Forty Years Ago
Ye Olde Editor Claude Walker took umbrage at the Chicago Daily News’ poor timing of a follow-up story on the murder of Valery Percy, the 21-year-old daughter of U.S. Senator Chuck Percy some months before. Walker, a colleague and friend of the senator who logged many miles campaigning across the state with him, felt it must have been particularly stressful for the family since preparations were being finalized for the marriage of Valery’s sister that weekend.
Walker didn’t blame reporter Jay McMullen as much as the Daily News managing editor for “…causing the Percy family further, avoidable distress.” He commented that no new developments in the murder story justified spoiling what should have been a happy time for a family that had suffered enough.
From the Mar. 2, 1967, Forest Park Review
Thirty Years Ago
Much controversy here about a Forest Park paramedic program being put on a ballot. A majority seemed ready to turn it down, including the Review. In a couple of words; it was deemed “too expensive.” Neighboring Broadview had such a program in place, yet it was funded largely out of a tax base from a sprawling industrial complex
Forest Park did not have.
Broadview’s Fire Chief James Cote was consulted by officials here. No exact financial breakdown was available, he said, but resources there allowed: an extra $524 per fireman per year above their yearly salary; $26,000 to $28,000 for an ambulance (1977 prices), plus $15,000 for special medical and radio equipment.
From the Mar. 16, 1977, Forest Park Review
Twenty Years Ago
“Brother injures sibling in accidental shooting,” read the headline. Not 5 or 6-year-old brothers, but grown young men sitting across from each other in their Harvard Avenue apartment, cleaning their rifles. One had just finished cleaning his Marlin rifle and put a shell in the chamber before accidentally discharging the weapon. The bullet struck the other brother in the hip. They drove themselves to the Oak Park Hospital where the bullet was removed.
Do you think it’s easy to have your car stolen two times in one week? A Buick Regal was stolen and recovered twice-on a Friday night in the 200 block of Circle Avenue and again the following Wednesday on Roosevelt Road. The owner first called 911 at 11 a.m. on Saturday, to report the missing vehicle. The car was recovered by mid-afternoon. Four days later, the owner visited a tavern on Roosevelt Road. On exiting the pub-and only on exiting-did he realize he had left his keys in the ignition. The ignition, the keys and the Buick were gone. Still, car and owner were reunited within a week.
From the Feb. 4, 1987, Forest Park Review
Ten Years Ago
More craziness. Shooting. Guns. Panic. A young man entered the China Night restaurant, a half-hour after it opened for lunch. He sat down and ordered a glass of water from owner Michael Eng. As happens all too often these days (and those days), the man produced a gun and open-fire, hitting Eng three times. Within a minute, Forest Park and River Forest patrols were combing the area, as a state police helicopter hovered. A composite sketch was made from witness descriptions. Officer Mike Keating thought he recognized the shooter from an earlier incident, and Sgt. Martin Moy confirmed. A check revealed that the 21-year-old suspect lived in an apartment on Madison Street-where he was arrested.
Whether 32 people at Virginia Tech are slain or one restaurant owner on Madison Street is wounded, the raw fear and primal panic of not knowing what the next second or two will bring has to be the same. One final irony-the brother of shooting victim Michael Eng, Jeffrey Eng, died that evening, of an unrelated illness, at Oak Park Hospital. At Loyola Medical Center that night the condition of Michael Eng was upgraded from critical to serious.
From the Feb. 19, 1997, Forest Park Review
