A WIDOW’S AGONY
The loss of a loved one is translated in many ways.
The widow of slain Chicago Police Cmdr. Paul Bauer did so in 11 words spoken late this week to former top cop Phil Cline, head of the Gold Star Families organization, which helps financially support the spouses and children of Chicago Police killed in the line of duty.
“I now belong to a club I never wanted to join,” a tearful Erin Bauer told Cline while he was presenting her with a check for $ 60,000.
“It was heartbreaking,” Cline told Sneed.
“Cmdr. Paul Bauer, an amazing man, will now become No. 581 listed on the Memorial Wall of Chicago policemen whose lives were sacrificed to save others,” he said.
“A heroic statistic at a deadly price.”
The Bauer legacy . . .
Cmdr. Paul Bauer, who was once the commanding officer of the CPD’s Mounted Patrol Unit, rode a beloved police horse he named Doffyn, which is now retired from service.
Thus, Doffyn — whom Bauer named after slain Chicago Police Officer Daniel Doffyn, shot and killed on March 8, 1995, by a street gang member shortly after joining the CPD — was unable to join the mounted police honor guard for Bauer’s funeral and burial Saturday.
“When kids snuck into the horse stables a few years back and beat some of the horses with fire extinguishers, Paul was furious,” said a police source.
“Paul honored those horses for their service to the city,” the source added.
Clop clop . . .
. . . and bow wow: Sneed is told the Chicago Police Mounted Patrol Unit as well as the CPD’s Canine Unit has been told to prepare to move to a new location in the near future.
They were given no specific dates.
Hello Tiger Woods?
Translation: Plans to move the CPD’s horse patrol’s “barn” now housed on Chicago Park District property in the park adjacent to the South Shore Country Club — and next to the South Shore golf course — may be the result of a hush- hush proposal to merge the Jackson Park and South Shore golf courses into a single championship- caliber course involving the Obama Presidential Center planned for Jackson Park.
( The Sun- Times has reported plans for the Obama center are being firmed up largely out of view.)
Meanwhile, Sneed hears the police Canine Unit, located near O’Hare International Airport, has been told to prepare for a move because of the construction of a new tollway exit.
“That’s what we are told,” said two top police sources.
Stay tuned.
Sneedlings . . .
Kudos to RPM Italian eatery for donating food to the police officers and firefighters working the murder scene near the Thompson Center on Tuesday evening while investigating Cmdr. Paul Bauer’s death. ... Condolences to veteran journalist Jerry Crimmins on the loss of his beloved wife, Dottie, who died Thursday. Dottie was a treasure. We will all miss her Irish sense of humor. ... Door jam ... Watch for the Rev. Michael Pfleger to lead a protest at noon Wednesday against a Fifth Third Bank branch, 221 S. Riverside, and what he claims is their practice of using “jail- like doors which discriminate against AfricanAmericans and people with disabilities.” ... Saturday’s birthdays: Ed Sheeran, 27; Michael Jordan, 55; and Vicente Fernandez, 78. ... Sunday’s birthdays: Le’veon Bell, 26; Molly Ringwald, 50; and Vanna White, 61.