Letters to the Editor

Editor's note: We respect your opinion and are privileged to share it via this website. All letters to the editor will

be reviewed before being posted. We do allow anonymous comments, yet we will not allow the Southwest Chicago Post to serve as a forum for bigotry of any kind. We also will not allow personal attacks against anyone, including elected officials and other public figures. On this site, all of us need to keep our tone respectful and our criticisms constructive. That's important as we work together to build better Southwest Side neighborhoods for all. So please join the conversation by sending your letter to editor@swchicagopost.com.

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Editor,

Thank you for videotaping and posting the 23rd Ward candidates forum put on by the Garfield Ridge Civic League. I never realized how important that is until I read a local newspaper story (in some other paper) about the forum.

There was a huge difference between watching and hearing the entire forum on video--on the one hand--and reading a non-video account written by someone else, especially someone who cleans up the nonsense that came out of the mouths of some of the candidates. I wasn't able to be at St. Jane's that night, but thanks to the Southwest Chicago Post video, it's almost like I was.

Teresa Andreotti
Garfield Ridge

Editor's reply: Thank you. We find it interesting that not one of the three candidates for 23rd Ward alderman has linked to our video via their websites or Facebook pages. Are they afraid of something?

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Editor,

Time was when the cop on the beat had a healthy respect from the good citizen and a certain fear from the wrong-doers. Perhaps this was a simplistic way of looking at things, in a strictly back and white, good and evil manner. But nonetheless, that was the way it was.

We can look to the changes in this "quaint" and archaic view of things beginning to change about 60 years ago. Concerted efforts by the Political Left sought to emasculate police departments in their regular day to day dealings with the criminal element; as well as that pertaining to the law abiding community at large. The sensationalizing of police misconduct was amplified in both the print and the electronic media, giving the impression that corruption, excessive force and unequal enforcement was the norm; rather than being the exception.

This is certainly not an attempt on our part to deny that corrupt practices do not exist; nor is it a move intended as a defense for bad behavior by anyone; be they in the "glorious blue" or not.

Concerning allegations of misconduct by cops, we're put in mind of the words of the late CPD Commander Robert M. Harness. "The Crusher," as Harness was affectionately known, had been the head of a special detective unit that was assigned to high-crime areas and to the baddest of the bad in the black community. His unit was an equivalent to Captain Frank Pape's Robbery Unit.

Well, those words from Commander Harness were: "The game never changes, just the players!" He knew that there were no new scams under the sun, although the police department continues to get wise guys who think they're "smarter" than anybody in their petty scams. This will also be so, as long as man is a fallible creature.

All of these points bring us back to the original point. Just who is afraid of the police? Is it the bad guys with their "rights" or the good, common and decent citizen, who minds his or her own business?

What do you think?

John T. "Red" Ryan
Garfield Ridge

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Editor,

Just checking in to ask if there is there any update on Checkers? Did they get back to you with the information they promised, on how many people from Garfield Ridge and Clearing applied for jobs there?

The situation appears to be getting worse, with all the stories I'm reading on Facebook about allegations against the employees there. Isn't this the place that the alderman bragged about last summer, about what a good thing it would be for the neighborhood?

Dave Hubalik
Garfield Ridge

Editor's reply: We put the question to Checkers' public relations representatives (again)  a week ago. Still no reply. All of us should draw our own conclusions from their silence. If and when they reply, we will gladly share their response in its entirety.

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