Pirate Pride: documentary on Provis East boys hoops program

Yesterday I attended a screening of Pirate Pride at the Gene Siskel Film Center. The one-hour film Pirate Pride is about the glory years of the Proviso East basketball program and how Maywoodians have both made the program successful and gone on to success in the NBA.

The film was produced by David D. Grace and directed by Derek Grace. During the discussion of the film, the Grace's indicated they intend to incorporate more footage about Shannon Brown who was a point guard on the Los Angeles Lakers team that won the NBA championship in 2009.

Since the film is still a work in progress, I hope some of my criticisms will cause the filmmakers to reflect and improve the film.

One person who watched Pirate Pride described it as being like a Chamber of Commerce film. It is also repetitive without offering significant insights. To be successful in sports one needs pride, drive, talent, practice and a supporting school and community. OK. So what?

When speaking to the audience the filmmakers expressed their motivation as being to present a positive image of Maywood to counter the negative information about Maywood. Presenting all positive for an hour makes the film tedious.

The 1969 team won the state championship during a very tumultuous time. The story for this part of the film should probably look something like a documentary version of Remember the Titans. Instead one of the people interviewed characterizes Proviso as going through the same issues as every other school in the country during that period.

Really? I'm not an expert on that era, but it seems like Proviso was facing more issues than the typical suburban school or typical majority Black school.

This also ties into a another weakness of the film. The film seems to be made by Maywoodians and for Maywoodians. It's assumed that the audience knows who Fred Hampton was when he's mentioned (once). One person gives the boundaries on where Blacks were allowed to live in Maywood, but this isn't explained. When this information is given, the film should show a map of Maywood and area Blacks were constrained to.

During the discussion a bunch of time went into praising the movie and people saying how important it would be to show this film to elementary school students.

As a morality tale, a Spiderman cartoon would be better. None of the people being interviewed tell about an obstacle they've overcome. They don't discuss key decisions in their lives. They are presented as people who decided to be really good at basketball and they worked long hours and became really good at basketball.

Having spent some time with athletes, chess players and competing in math competitions myself, there's a disconnect with reality. To become the best, one has to work really hard. But for 99+% of people becoming a great basketball player is not an option. Far less than one in a thousand has the potential to become a grand master chess player no matter how much drive and practice.

The movie also has the Maywood problem of obsessively looking backward. Attendance at Proviso East hoops games is down, a detail that the movie mentions but doesn't discuss.

Question: Proviso East graduates have been on the team that won the NBA championship for three straight years (Michael Finley, 2007, San Antonio; Glenn “Doc” Rivers, 2008, Boston; Brown, 2009, LA), if Proviso East is so imbued with pride, why is attendance down at hoops games?

The movie would be more effective if it tackled Maywood's problems and Proviso East's problems directly. The community has a crime problem. Students at Proviso East do poorly on standardized tests.

Without explaining the problems the community and the school face, the movie treats its audience as children that need to be shielded from the truth. No amount of extolling the Golden Age of Maywood will bring those circumstances back. Communities who have a positive future take stock of their situation and make a decision to make the best decisions going forward. Maywood obsessively looks backward and tries to reclaim the past. This has caused the community to slip backward consistently since about the time the Pirates won their first state hoops championship (1969).

partial list of Proviso candidates for local elections

West Suburban Journal has a list of candidates for local elections including District 209 (but not other school districts), Proviso Township and the villages of Bellwood, Broadview, Maywood and Melrose Park.

baby birds squeak for money in Maywood

On Thursday, June 26, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger and Maywood Village President Henderson Yarbrough led a meeting that had the nominal subject of community violence. The cynical perspective of the meeting would be to say that county employees were preening to justify their jobs and a number of community members were asking for money for their own ideas about how to reduce violence.

Almost all the discussions about violence concentrated on youth violence. Proviso Township, which includes Maywood, already spends vast money on its children. We have this program called the public schools.

The public schools serving Maywood are horribly mismanaged. No amount of putting church ministers, deacons and local busybodies on payroll to implement “violence reduction programs” is going to change that the schools suck.

The Maywood community has consistently voted to put corrupt people in charge of the schools. And these elected officials have provided jobs and contracts for their cronies while neglecting education for students.

What sort of message does this send to the community? If the community respected their own children they'd spend the money for educating the children on the children, not launder the money through contractors, including lawyers, to make the politically connected rich.

Many of the speakers thanked Stroger for getting their project money. And others kissed his ass just to suck up. Reverend Sampson said "God bless" and bowed to Stroger.

I think it's weird--and un-American--to treat public officials as royalty. The term I like is "public servants". The elected officials and the people they hire work for us. We don't have to prostrate ourselves for basic services. We, the citizens, elect them and pay the bills.

Along these lines, a woman called out that the county employees all got to speak before the citizens and wannabe county employees. (This is a feature of county meetings that is standard. The meetings are to present the perspective of county employees to the chumps who attend these meetings. The ordinary taxpayers are the last to speak.) As the woman observed, a large number of the county employees left before the actual citizens got to comment.

Feel free to discuss, comment or ask questions.

Todd Stroger coming to Maywood

Cook County Board President Todd Stroger is coming to Maywood to talk about violent crime in the west suburbs. See Proviso Herald.

When? 6:30 PM, Thursday, June 26, 2008
Where? Maywood Village Hall, 125 S. Fifth Ave, Maywood

What would you ask Stroger?

I'm thinking of questions like....

Let's assume you wanted to reduce crime in the western suburbs, what power or authority do you have to affect things?

If you aren't doing particularly well at delivering services and restraining spending in the areas of county government you are responsible for, why should we hold out hope you will do something constructive outside your areas of responsibility?

Are you going to be calling-out corrupt local politicians who enable corrupt police officers who in turn enable street crime?

girls knife fighting in Maywood

Jeremy of Forest Park, a Proviso East grad, asked me to post the following Proviso Herald (David Pollard) story:

A 15 year-old female Proviso East High School student is at Loyola University Medical recovering from stab wounds that resulted from a fight last week, according to Maywood police.

Elizabeth Nellums, 17, of 1003 S. 17th Ave., Maywood, was charged Jan. 16 with attempted murder, aggravated battery great bodily harm, aggravated battery with a dangerous weapon and aggravated battery on a public way. She allegedly stabbed a 15-year-old Proviso East classmate with a knife during a fight in the area of Ninth Avenue and Madison Street.

17th & Madison drug arrests

Proviso Herald:

A three-month undercover investigation in the area of 17th Avenue and Madison Street resulted in nine arrests last week.

Maywood honors Fred Hampton Saturday

There will be a Fred Hampton monument dedication and street naming ceremony Saturday, September 8, 2007 at 4 PM at 300 Oak, Maywood, IL, aka Fred Hampton Family Aquatic Center.

[UPDATE: Sun-Times (Monifa Thomas) covered the event.]

preventing storm damage through enforcing code

This is a picture of a dead tree that was knocked over in Maywood (Saturday, August 25). If I remember right it's a property on 8th Ave.

The tree was dead--not just a little dead, but long dead. I presume it was knocked down in the storm. It took down a number of wires going to the house on the corner lot. (The leaves in the picture are from a second tree that was damaged by the falling dead tree.) However, the tree was technically on the adjacent property.

The Village of Maywood should have made the owner of the property remove the dead tree because it was a public nuisance.

Obviously, most of the problems caused by the storm couldn't have been prevented by better enforcement of local code issues. But some problems can be prevented by engaging in common sense preventive measures, like removing large, dead trees.

two Maywood shootings in Proviso Herald

Proviso Herald:

A 19 year-old Maywood [Cortney Wesley] man was shot Sunday afternoon while sitting in his car.

Wesley is in good condition at Loyola University Medical Center.

Proviso Herald (David Pollard) also gives more details about the killing of Willie Fobbs.

[UPDATE: I meant to include the Forest Park Review (Josh Adams) report of a shooting in Forest Park. No one was injured.]

old guys living the gangster lifestyle in Maywood

Chicago Sun-Times has the story of a 56-year old man shot and killed in Maywood. A 59-year old has been apprehended.

“The relationship between the suspect and victim is not known at this time as this case is currently under investigation,” [Maywood Police Sgt. Tim] Curry said.

A07, what happened in District 89? [D89]

Going into last Tuesday's election all District 89 (Maywood & Melrose Park elementary schools) school board members were allied with either Melrose Park village President Ron Serpico or Cook County Recorder of Deeds Eugene Moore. None of the school board members were aligned with State Representative (and Democratic Committeeman) Karen Yarbrough or Charles Flowers, EdD. Flowers was elected Cook County Regional Superintendent of Education in November and will begin his term in July.

Yarbrough and Flowers ran a slate against a slate backed by Serpico and Moore. Five seats were up for election: four four-year terms and one two-year term created by the death of Jose Montoya.

The slate backed by Serpico and Moore won all five seats.

The Yarbrough-Flowers slate ceded Melrose Park. Of the slate's five candidates none were from Melrose Park. The slate hardly campaigned in Melrose Park. And Yarbrough failed to use her power as committeeman to replace polling place judges loyal to Melrose Park village president Ron Serpico.

Yarbrough's team probably saw the low Melrose Park turnout in 2006 and assumed Serpico had lost the fire in the belly or was pre-occupied with the federal investigation of the village. In 2006 Serpico was trying to pass a tax increase referendum and may have wanted low turnout. In 2007 Serpico's trustee candidates were being challenged by a slate backed by Jesse Martinez, a trustee in both Proviso Township and Stone Park. Serpico flexed the muscle of the Melrose Park machine. The large turnout in Melrose Park overwhelmed Yarbrough's advantage in Maywood where her husband Henderson Yarbrough is the village president.

This entry has a macro analysis of the election.

OBIT, Ralph Sampson, former Maywood cop [M]

Mr. Ralph Sampson, was a life long Mawoodian and honored Law Enforcement Officer of our Community. He excelled at Washington School and Proviso East High School. He was a decorated and honorably discharged Army veteran. He was the first African American Police Officer in the Village of Maywood, the first African American Sergeant, the first African American Lieutenant, and first African American Deputy Police Chief of the Maywood Police Department.

The Funeral Service for Maywood Police Department Deputy Chief Ralph Sampson (Retired), will be held:

Wake: TBA

Funeral: Saturday, March 3, 2007
12:00 Noon
Canaan AME
801 S. 14th Street, Maywood, IL 60153

Burial: TBA

Repast: TBA

OBIT, Charles Cotton Sr. [M]

Mr. Charles Cotton, Jr., was a valued member of the Maywood community. He owned Mid-West Business Machines and served as liquor commissioner.

The Funeral Service for Mr. Charles Cotton, Sr., will be held:

Viewing: Thursday, March 1, 2007

3:00 pm – 7:00 pm

Corbin Colonial Funeral Chapel

1001 W. Madison Street, Maywood, IL 60153

Wake: Friday, March 2, 2007

10:00 am – 10:30 am

Funeral: 10:30 am – 12:00 Noon

Corbin Colonial Funeral Chapel

1001 W. Madison Street, Maywood, IL 60153

Burial: Oakridge Glen Oaks Cemetery

4301 W Roosevelt Road, Hillside, IL 60162-2029

Repast: Maywood Parks & Recreation Building

200 S. 5^th Avenue, Maywood, IL 60153

A07, NOMCO meeting [M]

North Maywood Community Organization (NOMCO) held its endorsement session last night.

The meeting was chaired by Maywood Trustee Gary Woll. Woll is a candidate for re-election, so some may consider it a conflict-of-interest for him to chair the meeting.

I didn't attend the meeting. People who did attend are encouraged to leave their observations in the comments.

My understanding is that the following candidates were endorsed for District 89:

• Duane Black
• Donna Miller
• Regina Rivers
• Della Patterson
• Lenore Sanchez (two-year term)

And Ralph Harris and Kevin McDermott were endorsed for District 209.

Proviso Insider spins the NOMCO meeting against District 209 board member Theresa Kelly.

A07, list of candidates running in April

Proviso Herald has a list of candidates running in...

• Bellwood, village (uncontested) and library (contested)
• Berkeley, village (uncontested), park district (contested), school board (insufficient candidates)
• Broadview, village (contested)
• Hillside, library (insufficient candidates)
• Maywood, village (contested)
• Melrose Park, village (contested)
• Stone Park, village (uncontested)
• Westchester, village (contested), library (uncontested)
• District 209 (contested)
• Veterans Park (uncontested)

CRIME, Jeffrey Lowenthal of Bahcall's was murdered Monday [M]

Chicago Tribune (Joseph Sjostrom):

Jeffrey Lowenthal, 53, Bahcall's longtime store manager, was fatally shot in an apparent armed robbery attempt about 5:30 p.m. Monday, Maywood police said. No suspects were in custody as of late Tuesday.

The Trib has a nice article explaining the Lowenthal family's connection to the Village of Maywood.

Proviso Herald gave the story 58 words an misspelled Lowenthal's name.

[UPDATE: This is a police sketch of the suspect from ABC7.]

MEDIA, Maywood Community News [M]

Maywood Community News is on Tuesday evenings. If you watch it, please write a post and tell what you think.

A07, candidate filings Bellwood, Berkeley, Hillside & Maywod [BW, B, H]

Proviso Herald lists the following candidates as having filed for election. Candidates can continue to file until next Monday.

Bellwood

Village

• Phylistine Murphy
• M.C. Robinson
• Edward Lezza Jr.

Library board

• Mary Anne Grundler
• David Ireland

Berkeley

Village

• Valerie William (Building Better Berkeley Party)
• Diane Salemi (Building Better Berkeley Party)
• Bob Lee (Building Better Berkeley Party)
• Jerry Perez (Building Better Berkeley Party)

Library board

• Jerry Brown

Hillside

Village

• Lytton H. "Andy" Andersen
• Harold A. Martin, Jr.
• David V. Delgado

And according to Proviso Insider the following candidates filed in the Village of Maywood:

• Ralph McNabb-former Maywood Village Clerk
• Sheryl Washington-former Maywood Trustee
• Lula Greenhow-former Maywood Trustee

Last time I saw Lula Greenhow was when Rep. Karen Yarbrough organized a demonstration against the Player's Ball being held in Maywood. Greenhow was a counter demonstrator. So she was basically spending her time demonstrating for the rights of pimps to hold their annual gathering in Maywood.