Bring the Whistleblower Act to Forest Park
Last week Commissioner Terry Steinbach submitted a simple yet powerful document to Mayor Calderone and her fellow commissioners for council approval. It is a resolution stating that Forest Park will join other communities as well as Cook and DuPage counties in adopting the Illinois Whistleblower Reward and Protection Act (IWRPA).
In brief, the IWRPA protects government workers against retaliation if they reveal illicit acts or behavior by their coworkers, supervisors or any other person working or doing work for the government.
The origins of this law finds its way back to 1863 when during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln wanted to find a way to prosecute ammunition suppliers who were diluting gun powder with saw dust. Once the law passed, those employees who detected problems could say so with out retaliation.
Over the years, the law has been beefed up by many legislators including President Ronald Reagan and most recently in 1995 by the Illinois General Assembly who said, in essence, that this act is so good that they recommend it for all governments in our state including local towns and villages and any other agency that collects taxes.
The General Assembly feels so strongly about the IWRPA that they are picking up the tab for enforcing it. In other words, if a government employee of any town that has adopted this act speaks up, in earnest about an illicit deed, the Illinois Attorney General will prosecute the case on their behalf. It almost sounds too good to be true…but it is!
I am asking all my fellow citizens on behalf of myself as well as Citizens United in Forest Park to let our elected officials know that you want our village to adopt the Illinois Whistleblowers Reward and Protection Act.
It’s a win, win, win situation.
A handy reference of e-mail addresses and telephone numbers for all of the Forest Park elected officials is available at www.cuinfp.org or call 708 771 2478 for more information.
Steven Backman
President, CUinFP
Stop the complaining
This letter is in response to the many letters, articles and comments that Jackie Schulz has made regarding the Forest Park Library. I do agree that the library board should be elected rather than appointed, but I am rather tired of her complaining about the library. Sometimes, she is just wrong. I have spoken personally to some of the employers that she said were fired ” they were not. They left for various reasons.
The library buys new book all the time and has tons of magazines and movies. Some of the staff that were fired should have been. But all the staff at present I find to be friendly and helpful.
In short, I really wonder what library Jackie Schulz is talking about. And lastly, if you don’t like it, then don’t go there. There are plenty of other nice places to go in Forest Park.
Stephanie Shiller
Thanks for another great tournament!
On behalf of the Board of Park Commissioners of the Park District of Forest Park, I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank and acknowledge that tremendous group of individuals who helped make the 37th annual Forest Park Invitational Softball Tournament a huge success.
Special thanks to Park District Commissioners Joe Byrnes, Howard “Bud” Boy, Greg Kolinek, Cathy McDermott and Roy Sansone for their continued support in keeping the tradition of this most prestigious 16″ softball tournament alive for all these years. They, along with our great recreation, maintenance, concession and office staff, put in countless hours of work each year for this tournament. The tournament is a “must-see” for any serious fan or player of “Chicagoland’s game” and we are proud that the tradition continues.
Many thanks to the players, team sponsors, umpires, scorekeepers, announcers, grounds crew and to Mr. Stats, tournament statistician, for their participation in this year’s tournament. I would also like to thank the fans who came out in record numbers, year after year, to enjoy the games. Your comments on our recent ball field improvements and the quality of our tournament make all the hard work and planning worthwhile.
Thanks to Burke Beverage and the Miller Brewing Company for their 19th year as tournament co-sponsor. We would also like to thank the Forest Park Review for once again publishing the official program and Wilbert Burial Vault for the use of their tents each year for this and all of our special events, as well as Orthosport and the Village of Forest Park for their use of parking facilities. Out appreciation is also extended to Mayor Anthony Calderone, the Village Council and the Police and Fire Departments for their continued support.
Last, but certainly not least, special thanks to that tremendous group of volunteers who come forward each year to make the food and concessions operation second to none. It would be impossible to list all of them in this letter, but I just wanted to publicly say that without these volunteers, we certainly couldn’t do it alone. Thank you all again for giving your time for the enjoyment of others. You’re the best.
Dave Novak
Director
Park District of Forest Park
