GA_081717

glencoeanchor.com sound off
the glencoe anchor | August 17, 2017 | 15
Social snapshot
Top Stories
from GlencoeAnchor.com as of Aug. 14
1. D35 ‘not any further along’ in molestation
case
2. ‘I wanted to spend my life digging’
3. 10 Questions with Will Felitto, New Trier
boys soccer
4. Going Places: Familiarity leads LA grad
Hickey to Creighton
5. Alumni Spotlight: Bounce-back season
leads NT grad to All-America award
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From the editor
Explore more before you settle
Megan Bernard
megan@glencoeanchor.com
For all those rising
high school juniors
and seniors and even
the graduates out there, I
understand what you’re
feeling.
When I was a junior in
high school, I was torn
between picking college
majors.
I was interested in both
journalism and education,
and I was unsure which
career path to choose going
into Illinois State University.
Luckily, there was both a
high school newspaper and
an elementary education
internship course offered at
my high school in Naperville.
I enrolled in both
hoping to narrow down my
interests. After a month into
each, I knew what was for
me. ... And (obviously), it
was journalism.
Although I chose my
major, throughout my years
at ISU, I still explored different
routes to take within
the journalism boundaries.
I wrote for my college
paper, launched an online
magazine, worked for the
TV station and took several
radio classes.
Throughout it all, I enjoyed
print editorial journalism
the most and pursued a
summer reporter internship
at The Naperville Sun.
Once in the professional
newsroom, I learned
first-hand from editors
who were in the industry
for many years. I went to
the police station with the
crime reporter. I interviewed
Naperville residents on the
street. I wrote a features.
I completed a two-page
spread about other student
internships in the area. And,
to wrap my time there up, I
wrote my first editorial ever.
Without these experiences,
I feel like I wouldn’t
have known I loved community
journalism as much
as I do now.
We hosted a large group
of interns here this summer
that reminded me a
lot of my previous self.
They ranged from freshmen
to seniors in college.
Specially, Ben Weinstein
and Emma Palintak were
assigned to the Glencoe,
Wilmette and Winnetka
papers. I enjoyed working
with them both and I’m
proud to have publish their
stories within The Anchor.
You’ll be hearing from
both Ben and Emma on
this page in the following
weeks.
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go figure
Glencoe Golf Club posted this photo on
Aug. 6 with the caption: “Congratulations
to the 2017 Men’s Club Champion, Brad
Gillman, who shot a final round 76.”
“Did you see a freight train on the tracks
near Glencoe? You saw a Positive Train
Control (PTC) signal system test.”
@VGlencoe, Village of Glencoe, posted
on Aug. 7
.424
Loyola
An intriguing number from this week’s edition
graduate
Thomas Smart’s
batting average at
Oakton Community
college this season.
(See Page 28)
letter to the editor
Defend the renowned
teacher Martin
As a District 35 School
Board Member (1995-
1999), I must defend the
renowned teacher who has
been viciously attacked
on Facebook in order to
get the recent coverage in
The Glencoe Anchor and
other local press. Apparently,
one — and only one
— named (versus anonymous)
man has made firsthand
claims of being inappropriately
touched by this
teacher 45 years ago.
However, “There is little
evidence to support the
sudden perfect recollection
of long-repressed events”
and imagined ideas — especially
in childhood — are
notoriously unreliable; they
can result in false memories.
See The Washington
Post’s “Man who accused
cardinal Bernardin of sexual
abuse drops lawsuit.”
This Facebook crusade
led to several vague second-
or third-hand rumors
from women cited in your
article, but they had no
first-hand knowledge. A
second anonymous report
by a man to authorities cited
in The Glencoe Anchor
claimed touches on the
back but admitted that the
teacher was “not touching
in my private area.”
I have three sons who
were students of this
teacher with whom they
traveled extensively (one
trip was 52 days). All of
them are shocked and dismayed
at what they regard
as a “witch hunt.” This
is because none of them
experienced any inappropriate
behavior from this
teacher nor did they witness
it with others. They
didn’t even hear rumors of
such behavior. Years later,
they invited this “favorite”
teacher to their weddings.
The reaction of one of
my sons to this allegation
is contained in his e-mail to
me: “I believe that the news
of Dennis Hastert paying
$3 million in under-the-table
payments to an Illinois
wrestling student might
be motivating this unemployed
Colorado accuser. I
think it is not a coincidence
that these accusations
ramped up after that news.”
While it is impossible
to prove a negative, my
observations of, and reverence
for, this teacher have
spanned 38 years. (I also
chaperoned the girls on a
New York trip.) At Wellesley,
I majored in psychology
and after my master’s
degree, I taught psychology
at several colleges. I
know this teacher’s character
and find these allegations
inconceivable. They
are based on speculative
hearsay and an accuser
from almost a half century
ago with no opportunity
for cross examination. It is
a miscarriage of justice to
assign guilt via social media
without due process.
How cruel to humiliate
and smear the reputation
of this superlative teacher.
One of my sons was
awarded 12 college credit
hours via tests at the University
of Iowa and ascribes
it to all he learned
from this teacher in elementary
school.
Norene W. Stucka
Glencoe resident
The Glencoe
Anchor
Sound Off Policy
Editorials and columns are the
opinions of the author. Pieces
from 22nd Century Media are
the thoughts of the company
as a whole. The Glencoe Anchor
encourages readers to write letters
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Glencoe Anchor. Letters can be
mailed to: The Glencoe Anchor, 60
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IL, 60062. Fax letters to (847)
272-4648 or email to megan@
glencoeanchor.com.
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