Peterson guilty: The day after
September 9, 2012 8:58PM
Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow comments Wednesday, Nov. 10, outside the Will County Courthouse in Joliet on Scott Eby's guilty plea in the 2004 murder of 3-year-old Riley Fox, of Wilmington. | Michael R. Schmidt~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: October 11, 2012 6:10AM
“People are coming up to me and thanking me, like they’ve known me all my life,” Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow said the day after Drew Peterson’s murder conviction.
“This is not about me, this is about the vitriolic misogyny that (Peterson) spewed on national TV, and they never forgot it,” Glasgow added with his own flair for words. “This guy was perceived as evil incarnate. Holding him accountable, it’s like everybody feels vindicated.”
Glasgow went to a downtown Joliet restaurant and everyone in the place came over to his table to shake his hand.
“I’ve never worked a room in a political sense. I’m not good at the glad-handing,” Glasgow said. “This is something different. It’s transcendental, it’s crazy. But it’s reaffirming and reassuring, I guess, that there is still a strong moral sense in our society for good.”
Joliet fan
Brian McElwain of Hinsdale called The Herald-News last week to talk about how much he enjoys visiting downtown Joliet. McElwain brought in a tour group from Hinsdale on Sunday.
“Joliet is a place worth knowing, as close as it is, most would skip it over ... Its history, architectural diversity and unique commitment to public art make it worth knowing,” McElwain wrote in an email.
The group from Hinsdale Unitarian Church visited with Friends of Community Public Arts and dined at The Department.
Back in 1909
Maybe the McElwain tour checked out the BMO Harris Bank building that dates back to 1909, when it was built by the First National Bank of Joliet.
C. William Johnson III, the Joliet market president for BMO Harris, said that 1909 construction date and the fact that the bank has one building downtown today is no accident. Tongue in cheek, Johnson explained the connection Friday to a group gathered to celebrate the BMO Harris donation of the Mode Building to the University of St. Francis.
Noting the Cubs had just won a World Series in 1908, Johnson said, “The bank board said then, ‘We’re going to build a new bank building there, and we’re going to build a new bank every time the Cubs win a World Series.’”
Sports fans, of course, know the Cubs have not won a World Series since. Local history buffs may know that the Mode Building was built in 1908 — another potential stop on the McElwain tour.
Back to Drew: And Lee Elia?
Speaking of the Cubs and history, more than one observer heard an echo from the infamous Lee Elia tirade of 1983 when Drew Peterson defense attorney Joseph Lopez mocked a crowd jeering him as he tried to speak to reporters after his client was convicted.
Lopez basically said his detractors had nothing better to do because they were unemployed. Not quite the words Elia, the former Cubs manager, used when he described heckling, daytime Wrigley Field fans as “(expletive deleted) nickel-dime people” who should “go out and get a (expletive deleted) job.” And, that wasn’t the half of it.
Rollin’ the wrong way
Joliet Mayor Thomas Giarrante said the city will do something about an issue raised by Clearview resident James Alston at last week’s city council meeting. Alston said too many semitrailer trucks are wandering off of Route 53 into the neighborhood for a short cut.
“They have no business coming onto a residential street like that, but they do,” Alston said.
Back to Drew: no comment
When asked for a comment on the Drew Peterson verdict, in a crowded courthouse elevator moments after the verdict had been read, Will County Sheriff Paul Kaupas looked at a reporter, shifted the toothpick in his mouth, then looked away and shrugged with a smirk.
Maybe he felt conflicted, as he and Peterson, a former Bolingbrook cop, once worked together as undercover detectives on a narcotics task force.
Janet Lundquist, Bob Okon and Matt Cappellini contributed to Pulse.
