Trying To Separate Fact From Fiction For NATO Summit Security Plan
By Chuck Sudo in News on Apr 30, 2012 7:40PM
The NATO summit is now less than a month away and, as we learn more about things like security perimeters, trains stopping at McCormick Place during the summit, and the "red zone" protection that begins this week, more people are starting to ask, "what are authorities preparing for?"
CBS Chicago obtained a copy of a memo sent to the Red Cross of Southeast Wisconsin asking to place a number of shelters on standby in the event that Chicago needs to be evacuated. The Secret Service has been mum about the memo and city officials deny the plan came from them, but a chapter spokesperson for the Red Cross said it came from both.
Over the weekend, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart suggested re-opening Joliet Correctional Center to handle people arrested protesting the summit. the prison has been closed for a decade and has housed famous criminals from Leopold and Loeb to bank robber George "Baby Face" Nelson. (And it was the fictional home to Joliet Jake and Elwood Blues.) Dart says reopening the prison makes perfect sense.
"It’s sitting there empty. Could I turn the key and open it up? Does the water still work? Does the electricity work? If that’s a question, I might just look at the yard and whether to put up tents with some cots and utilize that setting at Joliet,” Dart said.“It’s empty and it will be empty. There are no issues with that. If it’s functional, it wouldn’t take a lot of manpower to monitor. Transportation would be a straight shot down I-55. Across the street is Stateville [Correctional Center] We’re going there anyway.”
NBC Chicago received a photo a tipster over the weekend, showing a series of bottles containing what the sender says is "a combination of urine and fecal matter." Nice to see the "anarchists throwing pee and poo" meme is still alive and well.
Photo via NBC Chicago.
Chicago Police said the bottles in the photo were stockpiled by a mental patient, not protesters.
"At approximately 7:50 p.m. on April 27th, Ogden District tactical officers on surveillance observed approximately 400-500 plastic bottles containing an unknown substance believed to be excrement at a location on the 1500 block of S. Springfield. Further investigation revealed a person with mental-health issues was responsible for the circumstances. Arrangements have been made for the safe removal of bottles."
Authorities have been meeting with residents and business owners downtown and in the South Loop to assuage their fears and dispel "misinformation" about security for the summit. Tom Dorby, training director for SEIU Local 1, said this should be "like Y2K-a lot of hype and buildup. People will say, ‘that was it?’ Not a big deal.”
We don't remember armed military officials walking around Chicago with rifles loaded with bean bag bullets during the Y2K hysteria, but whatever.