How many police entities do we need?

It seems to be a new trend; the Cook County sheriff’s police taking over patrol duties in assorted suburban communities.

It is being done because those municipalities in the southern suburbs are financially impoverished – they can’t afford to have police on the streets to maintain the public safety.

ALTHOUGH A PART of me wishes that these municipalities could provide an inspiration to all of the Chicago area. Because I have always wondered why each and every one of the 129 communities in Cook County (with Chicago being merely one), along with the hundreds of suburban communities in the collar counties, needs to have its own police department.

Wouldn’t it make more sense if the county sheriffs had jurisdiction over their entire counties? Perhaps they should be a law enforcement agency whose officers routinely cross over the municipal boundaries that define the various suburban communities?

I’d like it if the experiences of places like Ford Heights, Dolton and Dixmoor could somehow inspire the local communities to think in these terms, rather than maintaining their own departments that all too often are understaffed and ill-equipped to deal with the realities of crime and criminal activity.

In the cases of Ford Heights and Dolton, financial problems are so intense for their local governments that they’re using the county sheriff to save themselves some money.

AS FAR AS Dixmoor is concerned, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that the sheriff took over patrols on the overnight shift this week because of a labor dispute (two officers walked off the job in protest).

But even in communities where finances are more solid, the realities of municipal budgets are that the public safety entities take up a majority of the money spent. A Police Department can easily take up more than a third of a community’s tax dollars.

I can’t help but think that having the sheriff handle suburban patrols as a single entity would be cheaper (and more professional) than having each and every community try to do it themselves.

But I’m realistic enough to know that any suburban government officials who might ever read this commentary are going to be repulsed by the very thought.

BECAUSE ONE OF the biggest decisions (if not THE biggest) that any suburban village president gets to make is picking him(or her)self a police chief. Someone who has to answer to him, and can be dismissed at that official’s desire.

Having a professional lawman under their control is an ego boost that I’m sure they would resist giving up! A fight to the death? It would be pretty close.

Then again, there are times when I wonder if an idea’s unpopularity amongst political people is all the more evidence of how sound it truly is?

Seriously. I realize the current county sheriff budget would be woefully inadequate to ask them to assume such intense patrols of all 129 communities (or 120 or so, if you assume that Chicago and the largest suburban communities would keep their police departments intact).

BUT PERHAPS EACH community should make a contribution to the county sheriff to help cover the cost. I’m sure it would be less than these communities in recent weeks had to set aside for a Police Department of their own.

It also would benefit in that a county sheriff would easily cross over municipal boundaries – which many suburban cops say are the mechanism that the crooks use to their advantage to avoid arrest.

But government egos likely will prevail.

Even though I’d like to think the situation in suburban Dixmoor in coming weeks could help sway people over to realizing that change would be an improvement.

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A new twist to an old tale – when ball clubs get too close to news coverage

The Boston Globe newspaper has new ownership – it became known this past weekend that the group that controls the Boston Red Sox baseball team is going to spend $70 million or so to purchase the newspaper, its assets and a sister newspaper in the suburbs.

Now some have tried to make much of the fact that when the New York Times bought the Boston Globe, they paid $1.1 billion. Or the fact that the Washington Post on Monday was sold for $250 million. The sale price is significantly less.

ALTHOUGH THAT ANGLE doesn’t intrigue me as much as the idea of just who actually bought the paper. Professional sports and news coverage have always been intertwined, and not just in Boston.

Here in Chicago, we had the ultimate combination of the two entities for the nearly three decades that Tribune Co. included among its assets the Chicago Cubs.

We had many decades worth of conspiracy theories about how the Chicago Tribune tailored its news coverage to bolster the Cubbie-blue image, thereby making it more attractive as a broadcast property carried over Tribune-owned television and radio stations.

A true combination of interests that was appalling to anyone who cared less about the Cubs!

IT’S NOT UNIQUE. Let’s not forget how Ted Turner turned his local Atlanta television station into a cable television powerhouse by carrying Atlanta Braves baseball – making it possible for people who didn’t live near any major league market to be able to watch Major League Baseball games on a regular basis.

And let’s not forget how Rupert Murdoch tried to bolster Fox broadcasting interests with a stint owning the Los Angeles Dodgers.

So the Globe and the Red Sox being business partners? This one is a little different. Because in this case, the ball club is going to be the dominant partner.

Instead of a case where a media property is hoping to bolster itself and its programming options by operating a baseball club, this is a case where a baseball club is going to have say over the coverage that it gets.

IS THE BOSTON Globe about to become a butt-kissing rag for the Red Sox that lives up to the worst conspiracy theories that Chicago White Sox fans have always held about the Chicago Tribune?

The new HQ of the Boston Globe?

I’d hate to think so. Because that is a situation where nobody would benefit. It can only be hoped that the new Globe owners view themselves as Boston people wanting to benefit their community to the point where they see their two business properties as being separate entities.

Because a news reporting property has more to it than a sports section, and it would be pathetic if people wanting to know more about Boston would have to turn to the Boston Herald for a more honest view of what happened in the world – considering that the Herald has its own ideological hang-ups it wishes to live up to.

I have always suspected that the decline of the newspaper medium was going to have consequences that would not be appreciated until it was too late to do anything about it. Many people just don’t comprehend how much the newspaper medium is the one that picks up on stories and does research that gets picked up by news programs on so many broadcast and Internet mediums.

AND WHILE I comprehend that a new generation exists that wants information presented to them on their assorted gadgets rather than the printed page, there are still assets of a newspaper that can be converted over to other information-based mediums.



Globe has headaches no longer at Tribune

The Globe has its benefits, and a $70 million price tag could turn out to be quite a bargain – if they are managed properly. But turning the newspaper into an entity that merely promotes the Red Sox could be what further speeds up the decline of the Globe.

Watching the Chicago media scene all these years, I am convinced that many Tribune people tried to avoid conflicts during that period when the paper was a business partner with the Cubs. But there were many moments when conflicts just couldn’t be avoided, and the paper came off looking ridiculous.

The Red Sox owners haven’t said what they plan to do with the Globe. Let’s hope they don’t bring ridiculous moments upon themselves on purpose.

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EXTRA: Rodriguez can play (for now); boo-birds to unleash their lung power

It seems that Alex Rodriguez will be available to play the next few games against the Chicago White Sox.

While Major League Baseball announced a series of suspensions against a dozen ballplayers for links to the Biogenesis anti-aging clinic (to try to use performance-enhancing drugs), it seems that Rodriguez of the New York Yankees is determined to fight the allegations.

A DOZEN BALLPLAYERS on Monday were told they were being suspended for the rest of the season, and they all are accepting the penalty without a fight. No one from the White Sox or the Chicago Cubs were on that list.

Not that it matters much, with as bad as both ball clubs are playing this season.

But the belief among many baseball people is that Rodriguez not only used substances to artificially bolster his strength, but also tried to cover up his involvement.

Nothing has definitively been proved, but Rodriguez on Monday was suspended for the rest of this season, the playoffs and all of next season. For a ballplayer on the decline who’s already 38, that could be the equivalent of a lifetime ban.

SINCE IT COULD throw his routine off that he’s never able to play at a competitive level again.

But Rodriguez, who got that major contract (he is the $25-30 million-a-year man) a decade ago, with an extension that should keep him paid for another four seasons, wants his money. That’s why he wants to challenge the penalty – and why he will want to take the playing field at U.S. Cellular Field come Monday.

Which will be interesting because Rodriguez was among the many key players who have suffered injuries this season – derailing the Yankees’ own desires to win a championship this season.

Monday will be Rodriguez’ first major league game of 2013. The national attention circulating around 35^th and Shields will be intense – crews were set up at the ballpark by noon.

EVEN THOUGH BALLPLAYERS themselves hadn’t shown up yet!

So Rodriguez will be on hand, and the White Sox hecklers will vent their rage – which will make the South Side an ugly place to be through Wednesday. Moreso than the usual Yankee-hatred that crops up around the American League's cities.

Particularly since it also seems that Yankees star Derek Jeter won’t be on hand for this week’s series in Chicago. He’s another key player who has been out with injuries, and he was diagnosed this weekend with a Grade 1 strain of his right calf.

So much for seeing Jeter in Chicago. The on-field highlight may well be the return of Alfonso Soriano to the Second City.

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The Yanks are coming? Will A-Rod be with them? Or will we settle for “C.J.”

The Rodriguez fans despise

The arrival of the New York Yankees in Chicago each season is always a moment of excitement – sometimes the highlight of a baseball season.

Yet it has been just over a decade (the Yankees' first ball game after the World Trade Towers incident of 
Sept. 11, 2001 was in Chicago against the White Sox) since anyone nationally was paying attention to the activity at U.S. Cellular Field just because of the presence of the Bronx Bombers.

THE YANKEES ARE in town this week for a three-game series beginning Monday against the Chicago White Sox. Our city’s Sox are struggling to avoid 100 losses, while the Yanks are coping with severe injuries to so many key players that it’s a wonder they have a winning record these days.

The Rodriguez fans used to love

But the reason the Yankees’ arrival in town is a big deal is because of the third baseman Alex Rodriguez – who has been one of the injured. He has yet to play a single game for the Yankees this season. Although in recent days, he has been undergoing minor league therapy in Trenton, N.J., and theoretically could play his first major league game on Monday.

Which could mean the White Sox faithful (along with the Midwestern-based Yankees fans who make their one visit to “the Cell” when they come to town) will get to see Rodriguez – and heckle him unmercifully.

Do Yankees fans want to crop him out?

We could be treated to the spectacle this week (my brother, Chris, and I will be at the stadium for Tuesday’s game) of Chicago showing its contempt for Rodriguez at its most intense level.

THEN AGAIN, MAYBE we won’t.

Because Rodriguez is one of a few ballplayers who are suspected of using certain chemical substances to enhance their strength and make themselves appear to be better ballplayers than they would otherwise be.

But officials say that Rodriguez’ involvement, and efforts to cover up, may be at a higher level. Which is why the speculation is that Rodriguez will be suspended on Monday for the remainder of 2013 and the entire 2014 season.

The beginning of the big-money era

If it turns out that Rodriguez is able to play on Monday (the speculation Sunday is that he will appeal his penalty, and will be allowed to play while the appeal is pending), he’s in for a hellish experience. Although I suspect even if he’s not able to play, the fans who turn out on Monday (and to lesser levels Tuesday and Wednesday) will make their level of contempt known.

THERE’S NO WAY to shut up a sports fan who feels compelled to boo and razz someone!

I’ll be honest. When I’m at the ballgame, I’m probably going to be more focused on the level of intensity expressed against Rodriguez than I will be on the game itself.

The Yankees may be able to boost their quality of play this month and next and still qualify for a playoff spot (that’s more likely than the White Sox being able to turn 2013 into a season with a winning record). But it likely is a “lost” season for both ball clubs.

The heckling level will be more memorable than the game itself. Although considering it will be the first ballgame I’ve made it out to this season, it will still be a pleasurable experience just for being live baseball.

SO THE YANKS are coming. Oft-injured shortstop Derek Jeter is likely to be in the lineup on Monday – after having sat out a weekend series against the San Diego Padres. We’ll get to see former Chicago Cub Alfonso Soriano, who is trying to show that his Cub-like quality of play was a fluke. A victory or two this week would be the highlight of the White Sox'  season!

Coming back to the old neighborhood

Although the most memorable thing may well be center fielder Curtis “C.J.” Granderson – a Chicago-area native who plays for New York, but plans to spend some time this week with kids in suburban Lansing and Lynwood just to promote their interest in baseball as a game.

Considering how much of the contempt level felt by baseball fans for Rodriguez is because of his record-setting contract, it is nice to see at least one ballplayer who hasn’t forgotten where he comes from and is willing to give something back to his home community.

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A DAY IN THE LIFE (of Chicago): Should employer stand by worker?

I’m finding it encouraging that Millikin University, a Decatur-based institution of higher learning, is willing to stand by the employment of the head of its psychology department.

Because the very notion that the professor, James St. James, caused the death of his parents and sister nearly a half-century ago would scare many companies into thinking that they have to do whatever is necessary to break their ties.

IN THIS PARTICULAR case, St. James was born under the name James Wolcott. When he was 15 back in 1967, his parents and sister, Elizabeth, were found shot to death in their house in Texas.

James was put on trial for the slayings, but he was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, he was ordered held in an institution – and six years later, he was he was released.

That means the criminal case was resolved. Wolcott (now St. James) did his time for this incident. It is resolved. It’s not like St. James is a long-hidden fugitive who has been on the lam.

So the people who are eager to have the professor’s head on a pike are being irrational. They’re letting their personal hang-ups overcome any sense of sense.

WHICH IS WHY I’m glad to learn that Millikin says they expect him to continue to teach there when classes resume come autumn.

I’m not that worked up over it, and I wonder about the Texas newspaper that stirred up this particular story (which is now being picked up by the Chicago “press”). It was meant to focus on the aftermath of the slayings of nearly an entire family. They searched for what became of the son, and found St. James under his new name living in Decatur.

Because we ought to consider that St. James is a case of someone who screwed up in life, yet managed to fix up his situation and get the higher education needed to help make a productive life out of his. Isn’t that what we want to happen more often?

Closer to Chicago, what else is pending in the minds of Second City residents?

GETTING AN EXTENSION?: Former Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., has 11 more days to go until he faces sentencing for his guilty plea on criminal charges related to his using campaign contribution money to buy all kinds of tacky memorabilia for his office.

For which he’s expected to make financial restitution. But a federal judge in the District of Columbia on Friday gave Jackson more time to come up with the cash – some $750,000.

The judge postponed until Oct. 25 a hearing that would allow the federal government to seize his homes in the South Shore neighborhood and in Washington, along with an individual retirement account. So he may manage to come up with some cash in order to keep a roof over his kids’ heads.

Although many of those items (including some that once belonged to people like Michael Jackson and Muhammad Ali) will be auctioned off at some point. Will they gain additional cachet from once having been in Jackson’s possession?

A SEE-THRU SIGN?: The squabble between the Chicago Cubs and the owners of those buildings across the street who make money by letting people on their roofs to see into Wrigley Field to catch a glimpse of ballgames is getting more twisted.

The owners reached a deal that still has a decade to go that allows them to sell their views of Cubs games – with the Cubs getting a share of the proceeds. Yet the Cubs’ desires to revamp Wrigley Field include erecting advertising signs that would block the views.

But the Chicago Sun-Times reported Friday about the see-through advertising signs the team is considering, if the owners don’t lighten up in their threats to sue the Cubs.

It makes me wonder who would want to advertise on a see-through billboard – Victoria’s Secret?!?

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Nothing’s certain when it comes to baseball and minor league prospects

2013 has been a crummy season for baseball fans in Chicago – the Cubs have been as bad as expected, and the White Sox have managed to be even worse.



Restoring the Sox to contender status?

Which is why the past week with its trade deadline has been anticipated – the idea that some established Major League ballplayers could be shipped off for several young prospects who will develop into talent.

TAKING THE REST of this season for a loss could pay off big! In theory.

My point being that minor league prospects are uncertain. There are so many factors that go into determining whether any success they had at lower levels of professional baseball will translate into success in the American or National leagues.

Replacing Ron Santo someday?

There’s no guarantee that Avisail Garcia (acquired from the Detroit Tigers as part of the deal that sent former Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy to the Boston Red Sox) will be a big hitter for the White Sox – even though he has had some success in the Tigers’ minor league system.

The same goes for Corey Black, whom the Cubs acquired from the New York Yankees’ system in exchange for Alfonso Soriano. Or the slew of ballplayers – Mike Olt, C.J. Edwards and Justin Grimm, along with one or two players to be named later – that the Cubs got from the Texas Rangers in exchange for pitcher Matt Garza.



Best minor league trade payoff ever?

PEAVY, SORIANO AND Garza are all expected to help their new ball clubs be contenders for a playoff spot in 2013. That much is certain.

What is uncertain is whether the newcomers will translate into anything for the Chicago ball clubs? They might, or they might not. We’re not going to know for several years whether these deals were worth doing, or not!

So those people (particularly Cubs fans) who are convinced that they have now restocked their organization to the point where they should be regarded as pennant contenders ought to take pause.

It would be nice if it works out that way. Although trades such as the one in 1977 when the White Sox sent shortstop Bucky Dent to the Yankees in exchange for outfielder Oscar Gamble (who had the best year of his career during his single season on the Sout' Side) and several minor league prospects (one of whom went on to become 1983 Cy Young Award winner LaMarr "Dewey" Hoyt) are so rare.

I REMEMBER THIS 36-year-old deal so much because its payoff was so unique.



No wonder the Cubs haven't won in decades

Some of the biggest-name minor leaguers never translate into Major League success.

I still recall Karl Pagel – a former Texas League and American Association MVP while playing with Chicago Cubs minor league affiliates. I recall how he was supposed to be a power hitter who would be able to take advantage of Wrigley Field’s configuration and become a dangerous major league hitter.

In parts of 5 seasons (48 games overall), he managed all of 1 home run – which he hit while playing for the Cleveland Indians in 1981 after the Cubs gave up on him.

WHICH IS ABOUT the same as the one-time White Sox shortstop Harry Chappas – who had a big year in 1978 playing for Appleton of the Midwest League. That translated into him getting a shot with the Sox – although the only thing that’s really memorable about him was his height.



Remembered solely for his height (or lack of)

Officially, he was 5-feet, 3-inches tall, although some suspect he was more like 5’-6” and might have been more of a gimmick by then-Sox owner Bill Veeck. He did equal Pagel, however, in terms of total home runs hit in the major leagues.

These two cases aren’t the least bit unique. I’m sure other fans could come up with countless more names of ballplayers – both younger and older – who never amounted to their hype.

So are Garcia and Olt future All-Stars at right field and third base respectively for the White Sox and Cubs? Or are they just a few more additions to the list of no-names that gets longer and longer with each passing baseball season?

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Governor makes up mind on medical marijuana – bad jokes bound to follow

I fear we’re going to have to dig up our old VHS copies of Cheech and Chong films – along with having to put up with the rants of the socially-conservative-minded ideologues who desperately want to believe that MARIJUANA!!! is some sort of liberal, hippie-freak drug that no sane person would ever want to touch.



QUINN: Digging up his bill-signing pens?

I write that because it seems that Gov. Pat Quinn is going to take action on Thursday that will make it possible for people to gain a prescription, of sorts, to use marijuana as part of their treatment for assorted medical conditions.

HIS PUBLIC SCHEDULE for the day indicates two events – the latter of which is an appearance at the University of Chicago Center for Care and Discovery, where he will appear with “veterans and people who are fighting chronic illnesses.”

These are the people who think that the marijuana high helps them to cope with the pain of their various medical conditions.

That is a concept that infuriates the ideologues because they want to believe that marijuana has no medical purpose whatsoever and is just the way certain people flaunt their disobedience to morals and all that is “good” about society.

Which is a bunch of bunk. Some people have watched “Reefer Madness” way too many times!

PERSONALLY, I EQUATE the concept that marijuana has no possible useful purpose with those same medical professionals of decades ago who argued that homosexuality was a mental illness – we know better now, and should quit listening to the quacks of the past whose theories have been disproved with more research.

Now before anyone goes any further, I don’t have any medical condition for which a marijuana prescription would be useful. I don’t anticipate taking advantage of the bill that was approved by the General Assembly this spring – which would allow people to purchase up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana.

Provided, of course, that they get a prescription from a medical physician and who suffer from some three-dozen specified medical conditions.

In short, the spaced-out guy who gets pulled over by the police (causing the cop to catch a whiff of smoke) is still going to be in trouble with The Law. Although with more and more communities heading in the decriminalization direction, it seems that marijuana is headed the way of being treated like alcohol.

THE PEOPLE WHO take so much that it impairs their judgment can face legal problems – particularly if their impairment causes them to have an “accident” of some sort.

We’re not exactly at the forefront of this issue – Illinois will be the 20^th state to permit marijuana use under limited circumstances. I can’t help but wonder why it took the state so long to get around to this.

Although at least we’re not state number 48 or 49 to address this issue; that would be embarrassing!

Because while some people are determined to see some sort of cultural issue at stake, it really isn’t. Personally, I have known people of every political persuasion who want to get high – even including a few who like to believe they’re “strict law-and-order” types on everything else.

PERSONALLY, IT BOTHERS me (again!?!) to think that we have been denying some people medical relief from their pains – all because some people are desperate to cling to the image of aging hippies. Even though many of the biggest hippie-haters are probably toking up while also ranting.

So Quinn, barring any unforeseen change-of-heart, is likely to give his approval. And many of us will respond with the cheap druggie joke.

All I have to say is that if one does have to dig out a “Cheech and Chong” film to watch, go for “Up in Smoke.”

It’s not high art. But it’s about the only one of their films that has much of a story-line – while also giving us Cheech Marin’s take on his song “Mexican Americans.” It’s always worth a giggle.

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