The News-Star has an interview this week with Brandon Shephard, and it brought a lump to our throats. No one else reported that "Baby Wilson" was wrapped in three plastic bags, knotted at the top like takeout from a local restaurant, with no air holes poked in them. No one else mentioned that the baby was breathing and crying through his nose because his mouth hadn't been cleaned of birth fluid. Read the article here. It made us realize how sad a state Baby Wilson was in when Brandon found him.But what really got our attention is the editorial below. It's easy to forget that someone ... probably one of our neighbors ... tied that baby into three plastic bags and left him in the bushes. Someone out there is reading the articles about Brandon's saving a life and knows that they brought that very life into the world.
Someone out there knows
Options available to ‘infant abandonment’
Options available to ‘infant abandonment’
Someone out there knows something about "Baby Wilson," the newborn baby boy that was discovered abandoned in the courtyard of an Uptown apartment building on July 8.
Residents of an apartment building who were outside in the early evening hours, including the man who found him, believe that the infant was left outside sometime between 9 p.m. and midnight.
There is certainly a woman in need of medical help herself, who after giving birth to the boy, wrapped him inside of three plastic bags tied off at the top like "take out" food. What was going through her mind? Was she desperate? Scared? Why didn't she turn to someone, or drop the child off at a fire or police station, or a hospital?
While we may never know how "Baby Wilson" survived inside of three plastic grocery bags with little oxygen for several hours on a warm, muggy night in Uptown, his will to live is testament to the saying, "Where there is life, there's hope." For surely Baby Wilson has brought hope to the lives of the residents on Beacon, and the young man who rushed him to salvation.
One woman, inquiring about the baby's health, told us, "Why didn't the mother bring that baby over here?"
According to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, 32 to 34 infants are found abandoned in the state each year. Of these, approximately 20 infants, like Baby Wilson, are abandoned during the first 24 hours of life.
Illinois provides a safe and legal option to unsafe infant abandonment through the Abandoned Newborn Protection Act. Parents of newborn babies can drop infants off at a hospital, or a police or fire station within seven days after the child is born. Provided that a safe haven has been found for the child, parents will not be punished for relinquishing infants that they cannot care for.
Organizations like the Save Abandoned Babies Foundation work to spread the word about the Abandoned Newborn Protection Act, and by providing the parents of unwanted or unplanned babies a myriad of medical, legal and other supportive services. The organization offers a confidential, toll-free hotline at 1-888-510-BABY (2229). As the organization says, "No shame, no names, no blame."
Finally, we salute Brandon Shephard for his compassion, his caring, and his courage in saving Baby Wilson's life last week. We wish both Shephard and the baby the best now and forever.
I am curious, has a toxicology report been done on baby Wilson? Also, lets say a homeless woman gets pregnant. Would the local social service agencies and/or homeless shelters pay attention to this kind of thing, do they keep a record of homeless women who are pregnant?
ReplyDeleteNot that I think this is what happened, like I said, I am curious. This is all very disturbing to me.
I am starting to feel like Uptown is the new Las Vegas, What happens in Uptown, stays in Uptown. I wonder how much residents in other wards have any idea of all the crap that is going on here.
butternut wrote:
ReplyDelete"I wonder how much residents in other wards have any idea of all the crap that is going on here."
If it makes you feel any better or less worse, here are the results I got by typing "abandoned baby found" in the Google searchline:
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=abandoned+baby+found
The world is not so small, nor is Uptown the center of all things bad.
Billy Joe,
ReplyDeleteSince you live in Evanston, does it just give you pleasure to play armchair quarterback for Uptown?
Just because other neighborhoods 'have issues' too, doesn't mean that what is happening here in Uptown is 'ok'.
The big difference I see is when incidents like this, shootouts in broad daylight, and oh, MURDERS occur in any of these other neighborhoods occur, the Aldermen publicly denounce it and are active in finding ways to improve their neighborhoods.
What do we hear from Ms. Shiller on ANY of these issues? Crickets... but hey, if a slumlord is taken to court to clean up his act for the sake of the poor people living in his building, Shiller is right there defending the greedy bastards right to take advantage of the poor.
Yea, that makes sense.
Well, this story seems to be getting a lot of attention City-wide. With all the focus on the man who saved the baby, it's really sobering to realize that the newborn was really wrapped up to die in the bushes.
ReplyDeleteFarrell: Im simply pointing out that Uptown is not the only place where babies are abandoned.
ReplyDeleteIf you follow the local news, a young Evanston man literally drop kicked an infant to its death last week. As horrible as that is, along with other murders and assaults that take place in my community, I don't feel the need to place the blame on my alderperson, Melissa Wynne, nor Evanston Mayor Lorraine Morton.
As for your accusation: " . . . if a slumlord is taken to court to clean up his act for the sake of the poor people living in his building, Shiller is right there defending the greedy bastards right to take advantage of the poor.": Can you document a specific incident of which you describe?
Yes BJ...
ReplyDeleteAll you have to do is check out the Wilson Men's Club posting on UU from a month or two ago, that discussed how Shiller, who has no comment or strategy to fight crime in Uptown, has plenty of time to go to court to defend a man who was being told to clean up his facility.
Yes, I realize he had not had said facility for a very long time, and he was working to clean it up to meet code. That isn't the point. He didn't need Shiller's help. He wasn't being shut down.
The point is, she didn't think it was fair that he would be brought to court to ensure that his building was brought up to code, to make sure it was safe for the poor and homeless men that lived there. Why? Isn't she the big crusader for the poor? Why would she have an issue with the city making sure a public hotel met code? Is it because of her personal beliefs, or because its a great media opp for her?
In the meantime, she has zip to say about all the other issues happening in Uptown. For her they ae a non-issue, they don't exist. It's pathetic.
Seems like we should celebrate Brandon Shepard with a beer at Nick's Uptown sometime. We can all meet him and shake his hand.
ReplyDeleteAnyone up for doing this sometime next week? Maybe next Wednesday? We could see if Nick gives the OK and go from there. I honestly won't be here in town to plan, but if someone wanted to call over to Nick's to check and run with ball, that could be a really cool thing to get us together for...
"Yes, I realize he had not had said facility for a very long time, and he was working to clean it up to meet code."
ReplyDeleteHmmmmmm. That comment doesn't jibe with your previous remark (dismissal of?) about the guy being a "greedy bastard."
An added observation: Helen Shiller and "media whore" hardly belong in the same sentence. Most of the complaints on UU are that she doesn't "media whore" enough.
Hmmmmmm. That comment doesn't jibe with your previous remark (dismissal of?) about the guy being a "greedy bastard."
ReplyDeleteIt does when he didn't start making repairs until after the first time he was called into court on several violations. It's not like he purchased the building and immediately started working on the multiple repairs it needed to make it safe. I would think that if someone were to go into a business like that because they care about the plight of the homeless, that would be the first thing they did with the place. Or why else buy it?
Again... you live in Evanston. Alderman Shiller is NOT your Alderman. You are not affected by anything that occurs here. Why do you feel the need to comment about every topic on here?
As far as 'media whore' Shiller makes herself known when certain events in the city fall under her agenda and she feels she might be able to profit from them politically. Such as her very vocal support of the location of The Children's Museum. Doesn't affect her at all, but hey, it makes Daley happy!
ReplyDeleteHer constituents are sick of only seeing her take action on issues that are not of any real importance to this community. It's not unreasonable to expect your Alderman to discuss crime in her Ward, what action she is willing to take against it, or at the very least, speak publicly and denounce it.
She might as well roll out a welcome mat to the drug dealers and gang bangers and say "Hey, come on in, shoot it up, deal it up, do whatever you want, because I'm not going to say anything, and don't worry about those pesky police either, I'm making sure they can't do anything to you by limiting their ability to do their jobs effectively!"
Oh wait, she already rolled out that carpet with her plans for Wilson Yard.
(honestly, would any person have responded to the abandoned baby any differently?)
ReplyDeleteApparently so as many people reportedly heard the cries and either chose to ignore them or thought it was a cat. Who knows, someone else may have even saw the bag and choose to ignore it. Either way, the baby was out there for quite a long time so someone (actually several someones) reacted differently? How many guys have you seen slumped over on a bench or on the sidewalk and went over to check on them to make sure they weren't having a heart attack and were simply drunk or something?
And yes, the popular term for it is "liberal guilt."
ReplyDeleteBTW, it all can't be ascribed as "liberal guilt" (a trite phrase that needs to be retired along with "race card") since we see so few of these type of acts in an era when so many people are afraid to get involved (and who can blame them many times?). Could be they are applauding the fact that SOMEBODY did SOMETHING, race notwithstanding. You seriously need to get over this obvious penchant for seeing race in EVERYTHING.
"How many guys have you seen slumped over on a bench or on the sidewalk and went over to check on them to make sure they weren't having a heart attack and were simply drunk or something?"
ReplyDeleteLast year, there was a guy projectile vomiting near the Uptown theater marquee while I ate dinner al fresco at Fiesta Mexicana on Broadway.
I got up and walked over to him with my water glass to offer him a drink, but the guy was too wasted to even figure out my intentions.
Bravo man on the street. Well said!
ReplyDeleteBillyjoe, you remind me of jp, only without the religion. I'm not sure which is worse.
ReplyDeleteOne also cannot discount the fact that the story involves a "baby," and you know how squishy and weak-kneed most people get about any story involving babies (or animals). Especially those (sniff sniff) who are abandoned.
ReplyDeleteFace it, Uptown Update simply cannot run too many posts about this particular incident.
Oh, and I do find it hard to believe that if a white woman found this poor baby and acted the same way, rushing the infant to the nearest source of emergency care, that she would not of received recognition for doing so.
ReplyDeleteTo insinuate that the only reason this man is being recognized is because he's a black man who saved a baby, instead of just a man who saved a baby, says a lot more about the prejudices of the person who would make such a claim.
"One also cannot discount the fact that the story involves a "baby," and you know how squishy and weak-kneed most people get about any story involving babies (or animals). Especially those (sniff sniff) who are abandoned."
ReplyDeleteYea, those pathetic liberals who let their hearstrings get pulled by children or animals who aren't able to defend themselves from the cruelty of sick adults. Yea, what a bunch of losers! UU, seriously, don't you have some real NEWS to report? I mean, a baby got abandoned..., it was found! So what? What's the big deal? I mean, it happens everywhere, every day! Even where I live, in crime-ridden Evanston!
What? You want to report when GOOD things happen in Uptown too, not just the bad stuff? But why? It makes it so much harder for me to find something to complain about!!!
I'll just call everyone a bunch of racist, Shiller-hating liberals. Yea, THAT will teach you!
-Billy Joke
I don't really post anything here often (although I enjoy reading the posts if I have 2 minutes of my day to break away from work, which is rare). But, today I was offended and disgusted by some very IGNORANT comments posted by some idiot from Evanston (which is a neighborhood that has PLENTY of problems as well) and felt that I should take 5 minutes to share my thoughts.
ReplyDeleteThis Brandon story has a right to get some publicity, not because he is black and not because there is a baby involved, but because he, as a human being, did the right thing when so many others would have probably just ignored it, especially in the City. I am certain that most other people would not have done the same thing. Let's all be honest, as human's we have grown cold and usually choose to ignore things that are out of the ordinary. Therefore, it is nice that we have someone in our community that went out of his way to do the right thing when he did not have to and he deserves all of the stories and awards that he has received. It is just unfortunate that humanity has gotten to the point that this is considered something heroic instead of just expected. (although, I'm not sure a party for him is necessary).
Now, as for the idiot from Evanston, you seem to have a whole lot of time on your hands to mind the business of everyone else's community based on the amount of time you spend posting messages to all of our stories. It sounds like you must be bored, try to get a job, work really can take free time off your hands. However, I am sure that the reason you continually harass the residents of uptown is because you like confrontation and the reaction you get. Therefore, trying to give you some career choice probably would be a waste of my time.
" . . .did the right thing when so many others would have probably just ignored it, especially in the City. I am certain that most other people would not have done the same thing. . . "
ReplyDeleteFunny, even being as cynical as I am, that I do not agree with this statement whatsoever.
One also cannot discount the fact that the story involves a "baby," and you know how squishy and weak-kneed most people get about any story involving babies (or animals). Especially those (sniff sniff) who are abandoned.
ReplyDeleteSo to recap, it's babies (preferably the abandoned kind), black guys who do something good and the occasional animal that gets your "liberal guilt" radar a-buzzing.
If they ever post a story here about a black abandoned baby with a pet dog that finds itself, you're head will probably explode, right?
Evanston, you're right, most people would not have left something that they knew to be a baby there in plastic bags...but, most people WOULD have ignored it instead of opening the bags because finding out would have required action.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, that is exactly what a lot of people did in this case.
From an earlier post here on this subject:
ReplyDelete" Confused said...
The CBS report said he walked by two people who he asked to call 911, and they both ignored him. Nice...
July 15, 2008 8:38 PM
Please don't feed BillyJoe's trolling: he tries to turn every discussion into attacks on the other commenters and their attitudes.
ReplyDeleteDon't play his game. Rest assured, his personal attacks and Psych 101 analyses will be deleted.
He's really good at making it about him and other posters, rather than the topic at hand. Don't play his game. We promise to delete his personal attacks. If you respond, it's more bait for him and more for us to delete.
Billyjoe, and anyone else who wants to personally attack and psychoanalyze other people posting here, one of these days one of the moderators is going to read UU when he or she is having a bad day and figure out that it's easier to ban you than babysit you.
You're a smart guy -- use it for good, not evil, dude.
So much for my homeless women question.
ReplyDeleteMaybe if we built a bridge that went under the Uptown Stream of reason instead of over it, we wouldn't attract those pesky board trolls!
We could call it, The Bridge of SHUT THE F**K UP!!!!!.
Ah, I feel better.
My favorite part about all of this is how i suggested a nice meet and greet of sorts with Brandon at Nick's and the people on this blog went on and on with bitter banter and never went on to say hey, that's a good idea or.. you know, maybe not, we should do something else.
ReplyDelete