Letters: Changes at the Cook County clerk’s office make no sense

The Tribune’s article on the Cook County clerk’s efforts to end federal court monitoring of her office (“Cook County clerk seeks end to anti-patronage case,” July 5) notes that “(Clerk Karen Yarbrough’s) predecessor, David Orr, never had a court monitor during his more than a quarter-century in office.” I can’t speak directly to patronage hiring, but my experiences with the clerk’s office in the past few years suggest terrible inefficiency, which could well be driven by a goal of making unnecessary work.

First of all, as an amateur genealogist, I was able to use the clerk’s office’s online document search tool under the prior administration to amazing effect. The clerk’s genealogy webpage allowed one to search for birth, death and marriage records over decades by name and date, and if there were likely hits, one could purchase scanned copies for instant downloading. Based on the years that were covered, I would guess that hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of these precious family records were scanned and made word-searchable.

Under Yarbrough, this web interface has vanished. For a time, the genealogy webpage was closed “temporarily” due to the pandemic, but now it appears to be defunct. These old vital records are of inestimable value for family historians; one never knows if an ancestral hometown or ancestor’s name will pop up, possibly for the first time. Even small towns and downstate counties are able to provide such genealogical records. With Chicago and Cook County’s central role in the Great Migration, the documents’ unjustifiable disappearance is a particular tragedy.

Second, shortly before the pandemic, I had to obtain my dad’s death certificate, by then some two decades old, to close some bank accounts. At the clerk’s vital records office, I was told I also had to purchase a copy of my own birth certificate to prove I was the decedent’s son. Upset by this surprise, I was told by a laughing clerk employee that “those are the new rules.” I complained to the county inspector general’s office but never heard back.

To make matters worse, my replacement birth certificate was not a photocopy of the original but a summary document with typographical errors.

Hopefully, the clerk’s workforce has not been spending the last half decade typing summaries of 150 years worth of old genealogical records, trashing the originals and deleting the scans, and thereby losing irreplaceable information.

— Andrew S. Mine, Chicago

Alleged misconduct by police

Thank goodness someone submitted a complaint to the Civilian Office of Police Accountability about alleged sexual misconduct by an officer or officers involving migrants housed at a West Side police station.

It defies belief that this alleged misconduct could occur without raising a red flag. Is it too much to hope that the complaint was submitted by a Chicago Police Department member? Turning a blind eye should not be an option, especially to those who are sworn to preserve and protect.

— Sandra J. Burk, Elmhurst

Thank you to helpful officers

Two oldsters, abandoned on a rainy Saturday morning by an Uber driver who said she didn’t have a map, were greatly relieved by police officers who responded to our 311 call and drove us to the Burnham Harbor site where we could get a taxi home.

Thank you to the police.

— Marjorie and Dick Ettlinger, Chicago

Man’s philosophy inspiring

From the members of the highest court in the land down to those people who run red lights, acting in self-interest seems to be the way of our world. But then there was Luke Laidley (Death notice, July 9), who died living his philosophy: “Give of yourself and expect nothing in return.”

I read his obituary and cried. There cannot be enough prayers to replace this unselfish husband and father of three children who gave his life trying to help other children struggling in Lake Michigan.

— Mary Stamler, Chicago

Inspiring rescue of Afghans

I just read Stacy St. Clair’s story “Keeping a promise from across globe” (July 9), and it made my day. The great Americans who deserve a sincere thank you are Chris McClanathan and U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who diligently worked to keep America’s promise to rescue Romal, an English language interpreter, and his family from Afghanistan.

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Romal served as an interpreter for U.S. forces and defense contractors during the war and was promised by our government that he would receive safe harbor in the U.S. at the end of the war. After months on the run to save his and his family’s lives, he was caught in incredible bureaucratic red tape, and Krishnamoorthi made pleas to the State Department to eventually secure evacuation for them.

McClanathan, an Army veteran who worked with and befriended Romal, initiated efforts that led to Krishnamoorthi’s assistance and eventually this excellent outcome. McClanathan appears in a photo sitting in a wheelchair, and with no explanation, one might assume he was injured in the war. He obviously deserves all of our thanks for his great service to our country, but this story is just icing on an otherwise outstanding proverbial cake.

Helping us keep our promise to Romal is the very minimum a great nation must do. These great men did just that, and for that, they deserve our undying gratitude. Let’s hope Romal, his wife, Samima, and their new daughter are able to enjoy their new freedom, and we are able to recognize two great Americans for helping us keep ours!

A truly great story.

— Mark G. Lindsey, Hales Corners, Wisconsin

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