Bob Love was on the ball in lifting up those of us who stutter
The recent Associated Press article that appeared in the Sun-Times, “Doc Rivers gets emotional when talking about childhood hero Bob Love,” was a bit painful to read. As a lifelong Chicago Bulls fan and also a PWS (person who stutters), it has been hard for me to come to terms with the death of my hero, Bob Love.
Love overcame obstacles in his life and never once played himself as a victim. First, it is a travesty he is not in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, when so many players who do not have the same impressive stats that he accumulated in his career have been inducted. This injustice needs to be rectified, and it should have been during while the Bulls great was living.
To say that Love was an absolute role model and hero to people who stutter is an understatement. He overcame his stuttering as an adult through speech therapy en route to doing public speaking as director of community relations for the Bulls.
I attended the political rallies for Love's candidacy on the Chicago City Council over two decades ago and shadowed him while he was campaigning in public and knocking on doors.
I hoped to learn his success formula for overcoming stuttering. It was inspirational to watch him in action, and it definitely helped me in my own speech therapy struggles.
Love lent so much of himself over the years as a national spokesman for the Stuttering Foundation of America. Stuttering Foundation President Jane Fraser summed it up best: “Stuttering didn’t bench Bob Love, and he’s an All-Star in our book, too.”
Love may have left this earth, but he will continue to inspire and motivate people who stutter for many years to come.
Carlo Peluso, Arlington Heights
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Good sport
On Saturday, in a hard-fought and exciting Big Ten football game, the University of Illinois defeated Rutgers 38-31 with a touchdown with only 14 seconds left.
After the game, Rutgers star running back Kyle Monangai said: "(Illinois) made a great play at the end of the game. I think we played our hearts to the very end, even that last play. Illinois did the same. They’re a great team. The chips fell their way today."
In the game, Monangai had a career high 28 carries for 122 yards. In the bigger game of life, his outlook establishes him as a first-class, high-quality individual, which the entire world could use in big doses right now.
Christine Craven, Evergreen Park
Dirksen security concerns are real
The Sun-Times' recent editorial about the need to remove restrictive conditions from the Century and Consumers buildings located at State and Adams streets completely disregards the legitimate security concerns of those judges and employees of the Dirksen Federal Building.
For obvious reasons, the U.S. Marshal’s office and the FBI cannot share the details of all of those concerns without further jeopardizing the safety of federal workers. Suffice to say, these concerns are legitimate and real. For this reason, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., allocated the funds for the destruction of the buildings, which have sat vacant and unused for many years.
Courthouses, unfortunately, are targets of those who seek to harm innocents in the name of some misguided cause. Your cavalier editorial casually dismissed these legitimate concerns in the name of development when many buildings in the Loop are struggling to find tenants.
Susan E. Cox, retired U.S. magistrate judge, Lincoln Park
Honoring lives centered on service
Thanksgiving is a day when an entire nation gives thanks for what our great country has to offer. Families and friends gather together to celebrate with sumptuous dinners and share the joy of Thanksgiving.
I would like to suggest we also give thanks to those among us who are not with family, friends and loved ones. They are the faceless indefatigable servants, firefighters, police officers, paramedics, doctors, nurses, transportation workers. A grateful nation turns its eyes toward you. A special thanks.
Bob Angone, retired Chicago Police lieutenant, Austin, Texas
Thanksgiving thoughts
I give thanks for the young maple tree outside my window that waxes gold only on one side when the sun is just rising.
I give thanks for the wave of honking geese flying in formation overhead.
I give thanks for the plump squirrels emerging from their large nests in the trees.
I give thanks for the hum of passing cars on a nearby street.
And I give thanks for my sight and hearing, which I so often just take for granted.
Kathleen Melia, Niles
Legal privilege
What is wrong with the Illinois Supreme Court? They let Jussie Smollett, who totally disrespected the Chicago police officers as well as city residents, go free. He was convicted of a crime that cost the city over $130,000 in manpower and time that could have been used for other investigations. Why are only "special" people allowed to stay free during appeals? If it were you or I, we would have been in jail for months already. I guess we're not so special.
Rose Johnson, Wheeling