Forty Years Ago
With a Howard Mohr twinkle in the Howard Mohr eye, the mayor revealed that the amount of traffic arrests in town were orbiting. He reported that in 1964 there were 5,558 such arrests made here, compared to only three in 1911. Mohr said that he would conduct an investigation into the over-zealousness of local law enforcement (How to twist a statistic and have fun doing it).
It starts with concern over transportation. It’s pushed by complaints as it moves toward a controversy. Then it goes to committee. Finally, it comes to a vote and the awarding of a contract. That’s a nutshell description of the vision and effort necessary to put in place the million dollar CTA inspection and maintenance facility at the juncture of Harlem and Circle”where the present-day Green Line terminates.
From the April 1965 issues of the Forest Park Review.
Thirty Years Ago
“Guess who we ran into on our way out of the White Hen Pantry?” This piece of dialog was tailor-made for after-use by a couple of young punks who had held up and robbed the store at 1 a.m. Armed with knife and gun and carrying $175 from the cash register, they ran into Detective Sergeant Gary Doss”just outside the door. Doss was also armed and had the drop on them.
He had just finished the night shift and was heading home when he spotted the two acting suspiciously in the parking lot. First he called for back-up. Then he observed. Then he made his move.
“Dear Sally: My 40 year-old bachelor brother is making a fool of himself. He is a wonderful guy and we love having him in our home for dinners once a week. Last night, however, when he arrived for his weekly visit we almost fell over when he displayed a thick head of hair, instead of the thinning thatch we have been accustomed to seeing for years. The hair looks surprisingly real, but still, it’s not my brother. He is very proud of his ‘new look,’ but I’m afraid he’ll be the laughing stock of the town if he continues to wear that wig. How can I persuade him to discard it?””Sis. “Dear Sis: It’s his head and if he wants to wear a rug on it, why would it bother you? It’s how your brother feels about it that counts and apparently he feels pretty good. He’s far from being the only man (or woman) these days with re-roofing jobs.”
From the Mar. 1985 issues of the Forest Park Review.
Twenty Years Ago
Publisher Bob Haeger had occasion to refer to his daughter, Laurie, as “a young woman [in his office] who does all of her work and half of [his].” He also referred to her as a lifesaver”literally. There was a collision outside of Richard’s Tavern across from the REVIEW office. The driver had suffered a heart attack.
Laurie hurried across Madison Street to administer CPR. With the help of a man who performed chest compression, she gave mouth to mouth resuscitation. Word from the doctors was that Laurie and the (unidentified) man “probably saved his life.”
From the Mar. 1985 issues of the Forest Park Review.
Ten Years Ago
Columnist Bill Lichtenberg threw it open for grabs with a potpourri of items related in some way to living in Forest Park:
Referring to a recent election, he noted that Tony Calderone won the mayoral primary with 642 votes. He thought that might match the exact number of Calderone’s in the phone book.
He took a shot at the great Gary Leisten hoo-ha, wherein the Chief, after the workday drove a village-owned police car to a bowling alley, had a beer or two with the guys and was caught(?!) by NBC-TV cameras doing so.
Question: Why was NBC televising Forest Park police bowling? Maybe Carol Marin knew.
Who Remembers?Harry Chapin … Julie London … Boris Yeltsin … Stan Freburg … Don McNeill … Percy Faith … Frank DeVol … the DuMont Television Network … Menasha Skulnick … Geoffrey Holder … Leslie Uggams … Saladin … Gunga Din … Errol Flynn … Mickey Finn …Loretta Lynn … Rin-Tin-Tin … glass o’ gin …Cheers!
From the April/May 1995 issues of the Forest Park Review.
