Liability insurance for gun owners. It only sounds crazy in a world where wholesale carnage by gun violence is somehow seen as the unavoidable collateral damage of an overstated right of gun ownership, free of any attendant responsibility and limits.
Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin, with his office right here in Forest Park, has made his latest salvo in what has become his war against the death and maiming of his young constituents. He has proposed that Cook County require any local gun buyer to secure liability insurance before completing that purchase.
Remember the last time you bought a car and you couldn’t leave the lot without some proof of insurance on that car? That seems prudent. That seems like a reasonable protection society has taken in the event of an accident.
Why would guns be different?
In a time when the NRA makes politicians quake and convinces too many of us that Supreme Court support of the Second Amendment is universal and unassailable, Commissioner Boykin isn’t having it. There are legal ways to place strictures on gun purchases. The Supreme Court has categorically said so. And Richard Boykin is determined to probe and test those limits.
For that we are grateful.
Remembering Frem
A life lived on Madison Street, well lived from her teens to near 60, with all the connections, all the history, all the joy and nonsense, hard work and long hours of small business life. That’s how the hundreds who turned out on Sunday for Freminnie Jodoin’s wake remembered her, along with the champagne and the chocolates that were served at her request.
Her sudden death while traveling was a stunner for all those who had known her from her days working in her folks’ Sav-er Grocery store on Madison to her years at the side of Jimmy Jodoin in their always bustling, always happy Jimmy’s Place restaurant on the street.
Forest Park lost an essential piece with Mrs. Jodoin’s death. Our sympathy to Jimmy, her family and her extended family of friends.
Music Fest lives
Forest Park’s Chamber of Commerce has announced a sophomore year for its summer music festival. That’s good news for Forest Park and for our hard-working chamber.
Again the chamber will turn to Star Events, a professional event operator, to stage this July festival on Madison Street. After running into security concerns in the final years of the former SummerFest, the chamber recognized that it needed the help of a vendor well versed in securing access to a fest with an urban vibe.
Year 2 will see some tweaks, with lowered pricing for local business participants and the hope that the event simply demonstrates some organic growth as it becomes a known stop on the summer music roster.
It’s all about adapting. And our chamber has clearly learned that. Good for them.
