Shorewood Trustee: Careful With the Sledding

Shorewood Trustee James "Mac" McDonald urged sledders and skaters to be careful on the thin ice and steep hills this winter.

"We get all kinds of lawsuits because they're doing what they're not supposed to and they want to sue," McDonald said during Tuesday night's board meeting at village hall.

The is currently the subject of a lawsuit brought by a Plainfield couple who claim their daughter was injured while sledding in Four Seasons Park in January 2009.

The couple, Jon and Kristy Mahon, are looking for a monetary award in the tens of thousands for the "serious personal and pecuniary injuries" supposedly suffered by their daughter, Jessica, who they say crashed into a sign at the bottom of the park's sled hill.

The sign, as well as barricades, were put at the bottom of the hill as a notice not to sled there, a village official said.

The village's attorneys have filed a counterclaim alleging negligence on the part of Kristy Mahon. The counterclaim accuses her of failing to properly supervise her daughter and of failing to exercise reasonable care and control over the girl.

During the board meeting, McDonald, the vice-chairman of Shorewood's Parks and Recreation Committee, warned children to stay off the thin ice of retention ponds and told them to sled only in "designated areas."