Stunned to Silence

Two families lost their sons recently, as one 17-year-old allegedly murdered a 17-year-old classmate. Darryl Shannon Pickett is dead. Theo David Wright will be tried for his murder, and, if convicted, will spend years in a brutal prison system.

Shannon Pickett was a popular student and a member of the Evanston Township High School football team. Theo Wright, who attended ETHS last year, had recently moved to Skokie and planned to enroll in a high school there.

Although police have said there was an "altercation" involving others earlier in the day on June 28, the day Mr. Pickett was shot, they have not ascribed a motive. But the reasons that youth shoot other youth are generally trivial, and they never justify the tragedy.

Kids get angry; they say and do things heedlessly, believing that there will always be a tomorrow to change course or to atone for a misdeed. In the normal course of events this is true. But the availability of handguns changes all of that. With a handgun, there is no taking back, no second change, no reversal.

In a volatile situation, a handgun is the wild card. Were it not for a handgun, Mr. Pickett and Mr. Wright might have ended with bruises and bloodied noses. Mr. Pickett would have joined his teammates in the Fourth of July parade and, later this summer, on the football field. Mr. Wright would have entered a new school in the fall.

Handguns will always make a difference; too often the difference is one of life and death.

This is not the first time one of our youth has killed another. It is not the first time an accessible handgun has devastated a family.

The Evanston Youth Initiative was formed two years ago after one Evanston youth killed another in a bar. At that time, the EYI counted 39 Evanston youth killed since 1990.

Darryl Shannon Pickett is number 40.

Ugly

By Charles Wilkinson

If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, ugliness is in the gut of the same. Even as someone who tries to see beauty all around, I cannot help but have a visceral reaction to what my eyes and the rest of me find ugly. For example:

· boom boxes on wheels, especially with basso profundo
· Paris whatzername's media mania
· violence of any kind, even cinematic
· gang-bangers and drive-bys
· 70 percent of all tattoos I have seen and 95 percent of body piercings
· hypocritical political "correctness"
· artless graffiti and other litter
· too many front-page headlines
· any form of abuse - physical, chemical, psychological, sexual

The list could fill pages. But even as I write the above I realize that whatever may be ugly to me may not be to others. The ancient Latin truth, de gustibus non disputandum est, reminds me that I am not looking for arguments here. But there is a "Why?" in me that needs to be asked and it is simply this: Why do we do these things to ourselves?

Of course there is no definitive answer short of our human condition. But the fact remains that much of what is ugly in our world is of our own doing. Who else is there to blame?

In this age of ecological sensitivity, our level of consciousness regarding things green is rising - albeit too slowly. As part of a global community we are just beginning to make difficult choices to pay for the excesses that have taken their toll on planet earth.  The good news is there are choices we can make.

While we are at it, we can make other choices as well, say, for the beautification of our lives. Unlike our ecological problems, which are larger than all of us, the ugliness we encounter on a daily basis must scar our souls, if not collectively, at least individually. While taking care of planet earth, there are choices we can make to take care of ourselves as well.

This leaves me with another "Why?" to ask: Why am I remembering Forrest Gump's comment, "Stupid is as stupid does"?    

The Rehearsal

By Peggy Tarr

My mom, who could not read music, made sure my sisters and I had piano lessons.  We had an old piano that someone had given my mom, and she regularly sat down at it and hammered out a jazzy
tune.  By the time I was in junior high, I was able to earn some money by playing for soloists, the choir, funerals and weddings. 

I lived in a small town in a rural area, so I was frequently driven on musical excursions to places "in the country." 

On one such excursion, Ms. Fierce, a friend of the bride-to-be's family, drove me over dirt roads through the woods to a little one-room church for a wedding rehearsal. Thank goodness Ms. Fierce stayed rather than drop me off and come back to get me.

After being introduced to everyone, I took my place at the piano. The reverend stood at the front of the church with the ushers standing at an angle looking toward the back of the church. 

I began to play and the bridesmaids marched to the front of the church. They also stood at an angle facing the rear of the church. Dummm dummmm dee dummm dummm dummmmm dum!  Here comes the  bride, dumm dummm dee dummmm! 

The bride marched up to the front of the church.  When she reached the front, the good rev arranged the wedding party so that they faced the pews for the congregation. 

"Excuse me, Reverend (Wrong),"  I said shyly, "but I think the wedding party is supposed to have their backs to the congregation."  The good rev gave me a look that pierced my teenaged soul. 

"Ain't nobody supposed to have their backs to the congregation," he sneered.  Now, Ms. Fierce was known for being a bit out of the ordinary.  She was a nervous woman who often spoke too loudly and too honestly and usually draped the bottom of her raincoat over her arm no matter what the weather. 

"Uh uh, Rev,"  Ms. Fierce bellowed as she walked up to the front of the church. 

"You supposed to be facing the congregation, not the wedding party. 

"Now I know what I'm talking about," yelled the rev, "And  they ain't supposed to have their backs to the congregtion." 

Ms.  Fierce went about turning the members of the wedding party so that their backs faced the congregation as though the rev was saying nothing. 

By now the rev's voice was trembling with anger, still yelling about the ignorance of having the party having their backs to the congregation. 

The rev made the mistake of bellowing, "I'm the one who's doing this wedding, and I say that they face the congregation." 

The rev started reversing what Ms. Fierce had done. Until now, the mother of the bride-to-be had said nothing, but when the rev made his comment about "doing the wedding," the mother stood up and said, "And I'm the one who's paying for it, and you will not make us the laughing stock with your country self.  And I can smell that you been nipping again." 

The mother marched up to the front and steered the rev to a position facing the congregation in front of the wedding  party with their backs to the congregation.  After a long silence, the rev opened his book and began the next segment of  the rehearsal: 

"We are gathered here today to join in holy matrimony..." 

Ms. Fierce fussed about Rev Wrong all the way back to my house.  I could hardly wait to tell my mom about the rehearsal.

Letters to the Editor

Help Fight Poverty and  Unemployment: Hire Local Youth
Editor:

One in every eight Americans lives in poverty - that's 37 million people.

This staggering number is contained in a report released this spring by the Center for American Progress. Here is how poverty in America is defined: a family of four living on less that $19,971 per year. Millions more, the report says, struggle each month just to get by.

But don't picture poverty as only an inner-city phenomenon. There is poverty right here in our own backyard. In fact, 11 percent of Evanston's residents - nearly 9,000 people - live in poverty, according to an economic profile prepared by the Evanston Public Library. Additionally, among Evanston families headed by single women, an astounding 17 percent live in poverty. Persistent childhood poverty is estimated to cost our nation $500 billion each year - that represents 4 percent of our gross domestic product.

With an eye toward these numbers, the Center for American Progress, a think tank in Washington, D.C., has called for a new war on poverty. The Center said Americans could cut poverty in half by raising the minimum wage to $8.40, guaranteeing child-care assistance to poor families, creating 2 million new housing vouchers, expanding college grants for low-income students, helping former prisoners find stable employment, and other measures.

But one recommendation in the report really caught my eye. It called on the federal government to connect disadvantaged and disconnected youth with school and work. That is just what we do at the Youth Job Center of Evanston. Last year, we helped approximately 1,400 young people find work and/or go to school.

Let me tell you about one of our clients and her success story. Danielle is 23 years old and has two children. She came to the Job Center a few years ago and enrolled in a computer-training and job-readiness program. Instead of simply finding work for Danielle in what could have ended up as a dead-end job, we talked to her about exploring career options and securing a position in work that offered stability, challenges and opportunities to grow.

Danielle began working at the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University as a temporary employee. After her position ended, one year later, Danielle worked with YJC job counselors and landed a position as a receptionist with DePaul University's Kelstadt Graduate School of Business. She was recently promoted from receptionist to graduate office assistant and has been employed at DePaul for three years. Most importantly, she is now taking classes at DePaul and plans to earn a bachelor's degree in business administration.

Danielle is just one of the young people we help at the Job Center. We not only talk to our young clients about finding work, but also about their goals in life. We encourage them to think about finding a profession they will enjoy - about finding a job they will want to go to each day in an interesting field. We talk to them about self-confidence and hope and about rising to the top.  As I like to tell our clients, "Think big, big, big."

The Job Center is an anti-poverty program. It's a community-based, nonprofit organization supported by thousands of people who recognize the importance of helping young people succeed.

Poverty costs everyone. As the report by the Center for American Progress says, it costs the lost potential of children raised in poor households, lower productivity and earnings of poor adults, poor health, increased crime and broken neighborhoods. To keep on doing this important work, the Youth Job Center needs your help. Here are some ways to help:

• Be an employer. YJC clients have had the benefit of our readiness programs. There is a good chance they can get up to speed faster. At the same time, employers make a valuable civic contribution.

• Be a trainer/group facilitator. Mentors, tutors and trainers will influence the youngsters we serve.  

• Be a corporate contributor and sponsor. We welcome the different kinds of involvement - financial and professional - management and employees have to offer.

• Be a contributor. Donations will help us continue the important work we do - helping teens and young people in Evanston and Chicago find a way out of poverty through education and work.

Anyone who would like more information about the Youth Job Center may visit www.youthjobcenter.org, call 847-864-JOBS, or stop by our office at 1114 Church St. At the Youth Job Center we want to end poverty, and we need your help.
-- Sacella Smith, executive director, Youth Job Center of Evanston

Diane Benjamin's Firing From Assessor's Office Is a Loss
Editor:

I was outraged reading your article in the RoundTable about the termination of Deputy Assessor Ms. Diane Benjamin.  The fact that Township Assessor Sharon Eckersall "faxed" her an "immediate" termination fax smells like someone trying to get someone out of there and now has a reason to do it. 

Diane Benjamin and her staff were there every day to help the residents of Evanston understand and go through the correct channels in regards to taxation and other property matters. 

Why would you cut back a position that still needs to be filled?  When asked whether the assessor's office has the ability to perform its functions without a deputy, Sharon Eckersall said, "For the summer I'm fine."

What does that mean?  How can you run an office where the head of the office is never there (as she states herself)? For the summer, sure - everyone is on vacation.

But how in the world is that office going to function in the fall? Sharon Eckersall is going to have to hire someone or that office will be useless to the citizens of Evanston. 

As Ald. [Ann] Rainey [8th Ward], said, "Ms. Benjamin did not need to be fired because the budget was cut. The budget could have been cut in other ways." 

Diane Benjamin ran that office and was the face of the Township Assessor's office.  Sharon Eckersall should be out. The fact that she has had two previous lawsuits filed against her and that she has run unopposed for the past two terms is criminal.  

This decision is not in the best interests of the residents of Evanston.
-- Stacey Ross

Race Against Hate is Worthwhile for All
Editor:

This was the first year I have participated in the Ricky Byrdsong Race Against Hate, and I wish I had been doing it all along. What a wonderful community event! It was gratifying to see so many different people - especially kids - gathered for such a good cause. 

The race was well-organized, and we all seemed to be having fun. It's events like this that make me so glad that I live in Evanston.  Thanks so much to everyone at the YWCA Evanston/North Shore who put together this great event. I'll be back next year for sure.
-- Laura Hohnhold

Legislators Should Support Additional Medicaid Funding
Editor:

We at Alden Estates of Evanston would like to thank State Representative Beth Coulson for all of her past support, and we hope to continue to have her support in the future. 

As a vital community service provider, we are in need of additional Medicaid funding to continue to provide high-quality services to our residents.  It costs the average Illinois nursing home $127 per day to care for our residents, but we are only reimbursed for 76 percent of that cost. 

Nursing homes today provide many services that were once only provided in hospitals.  Nursing homes have a new reimbursement system called the MDS that recognizes these medically advanced services, but the state implemented the system without fully funding it. 

Funding this system is critical to optimizing the quality of care, safety and well-being of our residents. 

Medicaid currently pays nursing homes based on cost levels from 1999, while our costs for taxes, food, resident safety and utilities continue to steadily rise.  Medicaid needs to update its rates to reflect current costs.  

The state has a moral obligation to take care of these residents. We appreciate Rep. Coulson for all her support, and we hope that the Illinois General Assembly will fully consider the needs of their districts' most fragile residents when the final state budget is being negotiated in Springfield.
-- Janine Ciemny, Administrator

Fountain Square Repair Is Mixed Blessing
Editor:

I live near Fountain Square, so I'll get some pleasure from the $1,000 per day the City Council has decided to spend on repairing it. But it'll be a mixed pleasure.  When I look at the renovated sqaure, I'll wish they'd spent the money on the summer lunch program for kids run by Campus Kitchen.
-- Dan Feldman

Few Fly the Flag
Editor:

On July 4, Independence Day, I took out my Stars and Stripes early and displayed it in front of my house, as I do every year.

At noon I drove up and down Seward, Keeney and Warren streets between Dodge and Hartrey avenues to see how many of my neighbors displayed flags. I counted only two additional flags in six blocks.

I proudly served in the Army during World War II, and I respect the flag and what it stands for. I am saddened and shocked that so few people fly the flag on this important day in our country.

We should have pride in our country and teach that pride to our children. I hope that in the future more of my neighbors will proudly display our flag.
-- Warren Straus