CHICAGOLAND PING
"Mr. Koldenhoven is the former mayor of Palos Heights."
Mr. Koldenhoven is a former member of the human race.
It's as if the author is waving his hands around in crips and bloods gang symbols, doing that phony posturing that gangstuh rappers do. This guy never graduated high school!
I guess this is the Gettysburg Address that Lincoln should have given (following this line of thinking):
Nearly three years ago, the people of this once-great, but now war-torn country, elected me to be their President. I recognize now that my taking this office so alienated many of our Southern brethren that they decided that they had to secede from the Union.
We review a field where countless good and brave men have fallen, needlessly, because I was stubborn in my determination to keep this great country together. They died for nothing except my vanity.
There is nothing we can do now that would adequately honor these dead. The best we can do is stop the madness of war now and prevent any more good Americans from dying. We should allow the Southern States to go their way, allow their men in uniform to return to their families and rebuild the lives that were so disrupted by this needless and destructive war.
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Dean Koldenhoven, Mayor of Palos Heights, Illinois (1997 to 2001) Also being honored with a 2002 Profile in Courage Award is Dean Koldenhoven, the one-term Mayor of Palos Heights, Illinois, who condemned religious intolerance toward an Islamic community that had hoped to convert a local and vacant Christian church into a mosque.
In May 2000, plans to open a Mosque in the Chicago suburb of Palos Heights, Illinois upset many residents and prompted some City Council members to consider derailing the plan by condemning the property the mosque wanted to purchase. In response to the racially tinged comments of people opposed to the mosque moving into the building, Mayor Koldenhoven said, "It hurts me. Here we are, coming up on Memorial Day. People fought and died for these freedoms; we talk about these freedoms. But then some people decide they're not freedoms for everyone."
At a council meeting, representatives of the Al Salam Mosque Foundation were subjected to insensitive questioning and derogatory comments from aldermen and residents. Council members questioned the "upside down" schedule of Muslim prayer and one resident commented that the Muslim group should "convert to Christianity" or "go back to your own countries." Public council meetings turned into heated battles overwrought with discriminatory religious and racial discourse.
Because the property was already under contract, the alderwoman in whose district the former church was located tried to foil the sale by condemning the church and blocking the issuance of the necessary licenses. Eventually, when her efforts failed, the Council proposed a $200,000 pay-off to get the group to abandon their plans to purchase the property so that the city could buy it. A questionable act of fiscal judgment, as one reporter wrote, given that "the city budget has a balance of $400,000." According to the city council members who voted to pay the Mosque, the $200,000 was not a "buyout," but was intended "to cover legal expenses."
When the Al Salam Mosque Foundation originally accepted the $200,000 offer, it was criticized by a member of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, who said, "Our religion is not for sale, and our racial background is not for sale."
Although the City Council voted in favor of the payment and the Al Salam Foundation ultimately accepted it, Mayor Koldenhoven vetoed the offer in July of 2000, calling it an "embarrassment" and "insult" to the Muslim community. "Government has no place in this issue," he stated as he blocked the buyout plan. "I can understand a fear of heights and a fear of flying. But when it is a fear of a person, they need to get over it." Koldenhoven said.
His vociferous opposition to the City Council's actions drew national attention resulting in a public backlash against the middle class community. One editorial headline read: "Palos Heights Disgraces Itself." Ultimately, the Al Salam Mosque Foundation abandoned its plans to move to Palos Heights, citing apprehensions about relocating the mosque to a community where it was not wanted. In November 2000, the Palo Heights residents voted against purchasing the church property.
In what many believe was the result of his decision of conscience to do what he thought was right for the community, Koldenhoven was defeated in his bid for reelection on April 3, 2001.