Forty Years Ago

Does history repeat? That’s about all it seems to do. Take these words from a 1966 Review editorial: “With public opinion polls showing that the Vietnam situation is the biggest worry for most Americans, the books being drawn from our library are reflecting this concern.” Do lessons get learned? Apparently not. Not only has it been proved again that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” but with the Iraq mess we’ve come to learn a new definition of a fanatic: “One who redoubles his efforts when he has forgotten his aim.” Source of quotes-Santayana. Hopeful New Year.

A funny thing happened to Lt. Ed Ziebell on the way to the police station. He spotted a burglar in the act of forcing his way into the Goldstein Lounge, 7316 Circle Ave. The lieutenant parked his squad, accosted Kenneth Stark of Cicero, a parolee, as he tried to hide in the vestibule of the building. The suspect denied trying to enter the lounge, however. Ziebell removed a gun from Stark’s holster and found a crowbar next to a pair of doors that had been partly pried open.

From the Nov./Dec. 1966 Forest Park Review

Thirty Years Ago

We haven’t forgotten luminaries.(See photo.) Thirty years back it seemed like a novelty here, yet it was an old idea from the southwest. Luminarias are candles inside paper sacks, weighted down with sand to keep them from blowing over. Before faux icicles and computer controlled lights, the soft, slow glow of luminaries became very popular. It isn’t done so much anymore.

A robbery that took place at the Circle and Harlem CTA station was cleared moments after it took place. John Warren of River Forest was confronted by three men upon leaving the station. They forced him to turn over his wristwatch and wallet. The victim immediately reported the robbery to police who broadcast a description of the three. The quick action enabled the responding officers to spot the trio and, after a brief struggle, force them to give up the goods and themselves.

From the Dec. 1976 issues of the Forest Park Review

Twenty Years Ago

A colorful, controversial cop announced that he would retire. Sergeant Richard Archambault said he’d leave the police department come May of 1987, nearly a year after publicly accusing another officer here of molesting children in an incident purportedly happening more than a decade earlier.

Archambault joined the force in 1963, resigned a short while after, and returned in 1965. He injured an ankle on duty in 1970 and was on medical leave until 1971. He was promoted to sergeant in 1977 and was shot while on duty later that year. The year after, he re-injured his ankle in a duty-related incident, this time remaining on medical disability for eight years. On returning to active duty, he admitted in an interview during a police board pension hearing that his years on the force were controversial and that he “had many friends and enemies as a cop here.” He then petitioned to return to the department for reinstatement, to no avail.

From the Nov. 12, 1985, Forest Park Review

Ten Years Ago

Oh the folly and stupidity and needless costs that get put down on the police blotter. Someone drove a car over eight tombstones at the neatly manicured Woodlawn Cemetery just south of town on Cermak Road. It appeared to police that the stupidity was intentional and costly-$25,000 in damages. Somebody else stole $1,800 worth of tools from a padlocked trailer at the construction site of Walgreens at Harlem and Roosevelt streets. Some other artful and imaginative soul apparently just couldn’t quench the desire to deface and defile a row of parked cars with what looked like a jagged piece of metal. What a fulfilling night that must have been for the perpetrator.

From the Oct. l6, l996, Forest Park Review