Small Hands, Smell Like Cabbage

By Matt Wood in News on Sep 22, 2006 5:42PM

It looks like CBS 2 put great deal of reporting into this story to confirm what Chicagoist always knew: carnies are a bunch of creeps. The investigation into several area carnival operators uncovered that they often hire workers with dangerous criminal histories of violence, drugs, and sexual offenses. Some even hired homeless people with severe psychiatric disorders.

Since 2005, random background checks of carnival workers found 225 of them had a combined total of 744 arrests and 184 convictions. Some communities conduct criminal checks on workers, but even then police only have the power to remove convicted sex offenders or those with active warrants. So repeat offenders, murderers, and drug dealers, oh my, are free to buckle little Johnny into the Tilt-a-Whirl, as long as they aren't on the lam.

Just as troubling is the hiring of at least seven patients receiving psychiatric care at a homeless shelter by Windy City Amusements. One man who suffered from schizophrenia had been involved in over 30 court cases, but he said no one asked when he applied for a carnival job. Then he asked if there was a chimpanzee sitting on his shoulder.

So now it's official: do not go near the carnies. Stay in the midway and enjoy the elephant ears and funnel cakes instead, and try not to wonder if someone spit on them.