test scores at D209 suck, again. And they are trending downward.
Forest Park Review (Josh Adams) has a graph of the trend on test scores at the three Proviso Township High Schools. The Y-axis is the "Percentage of students meeting or exceeding benchmarks". From 2001 to 2009 scores trend downward. It's true at East. It's true at West. And it's true at PMSA.
What is appalling about District 209 is that it spends more per pupil than all but the most elite school districts and that it's test scores are either at the very bottom or in the bottom few for the entire region.
The district serves a Black and Latino population, but it's not like Proviso Township is the only community in Illinois serving Black and Latino students. And the households in Proviso are economically comfortable, if not affluent.
Forest Park poised to politicize village administrator position
The Village of Forest Park has been without a village administrator since Mike Sturino departed in January, 2009.
Proviso Township Trustee (and former Forest Park Commissioner) Tim Gillian has emerged as one of the finalists for the position. See Forest Park Review (Josh Adams).
Steve Bachman of Citizens United in Forest Park created the following video to show how the four commissioners were united on getting a village administrator hired. Commissioner Mark Hosty called for someone "non-political". Commissioner Rory Hoskins agreed with Hosty and called for it to be done expeditiously. Commissioner Mike Curry also agreed and emphasized the village would work better with the position filled. Commissioner Marty Tellalian called for filling the position to have significant expertise.
In a later meeting Mayor Anthony Calderone said the candidate should, "The individual selected would not be an expert in any one capacity and has a heeping amount of good old common sense and diplomacy." [emphasis added]
Here's a anecdote about Gillian that shows his version of common sense.
I covered a Village of Forest Park meeting shortly after the April, 2003 elections which seated Patrick Doolin, Gillian, Hosty and Theresa Steinbach and Anthony Calderone as Mayor.
Hosty relayed a complaint from a constituent about the intake of overnight parking requests. The constituent complained that when she called the number to request overnight parking for her mother the message said if it was before 8 PM to call the police department instead. The police department told her to call after 8 PM.
The message made more work for the person requesting the overnight parking and the police department with no value added.
Calderone called the overnight parking number to test this (it was still before 8 PM). And the message did say what Hosty reported.
Calderone and all the commissioners were fine with changing the message, except Gillian. Gillian argued that if the message was changed constituents would just find something else to complain about.
I was a new reporter and didn't know any of these people (except for meeting Calderone briefly at a party once). So I approached Gillian during a break in the meeting to see if he'd softened his position. Sometimes people say stupid stuff and then rethink it. But Gillian stuck to his guns. He was opposed to changing the message because he was opposed to giving complainers what they wanted.
I talked with Hosty after the meeting. Hosty agreed that Gillian's statements on the issue were odd and he said of Gillian, "I don't know who peed in his Wheaties this morning."
"Common sense" is of course a bogus quality in this situation. What Calderone means when he talks about "common sense" is people doing what Calderone wants done. What Calderone wants is "common sense" and people who have concerns and objections are interlopers and the over educated.
And Gillian will do what Calderone wants, partly because they are friends and political allies. Also because Calderone is giving Gillian an exceedingly generous paycheck for a job that Gillian isn't qualified for (per the job posting). And a big part of the reason Gillian will allow Calderone to call the shots at the village is that Gillian is just lazy. He didn't prepare for meetings by reading materials when he was a village trustee. Calderone wants to be able to call department heads to tell them what to do and then hide behind the village administrator when stuff goes badly. Gillian won't mind taking the fall because he's not a professional municipal official looking to get another job someplace else.
Mike Sturino did the job with sufficient professionalism he could credibly apply for a job in some other unit of government. Gillian won't feel constrained this way.
The invitation listed four candidates for the board of education, Proviso Township High Schools (District 209): E. Chris Welch, Reatha Sue Henry, Dan Adams and Brian Cross. These four are all incumbents and all part of one slate. (See more of the invite below.)
Welch ran against Yarbrough for state representative in 2006. The defining ideology of Yarbrough's political organization seemed to be opposition to former Proviso Democratic Committeeman Eugene Moore and hatred of Welch, who has a knack for making enemies.
Friday, February 27, at 9:59 PM Yarbrough sent me a text, "no endorsements for schools and no media tomorrow." I responded within 10 minutes, "What's that mean for me?" Yarbrough did not respond.
On Saturday, February 28, I arrived about 10 minutes early for the 10 AM meeting. I entered behind Rory Hoskins, a Forest Park commissioner and president of PTDO, and helped myself to a doughnut.
When Yarbrough arrived she didn't greet me, but referred to her text from the night before.
I asked, "Are you asking me to leave?"
Yarbrough responded, "I told you not to come."
Along the way she mentioned Josh Adams, editor of the Forest Park Review also requested to attend the meeting. Yarbrough allying with Welch shakes up the political factions in local politics.
Text of PTDO invitation sent to me:
PROVISO TOWNSHIP DEMOCRATIC ORGANIZATION REMINDER from President Rory Hoskins
PTDO Mission Statement The Proviso Township Democratic Org., in coordination with the state and national Democratic Party, is committed to the principles of honest, open and progressive government and to increasing voter participation in the electoral process. PTDO is open to all persons, regardless of their race, age, gender, creed, religion, sexual orientation or economic status. [emphasis added]
Message from Karen:
It's been a busy time for all of us however we must do our due diligence in making selections for endorsement. The next few meetings will be spent hearing from candidates who's name will appear on the April 7th election. In the case of local elections, those who are members of the organization will be able to present their candidacy to the group.
Please note that all of these elections are NON-PARTISAN. (meaning neither Democrat or Republican)
See you there!
PS: Only paid up dues members will be eligible to vote.
The video shows citizen-activist Steve Backman attempting to hold Mike Boyle accountable. Boyle is the village employee who oversees zoning matters.
The person blocked-out of the video is Forest Park Commissioner Mark Hosty. Hosty has a history of getting preferential treatment from the village. For example, when Hosty did work on his previous house his department (commissioners are department heads as well as legislators) gave Hosty permission for a curb cut. To obfuscate the signature granting Hosty permission was illegible and to my knowledge the village never identified which village official gave Hosty permission to act. There were also questions about whether Hosty was living in a unit zoned residential. So the guy has a history of appearing to get preferential regulatory treatment by the village.
One of my concerns is that Cherryfield is the biggest developer in Forest Park. Cherryfield applies for the most permits and exceptions to zoning ordinances. It seems logical for Cherryfield to do work on Hosty's building below cost in exchange for Hosty being supportive of Cherryfield developments. Having the largest developer in Forest Park do major construction work for a commissioner creates the appearance of conflict of interest.
BTW, Boyle is a real gem. Bill Kircher formerly sat on one of the commissions that had to do with zoning. Kirchner pointed out to the village that a local business was doing construction that needed zoning review. Boyle's response was to come give Kirchner a ticket for the work Kirchner is doing on his home.
The conspiracy theory of Forest Park zoning is that the village changed the zoning code in such a way that about 50% of properties in Forest Park are "non-conforming". To do work on these properties, in theory, the owner has to make the properties compliant with the zoning code. This forces about 50% of Forest Park property owners to need to grovel to the village, including elected officials.
And the council led by Mayor Anthony Calderone greases the skids for friends and uses the power of the village to punish their enemies.
Between 1:30 and 1:40 into this video there's a quote from Senator President-elect Barack Obama, "George Bush and John McCain have a lot to answer for. It's time for them to own their failure. It's time for us to change America."
After eight years of George W. Bush being President of the United States, the voters got sick of lies and failures and voted for change.
Emanuel "Chris" Welch has been on the District 209 board of education for eight years, most of the time as president of the board. Will the voters of Proviso decide after eight years it's time for change?
Chris Welch and his allies have a lot to answer for. It's time for them to own their failure. It's time for us to change Proviso.
There's a website inspired by Obama's words, Own Your Failure. What failures should Welch own?
In an expanding war of words being waged online and in court, District 209 school board President Chris Welch won a temporary restraining order against a Forest Park man, forcing him to remove allegedly slanderous material from an Internet site.
The judge's July 16 ruling was handed down just two days after Welch filed a lawsuit against Carl Nyberg, claiming that he is the victim of libelous statements posted on Nyberg's blog. Welch, who is being sued by the school district's former attorneys for slander, filed the paperwork with the Cook County Circuit Court.
If you haven't seen the Forest Park Review coverage of Welch's lawsuit against me, follow the link.
I thought it was odd that Michael DeBartolo, the District 209 lawyer from the DelGaldo Group, makes the claim that District 209 is paying for part of Welch's defense in the Odelson & Sterk v. Proviso Insider case and implies that the district isn't paying for the counter suit. This claim seems non-sensical to me. Also, note DeBartolo picks his words carefully.
As a point of clarification, DeBartolo said the $22,400 paid by the district does not cover any of Welch's expenses for the counterclaim filed by the school board president in January. The money expressly pays for Welch's defense in the Odelson and Sterk case.
What I think DeBartolo is saying here is that Welch hasn't submitted his bills for the counterclaim lawsuit. Those are yet to come.
If the logic behind paying Welch's legal bills is that the case is intertwined with his duties as a school board member--a bullshit claim, but let's pretend for a little bit--then the one part of the suit that touches on Welch being a school board member is the countersuit, about Welch getting fired from Roche & Associates because he stopped giving taxpayer money to James Roche's buddies, Odelson & Sterk.
The part of the lawsuit DeBartolo says taxpayers should pay for revolves around Proviso Insider making statements about Mark Sterk and Melrose Park police officers. How is the responsibility of District 209 taxpayers that Welch and Emily Robinson wrote probably slanderous statements about Mark Sterk on a blog? Welch had his identity concealed. What part of the case involves District 209?
One conflict-of-interest that might not be immediately apparent is the role of the DelGaldo Group. The claim Proviso Insider (Welch and Robinson) made was that Sterk was coaching Melrose Park police officers to lie to the federal grand jury that subsequently indicted seven, including the chief of police and deputy chief.
Someone familiar with Village of Melrose Park politics speculated if any law firm was involved in coaching these cops it was the DelGaldo Group. The firm is very close with Melrose Park village president Ron Serpico. If the feds indicted Vito Scavo, the chief of police, he would be tempted to give them a bigger fish to reduce his sentence. (I'm a bit of a contrarian on the issue of who is the big fish in Melrose Park. Scavo was chief of police before Serpico was village president. I think Scavo has his scams going and ran the patronage in the police department and he agreed to bring in Serpico as his flunky. The counter argument is that Ralph "Babe" Serpico, Ronnie's dad, was a big fish when Scavo was just a kid.)
We don't know if any lawyers were involved in coaching those police officers to lie. But it seems a potential conflict of interest that a lawyer from the DelGaldo Group is deciding whether Welch was acting in the scope of his D209 duties while anonymously spreading gossip, if not lies, on his blog.
Welch was president of the Proviso Township High Schools (District 209) board of education.
Odelson & Sterk is a politically connected law firm. At this point O&S's most important patron is Cook County Board President Todd Stroger.
The D209 board of education hired Odelson & Sterk.
Odelson & Sterk made campaign contributions to Welch.
The D209 board of education terminated Odelson & Sterk (and hired another politically connected firm Giglio & Del Galdo, now known as the Del Galdo Group).
Proviso Insider wrote a blog post accusing Odelson & Sterk of criminal activity in the federal probe of the Melrose Park Police Department. (Proviso Insider defamed many other people, including, me (Carl Nyberg)).
The identity of Proviso Insider was technically unknown, but based on the subject matter and perspective it was widely assumed Proviso Insider was either Welch or people working on his behalf.
To identify Proviso Insider, the plaintiff in Sterk vs. Proviso Insider had to subpoena computer records that showed the computers used to post to Proviso Insider were at Sanchez & Daniels, Welch's employer. Sanchez & Daniels further provided that the addresses corresponded to computers at the work stations of Welch and Emily Robinson.
Welch has now filed a counter suit claiming his former employer, James Roche, fired Welch for objecting to over billing by Odelson & Sterk.
In the original post on Proviso Insider (now removed) Welch included details of Odelson saying the over billing was going to campaign contributions.
I'm pretty sure the biggest recipient of Odelson & Sterk contributions in Proviso Township were elections where Welch was running (school board or state rep) or elections where school board candidates loyal to Welch were running.
The fact that Welch was the recipient of Odelson & Sterk campaign contributions for years, makes me highly skeptical that Welch didn't know the bills were being padded earlier. If the system worked for years with Welch being perfectly ignorant (an incredible premise in the first place) what happened that caused Welch to see the system for what it was?
Also, Welch is alleging Odelson & Sterk defrauded District 209. Has Welch filed criminal charges against Odelson & Sterk? Why not?
Has Welch initiated a District 209 suit to recover the money Odelson & Sterk billed illegitimately?
If Odelson & Sterk acted unethically in its conduct with District 209, an attorney who was aware of this unethical conduct was obligated to report this conduct to the Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission of the Supreme Court of Illinois. Welch is an attorney. Why didn't he file an ARDC complaint against Odelson & Sterk?
And when did Welch learn he had been sacked from Roche for firing Odelson & Sterk? Why did he wait until now to file this suit?
Here is some speculation on my part.
1. [This paragraph was removed as a result of Judge Martin Agran granting a temporary restraining order ICO Emanuel C. Welch v. Proviso Probe and Carl Nyberg (2008) on July 16, 2008.] 2. Welch is feeling the heat of the Sterk v. Proviso Insider suit. Welch knows the facts and the law are on Sterk's side. And the only way Welch can avoid the consequences of losing the case is to delay the resolution of the case or to convince Odelson & Sterk they have too much to lose pursuing the case. 3. In the deleted post on Proviso Insider there were anonymous that included further dirt on Odelson & Sterk. One of the posts provided details about a mistress of one of the parties involved. I think Welch was clearly saying, "I will make this painful for you [Odelson & Sterk] even if I lose." 4. The counter suit also allows Welch to make a weak claim, but a claim nonetheless that Sterk v. Proviso Insider does peripherally touch on his duties as president of the D209 board of education. This is an important fact to create since Welch and three of his allies have already voted over $22,400 of tax payer money to pay Welch's legal bills (delaying legal consequences is expensive work, y'know?) in the Sterk v. Proviso Insider case.
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.--George Bernard Shaw
There are a couple items that make good examples from the Forest Park Review.
When my children and I woke up Saturday morning, my 8-year-old daughter was very sad to see that her bicycle had been stolen during the night from our back yard. We then went to the police station to fill out a report. Officer Mike O'Connor was working that day and he listened patiently as another officer took our report. He told my daughter that he was sorry that her bike had been stolen and mentioned that he had recently bought his daughter a new bike, so he offered to give us her old one. We told him what a kind gesture that was but that it wouldn't be necessary.
Imagine our surprise to see that when we returned home, officer O'Connor had already dropped off his daughter's old bike on our front porch. Because of his kind and selfless gesture my daughter did not have to miss one day of bike riding with her friends.
With so many negative stories emanating from the Forest Park Police Department it's comforting to know that people with the good heart and character of officer O'Connor can be found with ease. It's very easy to write a letter or make a phone call to complain, I just thought that equal time should be given to highlight those things that are best as well.
Melissa, Anthony and Zianna Turek Forest Park
I'm glad O'Connor showed generosity. And unlike many of the cops in the Forest Park PD, I've never anyone say anything bad about O'Connor.
But just because O'Connor is kind and generous in one situation involving children, it does nothing to disprove the thesis that the Forest Park PD is led by two corrupt, dishonest people (Mayor Anthony Calderone and Chief Jim Ryan) whose subordinates commit many incidents of misconduct.
The Forest Park Review (Michelle Keefe) includes a pro-war propaganda piece about children assembling care packages for servicemembers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Invading Iraq was an awful idea. The project was foisted on the nation by hysteria, lies and conflating the 9/11 attackers with Saddam Hussein. Now the elites who bought the lies and hype say the U.S. military can't leave because it would lead to an even worse situation. Meanwhile, the war profiteers, like Dick Cheney's former company, stuff money in their pockets.
But hey! Forest Park children are learning to be good patriots. So it's OK their older brothers and sisters are getting PTSD, getting maimed and dying in Iraq because people in Forest Park get to feel good about reading about care packages in the local paper.
And the situation in Afghanistan is only slightly better. Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The Allies defeated Nazi Germany on May 8, 1945. The Japanese surrendered on August 15, 1945. In less than four years the U.S. military and its allies defeated the Wermacht and the military of Imperial Japan.
We're coming up on seven years since the 9/11 attacks and the U.S. military has failed to neutralize the Taliban, defeat a few thousand guys fighting from caves or capture a 6'4" Arab with four wives and a kidney dialysis machine.
But the U.S. military has become a goon squad for a dubiously popular central government. Said goon squad kills a bunch of innocents while doing whatever goon squads have to do to keep the central government in power.
By what measure has invading Afghanistan has worked?
Made Americans feel tough or like they were doing something about 9/11 or something
Allowed Bush's cronies to begin war profiteering in the bonus round
Helped get some pipelines built
Created "war spending" that could be diverted to prepping for the Iraq War
Increased opium production
But, it's also allowed Forest Parkers to read about their children being inculcated with patriotism in the local paper.
On Monday the Proviso Township High Schools (District 209) board of education approved paying over $22,000 in legal bills to the law firm representing board president Emanuel "Chris" Welch. Forest Park Review (Josh Adams) has the details.
There are seven members of the board of education. There are six votes in the block controlled by Welch and Eugene Moore. There is one member of the opposition: Theresa Kelly.
I know that a number of "Whites" who follow D209 matters are suspicious of Kelly. They argue that she's just like the political hacks running the district; the difference is that she's not on their team.
Kelly deserves credit for being on the board of education and raising issues. If Kelly didn't get elected in 2007, the Welch-Moore block could conceivably have a 7-0 majority.
Being in a 6-1 minority is a lonely place. And Kelly could have just given up. Instead she keeps reading the information presented to board members and she keeps asking questions.
Illinois law prohibits school board members from being compensated for their service. Also, they are supposed to spend the taxpayer's money educating students, not paying their personal legal bills.
While Welch's behavior was almost assuredly illegal, let's not overlook the board members who voted with Welch. Are they clueless?
Also, the Forest Park Review article shows what a toady Libka is.
Superintendent Robert Libka said he did not question Welch's attempt to pass the expense on to taxpayers, but said after the meeting that Kelly's argument against paying the bill merits a second look. According to Libka and Kelly, Welch informed board members several weeks prior that he intended to seek reimbursement. With Kelly offering the only objections, Libka said he did not see a reason to disturb the apparent harmony on the matter.
"It seemed appropriate at the time," Libka said of reimbursing Welch's legal bills. "I probably have more questions now, but I still feel the same."
Go read the FPR article for further details.
Libka simultaneously claims paying Welch's legal bills seems appropriate because it was somehow related to his duties as a board member and that Libka didn't know the details of the case.
Proviso Insider accused attorney Mark Sterk, of Odelson and Sterk, a firm that had respresented D209 in the past, of counseling Melrose Park police officers to obstruct justice.
Sterk filed a defamation suit against Proviso Insider. See this Proviso Probe entry for a starting point.
Libka's explanation for paying the personal legal bills of a school board member shows that the man is ignorant of the law and just a go-between. When Libka is speaking on issues of import he's a wind-up toy given words by the board president.
The FPR article makes a big deal out of the police officer failing to use video camera in his vehicle.
I have a different take on what decided the trial. The defense presented three witnesses who testified that either the police were lying in their account or that the police officer was out-of-control or used disproportionate force (a Taser stun gun) given the provocation.
I was the third defense witness, and the defense attorney was somewhat dejected after my testimony. I was the defense witness who confirmed that the officer had told Davis to put his hands behind his back at some point. The defense attorney assumed that was enough to convict Davis of resisting arrest.
But the ASA (assistant state's attorney), who made it clear he didn't like me, decided he wanted to call a witness to impeach my testimony. When the ASA asked me if Det. Frey questioned me about the incident at the scene I responded that I did not remember Frey questioning me. I do remember Mike Keating speaking to me, but not any other officers.
The ASA called Frey as a witness. Apparently Frey said he questioned me and I said I didn't see anything noteworthy.
By calling Frey, I suspect the ASA shifted attention away from the fact that the officer did tell Davis to put his hands behind his back to a debate over which set of witnesses was lying more. The police officers wrote the incident report to say that Davis defecated voluntarily at the police station while being questioned. Two of the defense witnesses heard Davis blame the arresting officer for making him “shit himself”, a statement I took to be a reference to being shocked with the Taser stun gun.
Applying a little common sense, the defense witnesses' story probably made more sense than the version presented by the police. And if the police were lying in part of their account that raises the question of why were they lying. Was the initial stop bad? Did the police use excessive force? What were they doing wrong that they felt compelled to lie?
And I suspect the jury probably had reservations about how the officer used the Taser stun gun. Given the provocation—Clarence Davis asked to call his boss so he could arrange for the car to be picked-up—it seems likely that the jurors felt uncomfortable endorsing the use of the Taser stun gun. Police aren't authorized to shoot people who disobey orders. And I think most Americans are uncomfortable with the idea that disobeying—or in this case delaying obeying an order—automatically authorizes a cop to use a Taser stun gun.
I have heard second-hand from two sources that the officer who shocked Davis resigned from the Forest Park Police Department within days of the verdict. While it seems likely there will be some cover story, it's hard not to draw the inference that the Davis verdict and the resignation were connected.
I'm outraged Murphy is on paid leave while being prosecuted. The Forest Park PD placed Sgt. Dan Harder on unpaid leave for a series of frivolous charges (the chief claimed Harder lied in a private phone conversation, Harder used the f-word and Harder took three Fridays as sick days in a relatively short period of time).
Cops know lots of attorneys or have access to lots of attorneys through their network of contacts. Doesn't it make Forest Park and Forest Park's political leadership (Mayor Anthony Calderone and Village Administrator Mike Sturino) look mobbed-up that Murphy connected with a high-powered mob attorney?
How many Assistant State's Attorneys has Murphy worked with in his career that are now doing private criminal defense work? A dozen? More? Why wouldn't Murphy use one of these defense attorneys?
It seems possible to me that some powerful people want to keep Murphy from being squeezed by the feds. Again, it kinda makes Forest Park look mobbed-up, especially since the leadership is paying Murphy to stay at home and do nothing keep his mouth shut.
local Right Wing activist wants to violate the Constitution
Sen. Kimberly Lightford (D-Maywood) passed legislation to create a moment of silence for prayer in Illinois schools. Gov. Rod Blagojevich vetoed this legislation. The members of the state legislature, in there wisdom, voted to override this veto.
An private citizen challenged the law in federal court on the grounds that this violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The court granted an injunction against the moment of silence to pray in the school district where the court challenge originated. Other districts have been left discretion how to interpret the law that seems likely to be ruled unconstitutional.
Tom Holmes makes an excellent point ("A second opinion on the moment of silence," Opinion, Nov. 14). I would add a question: Are we better off as a society as religion gets further marginalized? Are we kinder to our neighbors? Is crime declining? Do we treat each other with more or less respect? Are we really more tolerant?
I'm not sure, and I suppose some will be offended the questions are even asked because their presumption is any public display of religion, no matter how loosely associated with a government entity, is, by definition, bad and removal thereof is good. I fail to see the evidence of this.
The folks who file suits to stop things like a Christian song at a school play are usually hostile to religion. They cloak themselves with a self-righteous mantle that they are protecting my rights to be free from hearing "Silent Night" sung at a public school. They claim that we are intolerant of their right to not hear the song. Who is really the intolerant one? Hearing "The Dreidel Song" won't convert me.
My church attendance is nothing to brag about, but I have never been offended, in any way, by someone taking a moment for a prayer or asking for a moment of silence. A moment for reflection does not constitute establishment of a state religion.
The goal of these self appointed protectors of the Constitution is to shove religion so far off the map, it no longer has any meaningful contribution to make. This is what is really abhorrent. They will file suit to protect the right to wear a T-shirt with an obscenity on it, but ask the same court to ban "Here Comes Santa Clause." To be candid, I am simply tired of listening to people who look for offense where none is intended. The umbrage brigades.
The First Amendment protects the right to be heard. It protects the speech you don't like. It is there to insure all voices are heard, it does not require that you listen.
Religion has a right to be a voice at the cultural table. If you're offended, exercise your right not to listen, don't deny my right to hear, even the silence.
Barbahen's letter is annoying for a number of reasons.
Here's the basic explanation.
The United States is governed by a constitution, the U.S. Constitution. The government has no power or legitimacy except the power and legitimacy that derives from the Constitution.
If you don't like what the Constitution says or how it's interpreted there are ways to amend the Constitution or to change how the courts interpret the Constitution.
Barbahen seems to be making a claim that he knows how to better govern society if we just violate the Constitution in ways he finds acceptable. Note, he doesn't provide any data, just cheap emotional arguments.
Barbahen is basically arguing that the violation of the Constitution is so small, it's no big deal. If the violation of the Constitution is so small, then why the need to do it? And the need for Barbahen to take his time defending it?
According to Hooks' civil complaint filed in February 2004, Murphy arrived at the tail end of a police response in which two officers were attempting to determine whether Hooks was panhandling. The two other officers responding to the call were satisfied that an arrest was not necessary and explained as much to Murphy, the suit contends.
After walking approximately half a block from the scene, Hooks was allegedly apprehended by Murphy, who was exiting his squad car with pepper spray in-hand. Hooks was allegedly sprayed in the face and then struck repeatedly with a baton, resulting in a broken wrist. After being kicked and handcuffed, Hooks was transported to the police station where Murphy "dragged Mr. Hooks approximately 20 feet," according to the suit.
Murphy acted like a criminal. What did Forest Park Police Chief Jim Ryan do? What did State's Attorney Dick Devine do?
BTW, at least one supporter of Mayor Anthony Calderone is characterizing the prosecution as a castration. See Forest Park Forums. From the perspective of this Calderone supporter, I guess it's removing the intrinsic masculinity of "White" cops to hold them accountable for using pepper spray and a police baton against a Black man.
D209 has a regular and special meeting on the same night
Proviso Township High Schools (District 209) board of education had a regular and special meeting last night.
The most significant points:
1. The district will borrow from its reserves to meet payroll on Friday. This is necessitated by Gov. Rod Blagojevich vetoing the property tax legislation last week. This delayed the county sending out bills. And the delay sending bills will cause the county to delay paying school districts. 2. During public comment a freshman at Proviso East said she does not feel safe in school. Another woman raised the issue of class sizes. 3. Bill Kirchner of Forest Park pointed to a number of non-educational areas where D209 spends lavishly compared to Morton and New Trier. And then he pointed out that on educational salaries and expenses D209 spends less than these districts. 4. Kevin McDermott of Westchester raised a number of questions about the budget. He pointed to discrepancies between the budget online and the one briefed to the board at the meeting. He pointed-out that the budget has grown 13% a year for the last two years while former superintendent Stan Fields and business manager Nikita Johnson have been crowing about deficit cutting. McDermott also criticized the budget for having large amounts of money under "other". 5. Barbara Cole of Maywood questioned the move to dismiss the foundation. She alleged the board ended the foundation project b/c the people working on it were insufficiently loyal (in a political sense) to the board of education. Cole also expressed a preference that the district conduct a nation-wide search for a new superintendent. 6. Robert Libka was given a one-year contract for $160,000 to be superintendent. 7. I raised the issue of the president of the board of education, Emanuel "Chris" Welch, dating the business manager, Nikita Johnson. I said this was relevant to the budget because Welch is approving his girlfriends (fiance's?) budget.
The state needs to pass legislation that sets the level of the property tax bills. The county can't determine the amount to bill property owners until the level is passed into law. And if the county doesn't get the property tax money then the schools don't get their property tax money, which is their primary source of income.
From a theoretical perspective, property tax revenue is supposed to the most reliable. The cyclical nature of the economy causes income taxes and sales taxes to fluctuate. However, property owners are expected to absorb the economic uncertainties with property taxes. That is, the property owner pays $X not matter if the economy is booming or in the doldrums.
From Kadner:
"I told my school districts that we can expect to lose $300,000 a month, or about $10,000 a day, just in the interest we would have made off of the property tax money, had we received it and put the money in an interest-bearing account," said Rob Grossi, treasurer of Bloom Township schools.
Finally, we know what the township treasurer of schools does. In weird budget situations s/he gives a quote to the newspaper.
There's a rumor that Forest Park police officers are systematically violating village policy on the use of video recording devices in squad cars. These cameras are supposed to begin recording when the officer turns on the cars sirens. The officers are disabling the cameras.
[Officer Biel] failed to record the arrest with a dash-mounted camera. Department officials have said Biel was disciplined for the violation, but declined to discuss what action was taken against him.
Albukerk wanted to gather evidence to argue that Forest Park police officers had a systematic practice of not turning on the dash-mounted video recorders in their squad cars. Albukerk subpoenaed Deputy Police Chief Tom Aftanas, Lt. Steve Weiler, civilian employee Jane Maxwell, and village mechanic George Prescott, along with records of how many times the tapes were changed in squad cars for a four month period in 2006.
Judge Gregory Ginex disallowed the defendant from making this argument.
I'm not a lawyer (IANAL), but there is a principle in contract law that if there is ambiguity in a contract the courts resolve the ambiguity against the party that wrote the contract.
To me, it seems like the same principle should apply to the Forest Park Police Department. If FPPD officers willfully disable there cameras, it should be assumed that they are up to no good. Courts should, when there is a conflict of accounts between FPPD officers who turned off video equipment and others, resolve the conflict by assuming the others are telling the truth.
Ginex's ruling rewards the police officers for essentially destroying evidence. The Village of Forest Park has paid for these cameras that turn on automatically. The police officers--I suspect with the approval, if not the explicit instructions of the ethically challenged chief of police--are disabling the equipment because the courts give the officers more credibility than the suspects.
If the courts have a policy of deciding against police officers who disable their cameras the police will stop disabling their cameras. It's really pretty simple.
Maybe there's some legal nuance I'm missing, but from my perspective Ginex looks lazy, foolish, ignorant or crooked.
"It wasn't about challenging him [Moore], it was about holding the office," Yarbrough said of squaring off against Moore. "He's just warming the seat, and not very well, I might add."
Fields gets paid undisclosed amount to resign and take blame
At the Monday, August 27, special meeting of the board the Proviso Township High Schools (District 209) board of education approved the resignation of stan fields as superintendent. The resignation is part of an agreement with the board of education. The district will pay Fields an undisclosed amount. Fields took responsibility for losing the confidence of the board of education by not communicating with board members.
Bill Kirchner and Barbara Cole spoke in favor of keeping Fields.
I,Carl Nyberg, spoke against paying Fields money for resigning.
The board deliberated in closed session for slightly over an hour.
According to board member Theresa Kelly, board member Dan Adams voted by phone during the closed session. As I understand the Open Meetings Act it is contrary to Illinois law to take votes in closed session.
In open session five board members voted to accept the resignation package negotiated with Fields. Kelly voted “present” and Adams was not present.
Kelly spoke against paying Fields because of the ongoing investigations of the district and allegations from the Stark King report. In closed session interim superintendent Robert Libka assured Kelly that he and the lawyers from Giglio & Del Galdo would investigate the allegations. Kelly said she was sending the Stark King report to the Regional Superintendent of Education, Charles Flowers, and the Cook County State's Attorney. This triggered an angry reaction by Welch and Michael A. DeBartolo. Libka also expressed unhappiness with Kelly's decision.
Forest Park Police Department command climate & alleged rape
Forest Park Review (Josh Adams) wrote the headline, "Report says woman knew alleged rapist". I would have chosen something more like, "Alleged rape: incident report released," and then given written something like, "Village redacts details for privacy reasons," in the large text blurb.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this the same Mayor Calderone who effectively sided with a Forest Park police officer who sexually assaulted another police officer at a department function?
Didn't the FPPD engage in behavior that looked like retaliation against the officers who assisted the officer sexually assaulted? Isn't the reasonable inference that Calderone directed the retaliation and Chief Ryan carried it out?
And wasn't the officer who did the sexual assault not only retained on the force, but put in charge of internal investigations?
And hasn't Ryan bent over backwards to conceal police misconduct by FPPD officers and defend them against allegations of brutality (of course, minus the officers on Calderon's political hit list)?
So, is it any wonder that FPPD officers think the rules don't apply to them as long as they do the bidding of Ryan and Calderone?
Do you think it's a coincidence that the alleged rape happened in Forest Park?
The FPPD has about 38 cops, right? About seven of these cops actually live in Forest Park, right? So the one time a cop decides to explore the limits of consenting to sex he just happens to do it in the jurisdiction where he thinks Calderone and Ryan will have his back. Just coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not.
