Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Man found frozen in Rogers Park home
Chicago Breaking News: A 60-year-old man was found frozen this morning inside his unheated Rogers Park residence on the city's North Side, officials said. Rowland Draper, of the 2000 block of West Birchwood Avenue, was pronounced dead at 1:45 a.m. at the Stein Institute, said a spokeswoman for the Cook County medical examiner's office.
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16 comments:
2/15/11
The aluminum siding is still hanging down from the roof of the golden mini mart building.
I notified melba the owners daugther yesterday morning
and I notified the aldermans office yesterday and this morning.
The individual, Rowland Draper, lived at 2021 W. Jarvis. He owned the property, but it went into foreclosure in March 2010.
One can only speculate that Mr. Draper's funds were tight and he cut back on heating expenses. This tragedy is compounded because there are a number of city and state programs to assist people having problems paying heating and other utility bills.
Congress is about to drastically cut heating assistance for low-income people.
Of all the things we could cut public spending on, why this? This is emergency assistance, and costs very little relative to what we are spending maintaining 700 military bases, mostly in countries where we are not at war and that do not need our presence.
It also costs less than helping middle income homeowners stay in homes that they cannot afford. I really hate to think that Mr. Draper was sitting in a freezing house waiting for foreclosure "assistance", when the best outcome for him would have been to let the damn place go and move to a small, cheap, heated apartment.
Let's stop spending on things we distinctly do not need so there is assistance available for people in desperate need.
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Boo. Hoo. Hoo.
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Why do you bleeding hearts keep insisting that it is MY responsibility to provide food, shelter, clothing, and in this case, heat, to every loser who is too stupid to take care of him/herself? This guy was, of course, a moron. He couldn't figure out how not to freeze to death during the winter. Have you heard of "survival of the fitest?" Clearly, it was time for this idiot to move along.
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This is NOT a tragedy. The current nanny state failed to find this goofball who, if the cold did not get him, the summer heat probably would have. Where were his liberal RP neighbors? Finding fault with big government because it isn't big enough?
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You people make me want to puke.
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http://rogerspark.com/images/news_articles_uploads/RPBG_Winter_2011_FINAL.pdf
Didnt know about this organization. Nice little update on real estate in Rogers Park.
In that neigborhood it looks like its mainly apartment buildings. Did this guy own a condo or apt building?
agreed with chip bagg^
You people disgust me. Don't act like you know this man for a single second. He was obviously old, and who knows if he had any mental problems or was broke due to some sort of extreme circumstances.
This poor old man died a slow and painful death all alone, and all you can say is that he deserved it because he couldn't pay for heat? Would you look him in the eye moments before his death and say "This is not a tragedy"?
Maybe this guy is some loser. Or maybe he lost everything after some sort of tragedy. But to say what you said while being entirely ignorant of the situation is absolutely disgusting. Shame on you.
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@bsdba
It is time to change your tampon,
girlfriend. You are bleeding all over this blog.
And by the way.....
1. 60 is NOT old. 60 is the new 40
2. Old, broke, mental, victim, alone, in pain.....
Did YOU know him?
How do YOU know if any of this is true?
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I know it is very difficult if not impossible for you RP crybabies and bed wetters to get your mind around the fact that, in the end, we are each responsible for ourselves. If you want to see what happens when we don't accept that responsibility, take a walk down Morse Avenue.
I think it's horrible that a poor man died with no heat in the United States - however, does anyone know the details? Did he try to get help?
North Coast - really? putting spending for military bases in the same basket? There are about a zillion idiot programs this country spends money on. You know what this country should spend money on in the military? I doubt it.
Chip Bagg- Not sure if you were beaten as a child, abandoned by your parents, or have been through a string of tough relationships. My guess is all of the above, but you've definitely got some issues to work out.
The fact that without no facts whatsoever, you say "this is not a tragedy" demonstrates your deep-seated issues. I don't know the facts either, but I'm not drawing any extreme conclusions like yourself.
I think that this can be considered tragic no matter what the circumstances. Lets say he was a drug addict lunatic that took no personal responsibility for anything and froze to death. I think it's tragic that he got to that point and made the decisions that he made.
Again, would you have walked up to this man, freezing and alone, minutes from death, and said to his face "this is not a tragedy, you deserve this"? You can post on a blog all you want, but would you say it to this mans face? Considering the fact that up to this point, you seem to lack even the slightest, microscopic notion of compassion I wouldn't be surprised, but I just wanted to check.
Chip Bag - Bag this you moron! The poor guy died alone. He might have had issues, but no one deserves to die like that!
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Attack me if it makes you feel better. Or morally superior. I still stand by the opinion that we are first responsible for our own lives and the consequences of our free decisions. It is not compassion to enable people to surrender their responsibilities to the State. Take a walk over to Morse Market and watch the Link Card users who depend on the work and time and taxes of productive people to feed themselves because they have long ago given up taking responsibility for themselves. Is it a tragedy that they may starve to death because they have refused to work and earn money? Is it a tragedy that they may freeze to death because they will not pay market rate rent because they will not hold down a job? How about those people who drag their asses out of bed EVERY DAY of their lives to earn a living? They have to provide for themselves, their families, AND every loathsome parasite the leftist politians can
attach to their paycheck.
What in the world is your problem? Okay, we get it. We are all responsible for ourselves. That doesn't make this any less of a tragedy. The fact that this man, through whatever happened in his life, was unable to be responsible is in and of itself a tragedy.
"Attack me if it makes you feel better"? Coming from the guy that started his first response post with an extremely sexist and offensive attack?
I'm thinking you may fail to comprehend the argument I'm trying to make. I believe that the process that led this man to make the poor decisions he made are inherently tragic. Whether it be a horrid upbringing under incredibly irresponsible parents, an unexpected financial loss, a medical issue or whatever. The fact that a human being died because they lacked the ability to even try and have the necessities of life is tragic, plain and simple. I don't care if you're a tea party nutjob or a left wing nut, what happened is tragic.
The problem I have with you is that you find the need to attack the man. You can't let it go. It's almost as though you feel the need to laugh in his face, to taunt him even after he's dead. You've taken your political beliefs so far that you will publicly taunt a dead man. What the hell is wrong with you?
Promoting personal responsibility is one thing. Taunting a dead man who you know absolutely nothing about is another. This isn't a conservative vs. liberal thing. You are just being a dick.
I'm criticizing your attitude toward all this.
well, chip bagg I don't usually agree with you but I do have to say that it's pretty annoying when I'm at Morse market with my small purchases and I see others buying big carts full of groceries with their Link cards - Ok - I work all day and this is what I'm buying. The system really has gotten turned around here.
Yea the food stamp thing is pretty bad. I'll be completely honest- I got a Link card after unexpectedly losing my job. I expect Chip Bagg to jump all over me for this, but I'm a very recent college graduate with no savings and heavy student loan debt. I had a choice- Get some assistance for a month or two or move back to my home state and mooch off my parents.
I used it for one month, then found a new job and cancelled. The card allowed me to stay in Chicago and look for a job, and the income taxes I'm paying because of that will more than cover the cost I incurred.
I think food stamps certainly have a place. But they are abused to an incredible extreme. After dealing with the office, I saw how crummy their standards are, and have no doubt that I could have stayed on much longer if I chose to.
They made some sort of administrative error (that office is a bureaucratic nightmare) and awarded me with assistance without any type of interview or questionnaire. It was also an instant 6-month period, which I had to manually cancel. There were no monthly income checks or requirements for proof that I was looking for a job.
I'm honest enough to end it the moment I was able to, and only used it because I absolutely had to, but I'd say a vast majority don't. The DHS needs a complete revamp because right now abuse is rampant. I get just as angry as you all when I see someone using food stamps when they could easily find a job, stop smoking/drinking, or tighten their belts.
Okay, I did know Rowland Draper and he was not a loser. Yes he owned the building, but he died of a heart attack.
The report was not accurate. He did not want to turn on his heat he did not need financial assistance at all.
Know what you are talking about before you open your mouth.
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