Viewpoints

In August, I wrote a story that summarized the law enforcement investigation of the Ridge Road crash in which Demarques Heard lost his life. Some know it as the “Dairy Queen crash,” because the fatal incident also demolished half of the Dairy Queen location when Mr. Heard’s car hit it. Reaction swelled swiftly when my story posted to the Chronicle’s Facebook page with some voicing distaste, annoyance and anger about us having produced the story.

In recent years, water rates have been an issue for Homewood residents. The village gets its water from Harvey, but Harvey gets that Lake Michigan water from Chicago, and Chicago made a series of significant rate hikes over the past decade or so. Trusteed have expressed concern that the shift could have implications for water quality and safety.

When Homewood resident and activist Emilia Oldaker saw the image of Oscar Alberto Martinez Ramirez and his daughter Valeria, drowned at the U.S.-Mexico border, she couldn’t help but to imagine the faces of those in her own Jewish family. People, that she says, know the look of fear and desperation all too well — and how its consequences can prove deadly.