Forum: State’s attorney’s bias on gay marriage troubling
June 19, 2012 11:10PM
Updated: July 21, 2012 6:30AM
Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez should recuse her office from defending lawsuits against the county clerk for denying licenses for gay marriage.
Her personal opinion that the Illinois law prohibiting gay marriage is unconstitutional shows a bias that would preclude an adequate defense. Her responsibility is to defend the county in lawsuits, not circumvent legislative action by her opinion of political correctness.
Our Legislature and the people have spoken on the issue of gay marriage, and the state’s attorney is obliged to support that action.
The county board should appoint a special counsel to litigate this matter because the opinions of the county clerk and state’s attorney appear to conflict with the opinion of most legislators and the residents whom they represent.
John Culloton
Chicago
New Lenox chided
on video gambling
Regarding the New Lenox Village Board deciding to opt out of video gambling, I would like the trustees to think about every time they and other village residents go to VFW Post 9545 for the fish fry on Friday night or any other special occasion or they visit American Legion Post 1977.
Think about those times because they may not be around much longer. It might not be a week or a month or a year from now, but these clubs will likely have to close their doors sooner than later.
Then what? The clubs won’t be around to provide help, friendship and support for our veterans.
Video gambling would be a great help in enabling these clubs to survive the tough times they’re experiencing.
A sarcastic “thank you” for not supporting our veterans and your businesses in New Lenox.
Bernice Vargas
President, Ladies Auxiliary
Harry E. Anderson VFW Post 9545
Area gas prices outrageous
Just got back to Oak Forest from a two-week vacation in Cape Coral, Fla., where gasoline prices dropped from $3.39 a gallon when we arrived June 1 to $3.21 when I filled the tank on June 15.
Returning to the Chicago area via Midway Airport, I passed many gas stations that had the same prices as when we left, anywhere from $3.89 to $3.99 a gallon.
When will we in Cook County wake up to the fact that the price of crude oil has dropped from about $115 to $83 a barrel and everywhere in the USA, except Cook County, gas prices have dropped to last years’ levels.
Because of the extremely high Illinois and Cook County gasoline taxes, which are a percentage of the final price, our gas pricing is the highest in the USA. Until we tell our political leaders via the ballot box that this pricing is unacceptable, we will only have ourselves to blame for this outrage in pricing.
Larry Tobleck
Oak Forest
