EVEN MORE NORTH AVE. BEACH MEMORIAL DAY MAYHEM

FROM SECOND CITY COP

"Heat" Story Goes National

CBS 2 was linked by The Drudge Report. Drudge pulls in a few million hits a day, so this is a rather big deal. We'd also like to point out something we and most of our readers missed during this entire debacle, but Channel 2 didn't:

• If the heat was the reason for closing the beach, why did every other beach in Chicago remain open during the supposed emergency?

Was there some localized weather phenomenon that was unique to North Avenue? Some confluence of superheated air that usually emanates in the vicinity of politicians but somehow gathered in the area of 1600 North and LSD and struck down so many fine citizens on their bicycles?

For an answer, we reached out to renowned weatherman extraordinaire, the only meteorologist to be awarded a Department Commendation by J-Fled, WGN's Tommy Skilling. Tommy had this to say:

• "Um...it's bullshit SCC, plain and simple."

There you have it folks. Right from someone who should know.

And for all you history buffs, here's a little story from Fox 32 dated 03 June 2010 - exactly one year ago today:

• Chicago police have beefed up their presence on the city's lakefront after a series of fights at North Avenue Beach. Police have installed new security cameras, and they've started doing random checks of bags and coolers for alcohol along the beach.
  Officers have also been cracking down on people caught drinking illegally on the lakefront.
  Police believe alcohol played a part in several fights on the lakefront last week.

If we remember, this was either in response to or immediately preceding a "youth" being shot pretty much at the doorstep of Lincoln Park Zoo. So it isn't like this is a new phenomena. In fact, can someone explain why the Crystal Ball Unit didn't have this on their radar?