Inaccuracies at panel discussion on crime

I attended an event in Waukegan on Nov. 4 at Christian Faith Fellowship Church hosted by Switch Lanes, an anti-crime group. The topic was "Guns ... Are They Really the Problem or Is It Something Deeper?" There was a panel of civic leaders, activists, elected officials, law enforcement and attorneys.

One of the panel members was Mark Curran, sheriff of Lake County. He talked about failure of the nuclear family and lack of "respect for life" as a cause of gun violence. He then said that Planned Parenthood located its clinics in economically depressed areas to raise profits from poor black and brown people. I have heard various "right-to-life" activists make this claim before, but this is the first time I have heard an elected official in Illinois make this claim before an audience of mostly poor African Americans.

Planned Parenthood is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health services. I know it makes no profits from any of its clients. They base the location of their facilities on where their services are needed. I feel it is totally inappropriate for an elected official to make inaccurate statements - lies in fact - in public. Sheriff Curran owes them an apology.

Eileen G. Soderstrom

Chicago