A Bitter Soup North of Howard

Recently, The Bench reported on an estimated 100 young people rumbling on Howard Street in one of the more troublesome parts of the 49th Ward. Since then, a few blind and deaf apologists for the crowd and their enablers have criticized The Bench for sensationalizing, and for not naming witnesses that spoke to The Bench.

(Listen up, Apologists. I don't name people who agree to speak anonymously. I would even apply that rule to slime like you.)

How about this one, which happened on Friday night, April 25: CPD radio chatter alerted me to another big crowd scene, and once again, Good News Church was implicated as an enabler of mayhem.

Is "CPD" too vague? Should I name all of the officers at the scene? Shut up and get a scanner, Apologists, and when you hear about the next rumble, get of your lazy behind and go witness it as I have done. Hey, no brag pal, but I don't just blog about it, I chase it and observe it. I talk to witnesses. I don't take the alderman's lying word for it.

The action, from scanner chatter and my own on-the-scene observation:

Between 9:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., there was some confusion about whether or not there would be a “parade” on Howard Street.

As approximately 10:00 p.m., a cop said one of the people “with the group” told him there would be no parade, but minutes later it comes over the radio that there will be a parade after all. Permits? Confusion there, too.

11:08 p.m. - Crowd gathers where troublesome Island Groove is located, next to a liquor store. Per car 2430, they are a "public nuisance" and wants non-criminal charges brought against the owner.

Crowd moves over to Howard: "...the next disturbance will be at the Howard L station" and "you'll be getting a lot of calls on this" - "There's about a hundred of them going to that soup kitchen we're all familiar with" - "Are they over capacity?" - "Good call, get fire up here" - At 11:15, fire not there, "on the way" -

I run to Morse L Station, but northbound Red Line CTA trains are being held still. (Coincidence?) I run back home, get my bike, ride up to Howard with handheld scanner in tow. On my way to Howard a cop on scene says he doesn't "want to make this an all night thing" and he's tired of waiting for fire to arrive to inspect for capacity. At approx 11:38, Dispatch says "four [fire] captains are on the way" and should be there soon.

11:40 p.m. - I arrive at Howard Street. The “parade” is over, but as I rode west on Howard from Greenleaf and Rogers, I saw five or six groups of half a dozen to a dozen black juveniles walking east along Howard. All of them were shouting obscenities and pumping their fists into the night air. I took my first photograph 11:45 PM, at Paulina and Howard. No sign of anybody from Fire Dept.

Quiet, cops leave scene at 11:55. I ride east to Sheridan, pass the Marathon. Big group of 16 black juvies hanging around; cop car drives past. Nothing he can do about lousy parents and enablers.

Just another night up 'round Ho-ward Street.

ALSO SEE: BULLSHIT

100 RUMBLE ON HOWARD STREET (Bench Exclusive)

The Bench - Exclusive - About 100 teens were fighting each other on Howard Street late Friday night. A huge rumble broke out around 11:50 p.m. A CTA employee, on duty at the time, made the 911 call to report the melee. Today, he blamed a local youth club.

UPDATE: "It should be pointed out that the 'youth' involved in these on- going problems are from activities at 'Noah's Ark', owned and operated by Rev. Bud Ogle and his 'Good News Partners' organization." Update from North Howard Neighbors Association. Also: Much more about Bud Ogle at 24/7 North of Howard Watchers.

Police initially dispatched about a dozen cars to the scene, at Howard and Paulina, which was closed to traffic to facilitate the ongoing CTA station construction. Howard CTA station is the norther end of the Red Line and is in Chicago's 49th Ward, on the border of Evanston.

Early police radio chatter, at 12:05, indicated that about 20 people were fighting. But another officer soon came on the air and said it was "like a riot" and estimated the crowd at "about 40." However, The Bench spent a couple of hours in the neighborhood today, talking to people about the event. We found the CTA employee who called 911. He said that the crowd was "close to a hundred" people and there were "about 30 police cars" on the scene.

Was it gang fighting? we asked. He said it was just a bunch of young people fighting. "It's that youth club right up around the corner," he said. "The one right next to that church where they feed the people."

"The Good News Church?" we asked. Thanks to the North Howard Neighbors Association, we know now that the youth club is "Noah's Ark," owned and operated by Rev. Bud Ogle and his "Good News Partners" organization.

"Yah, that's right. They had a dance there last night. I don't think they have drinking in their, but those kids come out and they want to fight." He said a similar incident happened "about a month ago," and that the neighborhood needs to "get rid of that club."

"The whole block, the street was solid people fighting," the man said. "See those orange and white cones, they was picking them up and throwing them at each other, at the buildings." No damage was visible on the storefronts, but several of the traffic barrels were dented from abuse of some kind.

"We gotta get rid of that club," he repeated.

Good luck. That club is run by people who are apparatchiks and tools of Alderman Joe Moore, and Moore doesn't give a rat's ass about the people on or north of Howard Street. If he did, he would have clamped down on this years ago.

Gonna Hang Ourselves a Christian!

This is just wrong, if it's true. If the only reason that this woman was turned away from the shelter was because she is a lesbian, well, the shelter is wrong. While the facts are being sorted out, and make no mistake, it's literally "he said, she said," it is interesting to watch so many people just assume that the Christian pastor is and his organization discriminated. If they did, then shame on them. If they did not, then shame on everyone for assuming guilt before guilt is proven. The ACLU has filed city and state discrimination complaints on for Wang and will file a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court as well. In other words, this is still being investigated. But a lot of people are already tying hangman's knots, gittin' ready for public hangin'. Hey! Gonna hang ourselves a Christian!!! Alex Blaze at the Bilerico web site wrote: Michelle Wang, a Chicago lesbian originally from Indianapolis, says that she was turned away from a homeless shelter because of her sexuality. This comes on the heels of the Task Force study that found that 20-40% of homeless youth are LGBT and the NY Times story on discrimination against queer youth in homeless shelters and indication that homeless advocacy groups won't ask for federal funding for diversity training or LGBT-focused programs because they fear that the Religious Right will retaliate by taking away funding from homeless shelters. Again, if she was discriminated against, that is wrong. But it's equally wrong to assume that Ogle or his organization are guilty of that. The legal investigation is only beginning. Hey, folks, remember the Duke lacrosse "rape" case? Slow down, okay? Alex Blaze finished with this: "So is this Falwell's legacy?" Blaze is obviously not aware that Reverend Bud Ogle, "a Presbyterian pastor who co-founded the Christian ministry that runs the New Life shelter in the North Howard Street area," is a member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the same group that defend the North American Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), a group of men who are devoted to sex with underaged boys. Rev. Bud Ogle, a Presbyterian pastor who co-founded the Christian ministry that runs the New Life shelter in the North Howard Street area, was apologetic for Wang's troubles but said he believes an inadvertent clerical error was at fault and not any intentional discrimination. Ogle, who described himself as a lifelong ACLU member, said the shelter's program manager had committed the last two beds to a family but failed to note that in a bed-count record. FULL STORY at Chicago Tribune...