. What right does the prince have to interfere?"

The Westminster City Council will consider the plan with hearings expected to begin in June.

A spokeswoman for Prince Charles who asked not to be identified because of palace policy said she could not comment on reports that Charles had contacted his Qatari counterparts to discuss the project.

"We don't comment on alleged private correspondence," she said.

Pastor facing deportation over '92 case

The federal government wants to deport Jose Walter Bohorquez of Bolingbrook by sending him back to his native Colombia as part of the Obama administration's crackdown on illegal immigrants with criminal records.

What makes his case unusual is that Bohorquez came here legally, committed his crime 18 years ago, served a little more than a year in prison and has been an apparently solid citizen in the 16 years since.

Two years ago, he even took over as pastor of a small Evangelical church in Albany Park, El Taller del Maestro.

In November, however, Bohorquez was returning from a visit to his brother in Colombia when he was detained at the Miami airport by immigration officials who spotted his old criminal conviction, confiscated his green card and ordered him to report to an immigration judge in Chicago to face deportation proceedings.

SYSTEM HAS LITTLE ROOM FOR DISCRETION

If they had come after Bohorquez 15 years ago, I doubt that anybody would have made a peep on his behalf. You sure wouldn't have been reading about this from me.

But to try to deport him after all this time, during which Bohorquez would seem to have been a contributing member of our community, raises more issues of fairness with the one-size-fits-all Obama effort to look tough on immigration by going after "criminals."

And that has given Bohorquez many allies from the campaign to fix our broken immigration system.

"It doesn't seem to make sense to anyone to send him back to Colombia," said Matt Soerens, an organizer with World Relief DuPage, which works with evangelical churches on the immigration issue and is supporting Bohorquez.

While some aspects of Bohorquez's case are unusual, there are many more immigrants like him caught in a system that doesn't leave much room for discretion, Soerens said.

On Saturday, Bohorquez is supposed to deliver the opening prayer at an immigration reform rally with Sen. Dick Durbin being organized by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

The rally is part of a series of events being carried out by immigration-rights activists to turn up the pressure on Congress to move ahead with reform legislation this year -- despite clear signals that neither the president nor Democratic leaders want to bite that off so soon after the controversial health-care bill.

Former Gov. Jim Edgar is even supposed to headline an appearance here today with business leaders who will be making the case that comprehensive immigration reform is necessary for the health of Illinois' economy, in keeping with Edgar's prior statements that Republicans need to quit turning off Hispanic voters. Some believe it would be a nice start if Edgar could just get his good friend Rep. Mark Kirk to see the light.

Bohorquez, 42, is still hoping the immigration court will allow him to stay here.

It's not as if he has been in hiding all these years.

He still had his green card, held jobs as a shoe salesman and loan officer, got married to a woman he met through the church and had two kids. He had even made some other trips out of the country in the years since his conviction, including to Guatemala to help start a new church, and wasn't challenged on his return.

Bohorquez does not minimize the seriousness of his 1992 criminal conviction --on a charge of money laundering -- three years after he was brought legally to the U.S. in 1989 by his parents, who were already permanent legal residents and later became citizens.

He was a 24-year-old computer student on a soccer scholarship when, he says, an acquaintance talked him into delivering a bag of cash to someone who turned out to be an undercover DEA agent.

"I knew it wasn't for Christmas presents," said Bohorquez, who pleaded guilty and was treated like the little fish he was, serving 15 months in prison. "It was a stupid dumb mistake, and I paid for it."

The year after his release, he got involved in the church and says, "Since I met Jesus, I haven't done nothing wrong."

I'd rather keep the immigration focus on those people whose only wrongdoing was to enter the country without our permission. But most of those folks would rather keep their heads down to avoid trouble.

Instead, we get individuals like Bohorquez or Rigo Padilla, the UIC student tripped up by a traffic arrest, whose best chance of staying here is by going public, as the faces of immigration reform.

There are many more such faces. You see them every day, all around you, and probably don't realize it. They keep their heads down. If it takes a Jose Walter Bohorquez to remind us of them, so be it.