News Briefs
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Last Updated:
News from the Chicago Tribune/Southtown/Suntimes papers Boy playing with lighter started fire, chief says June 24, 2007 By David Schwab, The Star Markham firefighters rescued a 4--year-old boy found hiding under a bed upstairs while a fire burned downstairs Thursday night. Markham Fire Chief Ronald Moaton said the boy had started the blaze accidentally in the downstairs area of the home while playing with a lighter. The fire started around 9:20 p.m. in the 16400 block of Wolcott Avenue. The boy's grandmother and uncle, the only other people in the house at the time, got out of the building while the boy hid upstairs, Moaton said. When the grandmother got out, Moaton said, she had to be restrained from re-entering the building to look for the boy. Firefighters went in instead, eventually finding him upstairs hiding, with only his arms sticking out from underneath the bed. Firefighters got him out of the house, and he was taken to Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey and transferred to Hope Children's Hospital in Oak Lawn to be treated for smoke inhalation. According to hospital reports, Moaton said he's "doing much better." The grandmother and uncle are being treated for burns. The fire was a serious one, Moaton said, that "engulfed the downstairs area. The heat was tremendous." Structural damage to the home was minimal, he said. David Schwab may be reached at dschwab@starnewspapers.com Fired cops back on the job July 22, 2007 By Kim Janssen, special to The Star Three fired Markham cops at the center of a yearlong controversy that cost the city's police commission chairman his job were reinstated Thursday. Officers Courtney Howell-White, Nicole Wilkins and Max Evans were dismissed in March after being found guilty of breaking a long unenforced rule that required officers to live within seven miles of Markham city limits. Markham's Police and Fire Commission ruled against them even after commission chairman Roland Ray Ashley -- who had presided over the officers' disciplinary hearing -- was exposed discussing a plot to fire Howell-White. But the seven-mile boundary was retroactively extended to 25 miles last month by an arbitrator ruling on the city's new police contract, rendering the officers' dismissal moot. Deputy Chief Jim Knapp confirmed Thursday that all three officers had been handed back their badges and would be back on the streets "within a week or so." The officers are owed about $150,000 in back pay, while Howell-White is seeking another $300,000 in legal fees incurred defending herself so far. All three officers alleged during the hearing that the charges were trumped up against Howell-White because of a personal vendetta by Chief Pascal Crawford and that Wilkins and Evans had only later been pursued to give the appearance of fairness. Howell-White, who is due to start working again today, said, "I can't wait to get back -- I love being a police." Markham Mayor David Webb could not be reached for comment Thursday. Webb demanded Ashley's resignation in February. Sun-Times News Group 2 hurt in I-57 crash By Mary Owen | Tribune staff reporter July 18, 2007 Two people were hospitalized Tuesday night after a traffic accident on Interstate 57 in the south suburbs, state police said. A truck was southbound at about 10 p.m. on I-57 near 159th Street in Markham when its driver lost control and spun into another vehicle, causing the truck to flip over several times, said Illinois State Police Trooper Woodrow Montgomery. It is unclear what caused the driver to lose control. A man and woman who were in the truck were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Montgomery said. State Police are investigating the accident, which shut down the interstate for about a half hour.. Woman faces Markham arson charges July 15, 2007 By David H. Montgomery, special to The Star Deborah Needom has been charged with arson in connection with a fire that destroyed a home last week in Markham, police said. Needom, 51, is accused of setting fire to a house rented by her boyfriend, police said. The fire occurred about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday in the 2500 block of Elmdale Avenue. It raged for hours and required firefighters from 10 towns to battle it. Markham Deputy Police Chief Jim Knapp said the fire was an isolated case and was not related to a string of unsolved arson fires in the city. No one was injured by the fire, which burned for more than four hours. The firefighting effort was complicated by the lack of hydrants in the neighborhood, forcing firefighters to use tankers to bring water from several blocks away. Needom's bail was set Thursday at $75,000. She has a preliminary court hearing set for Aug. 2. Sun-Times News Group Cops say kids left in 2 cars near courts By Lindsay Kishter | Tribune staff reporter July 12, 2007 One woman has been charged and another may face prosecution after separate incidents in which children allegedly were left in sweltering parked cars, authorities said Wednesday. On Monday at the Markham Courthouse, a sheriff's deputy found a profusely sweating 7- year-old girl locked in a car alone about 3:30 p.m., while outside temperatures reached 94 degrees, officials said. Her mother, a 24-year-old Chicago woman, was in the courthouse to pay tickets, sheriff's police said. The investigation is ongoing, and charges are pending, officials said. At the Bridgeview Courthouse on Friday, Canada McCullough, 28, of Merrillville, Ind., left her three children, ages 3, 4 and 5, locked in a car for at least 30 minutes in 84-degree heat with the windows cracked less than 3 inches, police said. McCullough was charged with child endangerment. None of the children needed medical attention in either incident, Sheriff Thomas Dart said. "We feel like we were very, very lucky," Dart said. He said a parked car can heat up 19 degrees within 10 minutes and 30 degrees within 15 minutes. Cracking the windows has little impact on the temperature, he said. The Markham and Maywood courthouses and the Domestic Violence Courthouse all have designated children's rooms, and the WIC offices in Juvenile Court buildings have play areas, Dart said. Dart said the incidents provided impetus for police to step up patrols. |
The Markham Journal