W E D N E S D A Y
Spice up your Olympic viewing
Melissa Elsmo, page 17
JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest
February 14, 2018 Vol. 36, No. 26 ONE DOLLAR
@oakpark @wednesdayjournal
Oak Park to hire more cops Board of trustees receptive to new hiring, lights, cameras By TIMOTHY INKLEBARGER Staff Reporter
Faced with an uptick in overall crime and residents unnerved by a surge in carjackings, the Oak Park village board Monday considered requests to hire up to eight new officers, beef up the budget for police overtime, launch a pilot program to up the amps of streetlights and fund support of new social media communications from the police department. Including two new police hirings previously approved by the board, the eight was poised to add officers to boost the number of sworn officers to 125. Police Chief Anthony Ambrose told the village board he needed the added resources to effectively fight crime in the village. Ambrose said a recent increase in police presence, including more marked squad cars and support from the Cook County Sheriff ’s Department which has been patrolling in Oak Park began in late January, has been seen as a positive by residents. But Ambrose noted the officers from the sheriff ’s department will not be available over the long term. Ambrose told the village board that Oak Park’s police department has joined the Chicago Police Department and the U.S. Department of See COPS on page 13
Mush!
ALEXA ROGALS/Staff Photographer
Ellyana Nowinski, 10, of Oak Park, pulls her sister, Kyleena, on a sled through Scoville Park on Feb. 9, taking advantage of a snow day prompted by almost 10 inches of snow overnight. For more winter fun photos, turn to page 3.
Transgender lawyer reacts to political ad By NONA TEPPER Staff Reporter
When Joanie Rae Wimmer was in elementary school, she estimates she was the most unpopular student, disliked by all her classmates in Gary, Indiana because they could tell she was different. In second grade, her parents sent her to a child psychiatrist because she couldn’t
stop identifying as a woman. After that experience, she decided, “I’m not talking anymore.” More than 60 years later, Wimmer, 63, now lives as a trans woman and successful attorney in Oak Park, operating a private practice on Lake Street. She said she is one of three practicing transgender attorneys in Illinois. After coming out in 2008, Wimmer lost her wife Alison and many paying cus-
tomers at her private law practice. But she never expected to gain the attention of Republican gubernatorial candidate Jeanne Ives. Last week, Ives released a campaign commercial that featured a male actor wearing a dress, who thanked Governor Bruce Rauner for “signing legislation that lets me use the girl’s bathSee WIMMER on page 15
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