Over thirty years ago three of my friends and I were drinking a gallon jug of Gill's in Jackson Park. We were almost finished, there was literally just a few drops left, when two cops rolled up and started hassling us. Two of my friends were black and a little older than the other white guy and I. They started acting like the white boys were buying drugs from the black guys. The cops were both black, by the way.

We were all just like, "Come on, man. Give us a break. We know we shouldn't have been drinking in the park. There's no beer left. We'll leave." But no, they had to haul us down to the station over at 55th and the Highway. The four of us were jammed in the back of one cruiser. My friend Doug started whispering that he had a warrant and was going to run when he had a chance. The other three of us were begging him not to do that. But when we stopped and they got us out of the car, Doug sprinted away. It was a wild scene. Guns drawn. All kinds of yelling. Just crazy. I was on my belly on the ground praying one of these nuts didn't shoot me in the back of the head.

One of the cops went running after Doug and the other guy took us inside. He started questioning us about Doug. None of us said shit. The cop, a steroidal maniac named Patterson, was getting angrier and angrier. Finally, the other guy brought Doug in. He had beaten the fuck out of him. They took us in another room and beat up Doug some more.

I can't say 100%, but I'm almost positive this Hicks asshole they just caught was the guy who captured Doug. Here's the story from today and one from twenty years ago. It couldn't have happened to nicer guys.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loc ... story.html

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct- ... story.html

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Oh yeah, I forgot this part. After he brought him back to the station, that Hicks guy kept screaming at Doug, "WHY THE FUCK YOU MAKE ME RUN? YOU A FUCKIN' CRIMINAL. YOU THE COON ASS CHARLES MANSON!"

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

*Jack Nicholson voice*

Is there any other kind?

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

No wonder you hate law and order.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

Damn, that's messed up.

Actually, the fact that you were drinking in Jackson Park is messed up as well. That was a rough place in the 80s. What part of the park were you guys in?

It's beautiful over there....the lakeshore offers the best views of downtown, and I still think Jackson Park is the most beautiful park in the city.

Bite your tongue!

There was really only one seedy part of Jackson Park back then, the Japanese Garden. Filled with people that should've been in the hot pillow motels farther south on Stony Island.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

That there is the place I mean. We had practices and tryouts there. I saw my first heroin addict and one of the first hookers ever by the lagoon, and some wackos were chasing us with rakes east of the island, near the second bridge, where the trees were so dense that it was always dark. That place was beautiful but scary. North of the lagoon and by the university, that was a different story. South by the statue of The Republic was a different world, too.

It's the best part of the city, as I said, in terms of sheer beauty, and I'm surprised it's taken the people with money so long to rediscover it. I probably still have dreams about it (that I can remember) once a month.

Currently reading Devil in the White City which details the transformation of Jackson Park from a desolate dump to a jewel in the lead up to the Colombian Exposition in the late 1800s. Pretty interesting really (along with the serial killer aspect)

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“Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”- JD Vance
“My god, what an !diot.”- JD Vance tweet on Trump
“I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy”- JD Vance

That book had me looking at period places in Englewood. We got steady diets of Jackson Park and U of C history in school already.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Hey you shut your mouth about Jackson Park! I went to Carnegie elementary for 6th and 7th grade and lived at 61st Pl and Dorchester!! I had friends that lived in the Jackson Park Terrace and Park Shore East and I thought that was damn near luxury!

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