Vol. I No. X
SEPTEMBER 13, 2017
@village_free
@maywoodnews
A ‘gentle giant’ slain
Shocked community members searching for reasons why 14-year-old was murdered By MICHAEL ROMAIN
J.B. Pritzker, PAGE 6
thevillagefreepress.org STILL REMEMBERING: The 75th annual Maywood Bataan Day memorial service was held on Sunday, Sept. 10, inside of Maywood Veterans Memorial Park, at the corner of 1st Ave. and Oak St. The service commemorates current and former Maywood residents who have served in the U.S. military.
Editor
After 14-year-old Michael Israel Jones was fatally shot on the afternoon of Aug. 30 while walking in the 600 block of 11th Ave. in Maywood, many community members were perplexed. Those who knew the teenager recalled that they couldn’t fathom that he would be involved in a gang or in some kind of street conflict. Despite his size, Jones wasn’t the tough or aggressive type. He was always smiling. One person described him as a “big teddy bear.” “I first met Michael when he was a little boy,” recalled Rev. Carl Smith, a minister at Progressive Life Giving Word Cathedral in Hillside, where Jones attended with his See MICHAEL JONES on page 4
SPOONER BAUMANN/VFP
After fire, Maywood nonprofit temporarily relocates
An attic fired broke out on early Sept. 9 above the offices of Housing Forward By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor
The nonprofit Housing Forward, which helps individuals and families experiencing
housing-related crises transition to stable living conditions, is in a transition of its own after a fire broke out in the attic of its headquarters at 1851 S. 9th Ave. in Maywood.
According
to
Maywood
Fire
Chief
Craig Bronaugh, the fire department got notification of the blaze at around 2:54 a.m. See HOUSING FORWARD on page 3
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