July 4th of this year will be a dark event

What does a year make a difference, eh?

Our last Independence Day celebration included parades, fireworks and family picnics. And although we were a divided nation, we collectively embraced the biggest event of the summer.

This time around, we are all reluctant to leave home or gather in large groups, because of the pandemic. And even the wearing of face masks has become a political issue.

Plus, with 40 million jobs now lost, a real sense of security for ourselves and our families is rarer than a bottle of disinfectant at the convenience store.

Tragically, so many of our fellow citizens have died, and so many more will never see another 4th of July event.

As we quietly commemorate the holiday, it seems most fitting that we remember all of those who have silently lost their lives this year.

Bob Ory, Elgin

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The cops always do their job

Unlike your sensational Wednesday headline, the Chicago cops didn’t stop playing their sworn duties, they just go about it differently.

In the interests of fairness, officers do not generate the “activity” figures demanded by bosses disconnected from headquarters, as this can only be done by arresting compliant people and citing them accordingly. This is unfair because the non-compliant community will always fight, flee and / or resist, and measures taken to bring it under control are increasingly frowned upon.

Agents are always present in all neighborhoods and are always available in case of need of assistance. Oh, and by the way, Wednesday also marked three years without a new FOP contract – where was the headline about that?

David L. Milligan, Portage Park

Stop General Iron

As a longtime resident of the South East Side, I just wanted to say “thank you” for your July 1 editorial on General iron. He said and captured the feelings of a majority of 10th Ward residents who are fed up with these self-labeled “green industries” that come into our community and only exacerbate the pollution issues that have existed in this neighborhood ever since. decades.

Hopefully Mayor Lightfoot will tell RMG / General Iron to find another location, preferably in an area with no residents or schools in the immediate vicinity of these dirty industries.

If it’s not good enough for the right people on the north side, it’s not good enough for us, the good people on the southeast side.

Wayne Garritano, southeast side

Take a history course

So now in places like Madison, Wisconsin, there is a student movement to demolish the statue of Abe Lincoln. Two thoughts: First, these students should take a history course.

Second, if we – you, me, our neighbors and co-workers, everyone – were judged by the standards that our great-great-grandchildren will adopt in 150 years, we would all be seen as stupid, even mean. It’s part of progress, of evolution. Hopefully each generation does better, progress a little bit, just like Honest Abe did.

We should all strive to make as much progress in our lives as this scoundrel Lincoln did in his. And pulling it down, or any statue, won’t.

William Choslovsky, Lincoln Park