This Day In History - September 1st

1985

Wreck of the Titanic found

Seventy-three years after it sunk to the North Atlantic ocean floor, a joint U.S.-French expedition locates the wreck of the RMS Titanic. The sunken liner was about 400 miles east of Newfoundland in the North Atlantic.

American Robert D. Ballard headed the expedition, which used an experimental, unmanned submersible developed by the U.S. Navy to search for the ocean liner. The Argo traveled just above the ocean floor, sending photographs up to the research vessel Knorr. In the early morning of September 1, Argo was investigating debris on the ocean floor when it suddenly passed over one of the Titanic‘s massive boilers, lying at a depth of about 13,000 feet. The wreck was subsequently explored by manned and unmanned submersibles, which shed new light on the details of its 1912 sinking.

This Day In History - August 31st

1939
Germany Prepares for Invasion of Poland

At noon, despite threats of British and French intervention, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler signs an order to attack Poland, and German forces move to the frontier. That evening, Nazi S.S. troops wearing Polish uniforms staged a phony invasion of Germany, damaging several minor installations on the German side of the border. They also left behind a handful of dead German prisoners in Polish uniforms to serve as further evidence of the alleged Polish attack, which Nazi propagandists publicized as an unforgivable act of aggression.

At dawn the next morning, 58 German army divisions invaded Poland all across the 1,750-mile frontier. Hitler expected appeasement from Britain and France–the same nations that had given Czechoslovakia away to German conquest in 1938 with their signing of the Munich Pact. However, neither country would allow Hitler’s new violation of Europe’s borders, and Germany was presented with an ultimatum: Withdraw by September 3 or face war with the Western democracies.

At 11:15 a.m. on September 3, a few minutes after the expiration of the British ultimatum, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain appeared on national radio to announce solemnly that Britain was at war with Germany. Australia, New Zealand, and India immediately followed suit. Later that afternoon, the French ultimatum expired, and at 5:00 p.m. France declared war on Germany. The European phase of World War II began.

This Day In History - August 30th

1967

Thurgood Marshall Confirmed as Supreme Court Justice

On this day in 1967, Thurgood Marshall becomes the first African American to be confirmed as a Supreme Court justice. He would remain on the Supreme Court for 24 years before retiring for health reasons, leaving a legacy of upholding the rights of the individual as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

From a young age, Marshall seemed destined for a place in the American justice system. His parents instilled in him an appreciation for the Constitution, a feeling that was reinforced by his schoolteachers, who forced him to read the document as punishment for his misbehavior. After graduating from Lincoln University in 1930, Marshall sought admission to the University of Maryland School of Law, but was turned away because of the school’s segregation policy, which effectively forbade blacks from studying with whites. Instead, Marshall attended Howard University Law School, from which he graduated magna cum laude in 1933. (Marshall later successfully sued Maryland School of Law for their unfair admissions policy.)

Setting up a private practice in his home state of Maryland, Marshall quickly established a reputation as a lawyer for the “little man.” In a year’s time, he began working with the Baltimore NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), and went on to become the organization’s chief counsel by the time he was 32, in 1940. Over the next two decades, Marshall distinguished himself as one of the country’s leading advocates for individual rights, winning 29 of the 32 cases he argued in front of the Supreme Court, all of which challenged in some way the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine that had been established by the landmark case Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). The high-water mark of Marshall’s career as a litigator came in 1954 with his victory in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. In that case, Marshall argued that the ‘separate but equal’ principle was unconstitutional, and designed to keep blacks “as near [slavery] as possible.”

In 1961, Marshall was appointed by then-President John F. Kennedy to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, a position he held until 1965, when Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, named him solicitor general. Following the retirement of Justice Tom Clark in 1967, President Johnson appointed Marshall to the Supreme Court, a decision confirmed by the Senate with a 69-11 vote. Over the next 24 years, Justice Marshall came out in favor of abortion rights and against the death penalty, as he continued his tireless commitment to ensuring equitable treatment of individuals–particularly minorities–by state and federal governments.

This Day In History - August 29th

2005

Hurricane Katrina Slams Gulf Coast

Hurricane Katrina makes landfall near New Orleans, Louisiana, as a Category 4 hurricane on this day in 2005. Despite being only the third most powerful storm of the 2005 hurricane season, Katrina was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States. After briefly coming ashore in southern Florida on August 25 as a Category 1 hurricane, Katrina gained strength before slamming into the Gulf Coast on August 29. In addition to bringing devastation to the New Orleans area, the hurricane caused damage along the coasts of Mississippi and Alabama, as well as other parts of Louisiana.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city on August 28, when Katrina briefly achieved Category 5 status and the National Weather Service predicted “devastating” damage to the area. But an estimated 150,000 people, who either did not want to or did not have the resources to leave, ignored the order and stayed behind. The storm brought sustained winds of 145 miles per hour, which cut power lines and destroyed homes, even turning cars into projectile missiles. Katrina caused record storm surges all along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The surges overwhelmed the levees that protected New Orleans, located at six feet below sea level, from Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River. Soon, 80 percent of the city was flooded up to the rooftops of many homes and small buildings.

Tens of thousands of people sought shelter in the New Orleans Convention Center and the Louisiana Superdome. The situation in both places quickly deteriorated, as food and water ran low and conditions became unsanitary. Frustration mounted as it took up to two days for a full-scale relief effort to begin. In the meantime, the stranded residents suffered from heat, hunger, and a lack of medical care. Reports of looting, rape, and even murder began to surface. As news networks broadcast scenes from the devastated city to the world, it became obvious that a vast majority of the victims were African-American and poor, leading to difficult questions among the public about the state of racial equality in the United States. The federal government and President George W. Bush were roundly criticized for what was perceived as their slow response to the disaster. The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Michael Brown, resigned amid the ensuing controversy.

Finally, on September 1, the tens of thousands of people staying in the damaged Superdome and Convention Center begin to be moved to the Astrodome in Houston, Texas, and another mandatory evacuation order was issued for the city. The next day, military convoys arrived with supplies and the National Guard was brought in to bring a halt to lawlessness. Efforts began to collect and identify corpses. On September 6, eight days after the hurricane, the Army Corps of Engineers finally completed temporary repairs to the three major holes in New Orleans’ levee system and were able to begin pumping water out of the city.

In all, it is believed that the hurricane caused more than 1,300 deaths and up to $150 billion in damages to both private property and public infrastructure. It is estimated that only about $40 billion of that number will be covered by insurance. One million people were displaced by the disaster, a phenomenon unseen in the United States since the Great Depression. Four hundred thousand people lost their jobs as a result of the disaster. Offers of international aid poured in from around the world, even from poor countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Private donations from U.S. citizens alone approached $600 million.

The storm also set off 36 tornadoes in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, resulting in one death.

President Bush declared September 16 a national day of remembrance for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

This Day In History - August 28th

1869

Three leave Powell’s Grand Canyon expedition

Convinced they will have a better chance surviving the desert than the raging rapids that lay ahead, three men leave John Wesley Powell’s expedition through the Grand Canyon and scale the cliffs to the plateau above.

Though it turned out the men had made a serious mistake, they can hardly be faulted for believing that Powell’s plan to float the brutal rapids was suicidal. Powell, a one-armed Civil War veteran and self-trained naturalist, had embarked on his daring descent of the mighty Colorado River three months earlier. Accompanied by 11 men in four wooden boats, he led the expedition through the Grand Canyon and over punishing rapids that many would hesitate to run even with modern rafts.

The worst was yet to come. Near the lower end of the canyon, the party heard the roar of giant rapids. Moving to shore, they explored on foot and saw, in the words of one man, “the worst rapids yet.” Powell agreed, writing that, “The billows are huge and I fear our boats could not ride them…There is discontent in the camp tonight and I fear some of the party will take to the mountains but hope not.”

The next day, three of Powell’s men did leave. Convinced that the rapids were impassable, they decided to take their chances crossing the harsh desert lands above the canyon rims. On this day in 1869, Seneca Howland, O.G. Howland, and William H. Dunn said goodbye to Powell and the other men and began the long climb up out of the Grand Canyon. The remaining members of the party steeled themselves, climbed into boats, and pushed off into the wild rapids.

Amazingly, all of them survived and the expedition emerged from the canyon the next day. When he reached the nearest settlement, Powell learned that the three men who left had been less fortunate–they encountered a war party of Shivwit Indians and were killed. Ironically, the three murders were initially seen as more newsworthy than Powell’s feat and the expedition gained valuable publicity. When Powell embarked on his second trip through the Grand Canyon in 1871, the publicity from the first trip had insured that the second voyage was far better financed than the first.

Sauk Village Senior Citizens Potluck & Activities - Saturday, August 27th 5:00 pm

INVITATION TO ALL SENIOR CITIZENS AGE 50 YEARS or OLDER SAUK VILLAGE OPEN SENIOR  activity - introduces a monthly 5:00 p.m. Saturday evening potluck dinner * NO MEETING, MEMBERSHIP OR DUES * AUGUST 27, 2016 POTLUCK DINNER 5:00 PM DOORS OPEN AT 3:00 PM SENIOR CENTER 21801 TORRENCE AVENUE GET OUT OF THE HOUSE, COME SOCIALIZE WITH YOUR PEERS ACTIVITIES: BINGO, BUNCO, DOMINOES, RUMMIKUB, VARIOUS CARD/DICE GAMES,   HEADACHE, THINK & JUMP, L.R.C. (LEFT RIGHT CENTER) PUZZLES or YOU MAY BRING YOUR OWN GAME, CROCHETING, KNITTING, NEEDLEPOINT, & WORD GAMES.  COMPUTER, LIBRARY AND TV ARE AVAILABLE. SPONSORED BY SAUK VILLAGE SENIOR CITIZEN COMMITTEE COORDINATORS: STEVE SHYMKUS and FRANK WILLIAMS INVITATION TO ALL SENIOR CITIZENS AGE 50 YEARS or OLDER

Copyright © 2016 Village of Sauk Village,

This Day In HIstory - August 27th

1908

Lyndon B. Johnson Born

On this day in 1908, future President Lyndon Baines Johnson is born on a farm near Stonewall, Texas. The brash, outspoken Johnson grew up in an impoverished rural area and worked his way through a teachers’ training college before entering politics.

In 1937, Johnson won a seat in the House of Representatives. His government service was interrupted by World War II, during which he served in the Navy and won the Silver Star for bravery in combat in the South Pacific. After the war, he served additional terms in the House of Representatives until he was elected to the Senate in 1948. He became the Senate’s minority leader in 1953. A year later, with the Democrats in control of Congress, Johnson became the Senate’s majority leader and, in 1960, John F. Kennedy chose Johnson as his running mate. In 1963, Johnson was unexpectedly thrust into the role of president when JFK was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. “LBJ,” as he was known, was sworn in on Air Force One, while a stricken Jacqueline Kennedy looked on, on November 22, 1963.

As he finished out Kennedy’s term, Johnson strove to pass legislation that he felt would make America a “Great Society.” In 1964, Americans officially elected Johnson to the presidency by the largest popular vote in the nation’s history. Johnson used this mandate to push for improvements he believed would better the American way of life.

Under Johnson, Congress enacted sweeping legislation in the areas of civil rights, health care, education and the environment. During his State of the Union speech on January 4, 1965, Johnson laid out his agenda to fight urban decay, poverty and racism. He pushed through the creation of Medicare/Medicaid, Head Start, the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the White House Conference on Natural Beauty. He also signed the National Foundation of the Arts and Humanities Act, out of which emerged the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Through the Economic Opportunity Act, Johnson fought a “War on Poverty” by implementing improvements in early childhood education and fair-employment policies. Johnson was also a strong advocate for conservation and proposed the creation of a “green legacy” through the preservation of natural parks, open spaces and shorelines and the construction of new urban parks. In addition, Johnson stepped up research and legislation regarding air- and water-pollution control measures.

Johnson achieved many of his goals, while also cutting taxes, and some of his programs remain in place today. In many ways, though, Johnson’s legacy of a “Great Society” has been overshadowed by his choice to involve greater numbers of American soldiers in the Vietnam War. In 1968, he announced he would not run again for the presidency and Republican Richard Nixon was swept into office, thanks largely to his promise to withdraw American soldiers from Vietnam.

This Day In HIstory - August 26th

1968

Democratic Convention Besieged by Protesters

As the Democratic National Convention gets underway in Chicago, thousands of antiwar demonstrators take to Chicago’s streets to protest the Vietnam War and its support by the top Democratic presidential candidate, Vice President Hubert Humphrey. During the four-day convention, the most violent in U.S. history, police and National Guardsmen clashed with protesters outside the International Amphitheater, and hundreds of people, including innocent bystanders, were beaten by the Chicago police. The violence even spilled into the convention hall, as guards roughed up delegates and members of the press, including CBS News correspondent Mike Wallace, who was punched in the face. On August 29, Humphrey secured the nomination and the convention ended.

In the convention’s aftermath, a federal commission investigating the convention described one of the confrontations as a “police riot” and blamed Chicago Mayor Richard Daley for inciting his police to violence. Nevertheless, eight political radicals–the so-called “Chicago Eight”–were arrested on charges of conspiring to incite the violence, and in 1969 their trial began in Chicago, sparking new waves of protests in the city.

This Day In History - August 25th

2009

Ted Kennedy, “Liberal Lion of the Senate,” Dies at 77

On this day in 2009, Edward “Ted” Kennedy, the youngest brother of President John F. Kennedy and a U.S. senator from Massachusetts from 1962 to 2009, dies of brain cancer at age 77 at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. Kennedy, one of the longest-serving senators in American history, was a leader of the Democratic Party and a spokesman for liberal causes who also was known for his ability to work with those on both sides of the political aisle.

Edward Moore Kennedy was born in Boston on February 22, 1932, the youngest of nine children of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., a wealthy financier who served as the first chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and later as ambassador to Great Britain, and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, the daughter of a Boston politician. After serving in the U.S. Army in the early 1950s, Kennedy graduated from Harvard University in 1956 and earned a law degree from the University of Virginia in 1959. While still a student, he managed his brother John’s successful 1958 re-election campaign to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts. Also in 1958, Ted Kennedy married Joan Bennett, with whom he later had three children. The couple divorced in 1982, and in 1992, Kennedy married Victoria Reggie, a Washington attorney with two children.

In November 1960, John Kennedy was elected America’s 35th president. The following month, a Kennedy family friend was appointed to fill the president-elect’s vacated Senate seat until a special election was held. In November 1962, Ted Kennedy, who earlier that year had turned 30, the minimum age requirement for a U.S. senator, won the special election in Massachusetts to serve out the remainder of his brother’s Senate term, ending in January 1965. Massachusetts voters re-elected Kennedy to the seat eight more times, in 1964, 1970, 1976, 1982, 1988, 1994, 2000 and 2006.

Kennedy came from privileged background, but his family was no stranger to tragedy. His oldest brother, Joseph Kennedy Jr., a Navy pilot, died in World War II, while his second-eldest sister, Kathleen, was killed in a 1948 plane crash. President John Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. The following year, Ted Kennedy was seriously injured in a plane crash that left him hospitalized for six months. In 1968, U.S. Senator Robert Kennedy was also assassinated. With Robert’s death, Ted Kennedy became the family patriarch and a substitute father to his two slain brothers’ 13 children.

On July 18, 1969, Kennedy was involved in a controversial event that would mar the rest of his career, when he accidentally drove his car off a bridge on Massachusetts’ Chappaquiddick Island, killing his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, who drowned. Kennedy failed to report the incident to the authorities for nearly 10 hours, claiming the delay was due to the fact that he had suffered a concussion and was exhausted from attempting to rescue Kopechne. He later pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and received a two-month suspended sentence. However, Kennedy was plagued by questions about his behavior, as well as his relationship with Kopechne, a former campaign worker for Robert Kennedy. He later referred to his actions as “inexcusable,” and said Kopechne’s death “haunts me every day of my life.” In 1980, Kennedy made a failed bid against President Jimmy Carter for the Democratic presidential nomination. He never again ran for the White House, instead focusing on his work on Capitol Hill, where he was dubbed the “liberal lion of the Senate.” During his nearly 47-year-career in Washington, D.C., Kennedy successfully fought for legislation concerning education, immigration reform, health care, increases to the federal minimum wage, voting rights, various consumer protections and equal rights for minorities, the disabled, women and gay Americans. In foreign policy matters, he was an opponent of the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, and a champion of human rights in such places as Africa and South America.

In May 2008, Kennedy was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. That August, despite his poor health, he made a rousing speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver in support of Barack Obama, who he had endorsed for president.

After his death in August 2009, Kennedy was buried at Virginia’s Arlington National Cemetery, near the graves of his brothers John and Robert.

Sauk Village Police Department Board Report - August 23, 2016

Sauk Village Police Department

By: Police Chief Robert Kowalski

August 23, 2016

-Police Service Case Summary:  During the period of 08/09/2016 thru 08/23/2016 the Sauk Village Police Department had a total of 33 arrests.     

-CalCom Report: For a period between 08/09/2016 and 08/23/2016 the police department received 565 calls for service.

-Cases of Note:  

On 8/14/2016 Officers responding to a call of shots fired on the 21700 block of Peterson Ave.  Upon arriving Officers found several victims shot by an unknown offender(s) in a drive by shooting. Officers found several witnesses were in the area at the time of the shooting who were being uncooperative.  

Officers were able to obtain information about a possible vehicle involved and were able to dispatch the information to local area departments.  Within a short time Steger PD located a vehicle matching the description of the vehicle involved in the shooting and a driver of the vehicle.  The Officers impounded the vehicle and took the driver into custody.



The victims of the shooting were transported to the area hospital for treatment at which time one of the victims passed leading this matter to be classified as a homicide investigation. 

Due to the severity of the incident our detectives activated the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force. The driver of the vehicle was charged with 1st degree murder.



 This is an ongoing investigation. 



NOTE: The FBI's Intel Analysts are assisting the South Suburban Police Departments in compiling pertinent information that would assist with any gang related issues in the area.

-Animal Ordinance:  As reported at the previous meeting a resident reported their dog was killed by their neighbor's dog. Since that time a review of the ordinance was conducted and there will be some changes made.  I will be working with Trustee Myers and the Ordinance Committee on these changes.  Also a certified letter was sent to the owner of the offending dog advising his dog was deemed dangerous and needed to be removed from the corporate limits of Sauk Village. Officers confirmed on 8/23/2016 the dogs were removed from the residence. Lastly, the dog owner appeared in court on 8/22/2016 and pled guilty receiving a fine.

-Vehicles:  The Squads which were identified to be salvaged have had their radios removed and are being prepped for the auction. 

-Environment: The asbestos is being removed today.  Afterwards the company will conduct an environmental study to determine the mold issues.

-Gratitude: I received a letter of thanks from a citizen for our Records Department (see the letter below).