Crime: July 2008 Archives

What's with Waukegan mayoral candidate Chris Wakefield being a character witness for the former Waukegan policeman accused of rape. Is he campaigning for the accused rapist vote?

Normally, politicians, especially those who want to get elected, don't get involved in writing character letters in defense of someone accused of sexually assaulting someone, as is Delatwon Haynes, currently in custody on $2 million bond. Haynes has pleaded guilty to the alleged offense.

The reason being is that support can be used against the candidate in the heat of the campaign. No doubt some other Democratic mayoral hopeful will mention this before the February 2009 primary election. Probably several times.

That certainly can't be called mudslinging when one signs his name to a letter contending the bond amount is too high for an accused rapist and an ex-cop. And, candidate Wakefield might be asked what he thinks is the correct bond for an accused rapist who is a former policeman. Also, has he written letters of character reference complaining of high bonds for other accused criminals?

Perhaps there's more accused rapists on the Waukegan voters' rolls than The Hound thinks. But if at minimum 50 percent of the electorate is women, that support for Haynes could mean the loss of some votes for candidate Wakefield.

The Waukegan Police Department finds itself on the back end of another lawsuit, this one filed by family members of Adelina Weber, who was stabbed to death by her husband. The family and their high-priced Chicago lawyers contend police ignored an order of protection and should have arrested Clarence Weber and whisk the woman to a safe haven.

But what came out in Clarence Weber's bond hearing in Lake County Circuit Court on Thursday paints a different picture. According to prosecutors, Adelina agreed to meet her husband --- who had the order of protection against him, which she sought --- after she ended her shift at the Walker Brothers pancake house in Lincolnshire on July 5.

What would cause a woman apparently afraid of her husband to meet him near a motel across Milwaukee Avenue from the pancake house? It was a fatal move as her husband stabbed her to death after arguing over their impending divorce.

The Hound may be wrong on this, but her actions seem to take the sails out of the suit filed by the family. How can the police be at fault? Nobody forced her to meet her husband, whom she obviously knew was violent.

Certainly, police aren't responsible to be with her round-the-clock when there are safe places to go for protection. Or are they? And, she was killed not in Waukegan, but Lincolnshire. The speed in which this suit was filed also bothers The Hound.

A life has been taken but The Hound thinks the finger is being pointed in the wrong direction. As in other instances, it's all too easy to blame the cops for a bad decision. After all, they have the deep pockets.