Kudos to Quinn for blocking gambling expansion, mob corruption
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D) did a great service to the state when he recently vetoed the proposed gambling expansion bill and characterized it as “loopholes for mobsters.” The action means no casino in Rockford, for now.
For those who question this accurate assessment, I would urge readers to visit The Rock River Times’ online archives and search for the many mob and mob-related news articles in which such activity is detailed in the Rockford area. The articles were published from 2004 to 2007.
Kudos to Quinn.
Jeff Havens
Former staff writer for The Rock River Times
Glendive, Mont.
From the Sept. 5-11, 2012, issue
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3 Comments
Hope Mr. Havens is doing well. We need more REAL journalists like him throughout our country. I miss his hard-hitting, fact-finding articles.
Ah yes, kudos. Now everyone who has to drive through Rockford on their way to other casinos near by get to simply enjoy the thrill of an impoverished, disgustingly dirty city where the threat of getting hit by stray gun fire is a very real possibility. Shame that Rockford will never see a penny in taxes from all the income that casinos generate, or that Rockford citizens will miss out on the jobs that a casino creates in the area. As long as people like Mr. Havens feels safe from the Roaring 20’s era of Casinos, Rockford will be able to sleep at night.
Ricky Roll— good comment. Somebody gets it and it isn’t Jeff Havens. People say they miss his articles? What, exactly, did you miss about them? I guess you missed that Havens had every person in Rockford tied to organized crime. When Jeff Havens was writing for this paper it was complete nonsense. Every week a mafia story that had no basis of truth. There have been some good reporters in Rockford over the years but Jeff Havens was far from one of them. I guess you get what you pay for.