ForestParkReview_020817

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GROWING COMMUNITY WEDNESDAY JOURNAL, INC.

ForestParkReview.com Vol. 100, No. 6

$1.00

CELEBRATING 100 YEARS

F O R E S T PA R K

REVIEW FEBRUARY 8, 2017

Ferrara Pan goes Zero Waste PAGE 6

Plan commission approves Roos site plan PAGE 7

Alleged car thief fatally shot by Forest Park officer Feb. 3 incident under investigation by State Police Public Integrity Unit By THOMAS VOGEL Contributing Reporter

T

crete walls, giving pedestrians and car traffic a better view. “I drive over the Circle bridge every day and it’s hideous to look at,” Cody said. “It

here are now four separate investigations by the Illinois State Police into Forest Park police personnel, following a Feb. 3 fatal shooting in neighboring Oak Park by one of the department’s officers. The Feb. 3 incident followed an October 2016 nonfatal shooting by another officer. Also in October, a 42-year-old Broadview man was found dead of an apparent suicide in his holding cell at police headquarters after about 12 hours in custody. Several weeks before that, in September 2016, a Forest Park resident accused an on-duty officer, Roberto Salas, of raping her. Salas was fired on Nov. 30. Officer-involved shootings, criminal accusations against officers and in-custody deaths are referred by departments to an independent body, such as the Illinois State Police Public Integrity Unit, for investigation. “Is that a normal occurrence? No, but police-involved shootings are not normal incidents,” Forest Park Police Chief Thomas Aftanas said of the four investigations. “I’ve been employed at the department for 25 years. I don’t remember a time when there were two officerinvolved shootings within months of each other.” Aftanas said he hasn’t seen morale on the force dip as a result, mentioning his officers understand protocol. Illinois State Police spokesperson Jason Bradley declined to offer a timeline or details on three of the four investigations. Bradley could not be reached by press time to confirm the suicide investigation, which

See CIRCLE BRIDGE on page 9

See FATAL SHOOTING on page 9

JASON SCHUMER/CONTRIBUTOR

IN THE GROOVE: Stephen Balsavich dances with daughter Ava during the annual Daddy-Daughter Dance at the Park District of Forest Park. See more photos on page 5.

Giving Circle bridge an artistic facelift Sally Cody leads effort to freshen ‘the heart of Forest Park’

By THOMAS VOGEL Contributing Reporter

A dozen or so Forest Parkers are organizing an artistic facelift of the Circle Avenue bridge spanning the I-290 expressway.

The public art installation is the brainchild of Sally Cody, the village’s executive secretary, and will bring together local artists, businesses and organizations. The idea, Cody said, is to spruce up the bridge’s inner-facing con-

IN Big Week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 THIS Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 ISSUE Crime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Proviso East football player gets Div. I scholarship

Google discovers Edmonia Lewis

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