Elmhurst Group Removes Posts About Controversial City Issue

Elmhurst IL

26 March, 2021

6:51 AM

Description

ELMHURST, IL — Elmhurst's largest Facebook group on Thursday removed recent posts about the 2015 tragedy involving the death of a 13-year-old girl in town. This decision apparently happened after the Elmhurst firefighters union decried the comments to the posts. The page's administrators have not revealed the reason for the deletions. The Facebook page, Elmhurst, IL News and Comment, removed two Elmhurst Patch stories related to the tragedy and the union statement decrying the comments to the stories. The page has nearly 17,000 members. One of the Patch stories was about the girl's mother's account of how the city handled its response to the tragedy and an alderwoman's criticism of the mother's foundation in honor of her daughter. Shelly LeGere, mother of 13-year-old Annie LeGere, alleged the city struggled in its response to the crisis, even asking her if she could drive the ambulance. The story attracted more than 100 comments. Elmhurst Firefighters IAFF Local 3541 objected to comments by the page's members in reaction to the story. "The comments that followed are some of the lowest form of arguing that we have seen," the union wrote in a post on its Facebook page and Elmhurst, IL News and Comment. "This first and foremost is not a platform to use another's tragedy for your personal feelings towards a local political issue. The call in question was a call where someone lost a child." He said that if anyone involved in the emergency call commented on the situation, it is not only "despicable" to the job, but illegal. "Someone lost their child. That is beyond unacceptable," the union said. "We are ashamed of the administrators of the Elmhurst News and Comment for not taking action as well. A child's death is not a platform for a Facebook argument." The union urged residents to focus on adding advanced life support to fire trucks. This is something that the Annie LeGere Foundation supports, but nearly all aldermen oppose. Later Thursday, the union noted Elmhurst, IL News and Comment removed the posts, including its post criticizing the page's administrators. Asked about the decision to remove the posts, administrator Jeff Whitcomb said in a text message, "That does not sound like something that should be removed. There are three admins now. What is odd is they did not reach out to me." Moderator Vincent Rodgers said he did not remove the posts and that as a moderator, he cannot see who did. Administrator Joe O'Malley could not be reached for comment. On Friday morning, Elmhurst, IL News & Comment declined Patch's request to post this story.