Forty Years Ago

Clips from Claude Walker’s Personal Observations column: “I believe I’ve found the perfect antidote for old age. I further believe that senility comes with the lack of brain exercise, just as debility of the body results from too little bodily activity. Short of running the 100-yard dash, we oldies could still do much to keep the body tuned up. The best way to do this is to spend time with our grandchildren.”

You think there are a lot of new or remodeled homes going up in our well-established village today? In July of 1965 the front page reported that the village council granted 131 more construction permits in a couple of months to bring the year’s total to nearly 200.

From the July/Aug. 1965 issues of the Forest Park Review

Thirty Years Ago

“Mayor Wants Crackdown on Poor Housekeepers.” So read the headline in July of ’75. A subhead might’ve read, “Many Complain, Few Act.” The issue was village upkeep and the culprits were mainly apartment dwellers and owners who failed to obey or enforce village codes relating to sanitation and building maintenance”longhand for “In here, slob.” (Garbage can.)

Mayor Howard Mohr called for stepped up inspections by the village’s three inspection bodies”health, building and fire. He said, “Once this laxity takes hold it has a poor effect on the entire village.

The following was printed in the Review and described a more-than-interesting open house tour out in Batavia. It involved the highly unusual facility, called Fermilab.

There, the subject is the unworldly world of quantum subatomics”or particle acceleration. Particles as small or smaller than electrons are fired into a four-mile underground accelerator whose speed reaches nearly that of light. Then, one particle collides with another with a primeval force in an attempt to duplicate the creation of matter (and the universe) at the time of the Big Bang, over 13 billion years ago. Heavy stuff.

From the July 1975 issues of the Forest Park Review

Twenty years ago

Trying to serve a warrant to Anthony Fowlkes, a 28 year-old Bellwood man, proved to be just that”trying. Fowlkes, who worked for Waldheim Cemetery, was already wanted on three warrants when he went to the cemetery to claim a final pay check. As requested, cemetery officials notified police, and the chase was on. As Investigator Steve Knack and Officer Al Tagliola arrived Fowlkes fled through the grounds. The pursuers were joined by units from North Riverside, Forest Preserve Rangers and the WGN helicopter, along with other Forest Park units. Fowlkes was spotted by Office John Breidenback as he sought to escape at by swimming across the DesPlaines River.

Finally, after an hour-long chase, he was located by Officers Martin Moy and Steve Bukovack, who ran him down, tackled him and”when he continued to resist”subdued him with a stun gun.

From the July 1985 issues of the Forest Park Review

Ten Years Ago

Sad to report the bummer news of an 83 year-old woman who was killed while trying to cross Harrison St. at Harlem Ave. on her bicycle. The driver of a semi truck heading south on Harlem was turning right onto Harrison. Police officer Martin Moy said, “He was looking at his right mirror to ensure not hitting a pole, and in that little distraction he didn’t see the cyclist. The driver, Anatol Kosuszko, was visibly upset and remorseful.

The victim’s name was withheld pending notification of relatives. My memory tells me she was well-known locally, a colorful free sprit”definitely not dotty”who many knew as “Mary Garden;” a reference to her active involvement in the early ’80s with the village-sponsored community gardens, off Industrial Rd., at the far south end of town.

From the July/August 1995 issues of the Forest Park Review