W E D N E S D A Y
January 2, 2019 Vol. 39, No. 22 ONE DOLLAR @oakpark @wednesdayjournal
JOURNAL
Oak Park pulls biz license after massage parlor bust
of Oak Park and River Forest
SAY Connects
Special pullout section
2018 VILLAGER of the YEAR
Sunny Spa permanently shut down after prostitution sting By TIMOTHY INKLEBARGER Staff Reporter
The Village of Oak Park has revoked the business license of Sunny Spa, a massage business at 1053 Madison St., after the business was busted for committing sex acts on an undercover police officer in November. The village issued a press release on Dec. 19, noting that the business was closed permanently in a decision by Deputy Village Manager Lisa Shelley, following a decision in an administrative hearing on Dec. 17. According to the administrative order released by Shelley, Sunny Spa was operating under the ownership of Chen’s Massage Corp., owned by Xiuping Chen. Oak Park police and the Cook County Sheriff ’s Department investigated the business and, according to the administrative order, the officer arrested Sunny Spa employee Hang Wa Wong on Nov. 14 and charged her with prostitution after “she touched a sex organ of the undercover officer in exchange for his payment for See BUST on page 13
ALEXA ROGALS/Staff Photographer
A RADICAL AT HEART: Jackie Moore has been at the center of Oak Park and River Forest High School’s racial equity progress before and after ‘America to Me’ was filmed at the school roughly three years ago.
Jackie Moore, quiet revolutionary D200 board president a force before and after ‘America to Me’
By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter
When the 10-part Starz documentary series America to Me finished airing earlier this year, Oak Park and River Forest High School became the center of a national dialogue on race and equity. But on Nov. 4, during a panel discussion
on the documentary held at the high school and hosted by the New York Times and a variety of local organizations, such as Excellence with Equity in Education (or the E-Team), a group of students rushed the stage and interrupted the discussion. They had heard enough talk. They wanted action. “Is this Oak Park?!” the students chanted. “Whose school?! Our school!”
On the stage, the panel’s moderator, John Eligon, the New York Times’ national correspondent on race, asked panelists how they planned on responding to the students’ demands. “What are you going to do differently to help us address this equity issue?” Eligon asked Jackie Moore, the District 200 board See MOORE on page 11
defy expectations. ffc.com/defy