On my mind:

I believe that most people have empathy for their fellow human beings who have fallen on hard times. Almost everyone I know does. I believe most people think: "there but for the grace of God, go I." And most people want to and do help in small ways. Maybe it’s donating blood, giving to a food pantry, or making blankets for people undergoing chemotherapy. We know we can’t change everyone’s circumstances, but we can do something.

Take the good church-attending people of Oak Lawn. Several churches in our area help the homeless by sponsoring overnight shelters during the winter months in conjunction with BedsPlus, an organization whose mission is to “help vulnerable individuals stabilize their lives through housing and supportive services.” Church members volunteer to man the shelters and provide a meal. It’s pretty low key. We don’t hear much about it in Oak Lawn because there aren’t usually many problems. It does not cost the Village a dime.

Enter Oak Lawn Village Manager Larry Deetjen. He’s the highest paid Village official according to information on the Village website. He lives in a nice condo, drives a Village car and seems to live a pretty good life. But he doesn’t like homeless people in Oak Lawn. He doesn’t want to see them anywhere in Oak Lawn, not even staying in overnight shelters provided by Oak Lawn churches. Hence ordinances prohibiting sleeping on the Village Green and a new ordinance, passed on November 14, 2017, that added a new chapter to the Village Code, regulating temporary overnight shelters. Twelve pages, 28 sub-sections of legalese regulating every conceivable aspect of temporary overnight shelters. And guess who has the final word on everything concerning these shelters? Yes. Larry Deetjen.

I’m a lifelong Oak Lawn resident and I was at the meeting about this topic. Representatives from the churches, BedsPlus, and regular, ordinary, tax-paying citizens spoke passionately, asking for the ordinance to be withdrawn or at least, be less restrictive. They lost. Deetjen and Oak Lawn Mayor Sandra Bury told everyone that the current shelters would be ‘grandfathered in’ - made exempt from the rigid standards enacted in the ordinance. They lied. At least one church with a long-standing shelter has already dropped out of the program after a visit from Deetjen’s secret weapon - a newly appointed fire inspector with the new ordinance in hand.

There’s only one explanation I can think of -- Larry Deetjen hates homeless people. He has no empathy or concern for the misfortune of others. He’s safe, warm, well-fed, well-paid but he can’t be bothered with those in our community who are not. And the Mayor and the Board, well they are just as uncaring because they chose not to confront Deetjen on this. This is a sad statement about the community of Oak Lawn. I know this will make Deetjen angry. He’ll email my boss (again), and have someone talk to my pastor (again) to see if he can bully me out of writing Letters to the Editor which tell the truth. But frankly, I care as much about Larry Deetjen as he cares about the homeless.