Crime

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CRIME Molotov cocktail thrown at building on Harlem Avenue

Forest Park police responded to the 1100 block of Harlem Avenue on the night of July 8 after someone called to report that someone had thrown a Molotov cocktail at the rear of a building there.

The 911 caller told police that at about 9:10 p.m. he heard a bottle break and observed a small fire ignite on the rear west wall of the building. The person said a small fire had started in the rear of the building but that he was able to extinguish it on his own.

Police reported seeing a broken glass bottle and what looked like a rag in the rear of the building in the midst of an area that appeared to have been burned. No other damage was reportedly done.

Bullet damages parked car

A 31-year-old Forest Park woman called police on July 9 at about 4:35 p.m. to report that sometime after 9 p.m. the previous day someone had fired a bullet through the fender of her car, which had been parked in a spot behind her building overnight.

The victim told police she went outside to take her vehicle to the car wash when she noticed a hole in the right side of the vehicle’s fender, just below the hood. The responding police officer noted that damage and then opened the hood, revealing more damage.

Police also recovered a small bullet jacket fragment from underneath the hood near the radiator of the vehicle. A neighbor told police that during the nighttime hours of July 8, he heard what he believed to be two gunshots coming from the alley and saw a newer model Mercedes-Benz sedan speed away southbound through the Harlem/Elgin alley.

Vehicle break-ins

■Someone from Forest Park Foreign Car Repair, 7400 Harrison St., contacted police on July 8 to report that someone had burglarized a vehicle in the lot during the overnight hours.

According to the police report, the offender broke out the passenger side window of the Mercedes-Benz 300 Series vehicle and removed the radio. ■Forest Park police responded to the 300 block of Desplaines Avenue on July 13 at about 10:20 a.m. after someone called to report a burglary to a vehicle that had just occurred.

The witness told police he was on his patio when he observed an unknown man looking into vehicles in the parking lot. The witness then saw the man use a brick to break the driver’s side window of a vehicle, enter it and remove something from the front passenger seat.

The victim said that a wallet containing identification, credit cards and about $420 in cash had been taken from the seat. ■A resident of the 1000 block of Harlem Avenue called police on the morning of July 14 to report that during the overnight hours someone entered her unlocked vehicle, which was parked in the rear lot, and removed her purse.

When the victim woke up in the morning, she saw a text message from her bank stating that someone had attempted to use a credit card to purchase items at the Shell gas station at 7143 W. Roosevelt Road in Berwyn. ■A resident of the 800 block of Elgin Avenue called police on the morning of July 14 to report that someone had entered her vehicle, which had been left unlocked, and ransacked the interior, removing two charging cables and a set of headphones.

A security camera captured partial video of someone inside her vehicle at about 2:50 a.m. that morning.

Minivan stolen

Police responded to the 1400 block of Circle Avenue on July 13 at 5:30 p.m. after a 67-year-old Oak Park man called to report that someone had stolen his tan 2006 Toyota Sienna minivan, which had been parked on the west side of the street at the north end of the block.

The victim said he parked the vehicle there at about 4:20 p.m. and that when he returned about an hour later, the van was gone. The victim also told police he keeps the keys to the vehicle under the driver’s seat.

Taken with the van was softball equipment, including Dimirini bats and a new Rawlings glove.

Gargoyle statue stolen

Police responded to the 1000 block of Marengo Avenue on the evening of July 12 after a resident called to report that someone had stolen a 50-pound gargoyle statue from his front yard. The victim said he had three such statues, and the one that was stolen was the biggest of the trio.

These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Forest Park Police Department, July 8-14, and represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Unless otherwise indicated, anybody named in these reports has only been charged with a crime. These cases have not been adjudicated.

MAXHAM

A new gig

from page 1

because as far as he knows, there have never been two women commissioners serving at once,” Maxham said.

“He gave me the name of somebody he was considering and he said I’d be a good candidate, because I’m intimately knowledgeable about the village. I thought about it, but it wasn’t any serious consideration until [that] weekend,” she said.

Moments after her swearing in, Maxham was selected to become the commissioner for public health and safety, which means that she’ll work with the village’s building department on issues like code enforcement, the issuance of building permits and restaurant inspections.

“We felt like the person we selected needed to have an understanding of the village’s issues and Maria certainly covers the issues for the paper and she meets the statutory requirements to serve,” Hoskins said during an interview on Friday. “In this case, her knowledge and understanding of the village and its current operations was the decisive factor.”

Hoskins said this is the first time “we’ve ever had two women on the council at the same time,” adding that “in the history of the village, there’s only been, maybe five or six women who have served [on the village council].”

Hoskins also laid out the process for appointing someone to a vacant council seat.

“It doesn’t happen often,” he said. “If Novak had resigned after a year of service, there would have been time for a special election, but because he resigned past the midpoint of his term, the law allows the mayor to make an appointment with the council’s approval. So in this case, I had a 60-day window to make an appointment and then it required approval at a full board meeting from a majority of the commissioners attending that meeting.”

Maxham, an 18-year resident of Forest Park, was hired to edit Forest Park Review in September 2019. Before that, she had built a reputation as a well-regarded romance novelist.

During her tenure with the Review, Maxham earned several journalism awards and accolades, including the Top Journalist award from the Illinois Association of Park Districts.

The award, which Maxham received in January after being nominated by Jackie Iovinelli, the Park District of Forest Park’s executive director, is given to a news entity or individual journalist who “has provided responsible and comprehensive coverage of Illinois park districts, forest preserves, conservation, recreation, and special recreation agencies at the statewide or local level.”

While at the Review, Maxham was a fixture at Duffy’s Tavern in Forest Park, where she would go on Tuesday afternoon, once she had finished deadlines.

“I’ll still go to Duffy’s every Tuesday afternoon, so people will know where to find me,” Maxham said. “I plan to keep that tradition alive.”

CONTACT: michael@oakpark.com

BROWN COW

GoFundMe to the rescue

from page 1 that has called Madison Street home since 2004.

The online fundraising platform reached out to Brown and four other ice cream shops across the nation who had benefitted from successful GoFundMe campaigns. GoFundMe noted “thousands of acts of kindness on GoFundMe made a difference for these beloved ice cream shops” and wanted to “sprinkle back” that kindness on National Ice Cream Day. GoFundMe partnered with the shops to help them provide a free scoop of a new ice cream flavor, Sprinkle Kindness, to anyone stopping by.

Brown developed a custom-crafted ice cream for the free scoops event. The Brown Cow’s version of Sprinkle Kindness is a super-premium sweet cream ice cream with butter cream frosting, Aunt Laura’s sugar cookies and colorful sprinkles. She put the new in-house creamery to grand use and whipped up 100 gallons of her frosted sugar cookie ice cream in advance of National Ice Cream Day.

“I think GoFundMe was impressed by the immediacy of community support our campaign received,” said Brown. “They foot the bill to make the special flavor and provided everything we needed for the event including cups, napkins and signage.” GoFundMe contracted with local printers to produce the signs for the event.

Brown had already arranged for Aubrey Jacknow, owner of 99 Haus Balloons, to install a balloon display outside the shop on National Ice Cream Day, but a representative from GoFundMe reached out to Jacknow to increase the budget and scope of the project. The elaborate, pastel-hued, two-story balloon installation on the building façade greeted an impressive number of customers who lined up for a free scoop of ice cream.

“If we had not had the GoFundMe I am almost 100% certain we would not be here today,” said an emotional Brown. “To be able to say thank you without words, to be able to give away free ice cream to anyone who walked through the door and celebrate with the whole community — it was just an awesome party.”

The Brown Cow is donating 100% of proceeds from sales of their Sprinkle Kindness ice cream to the District 209 scholarship fund throughout the month of July. GoFundMe will match up to $25,000 in donations. Direct donations and online ice cream purchases can be made at www.browncowicecream.com.

How sweet is that?