Salomeja Januska suffered a broken arm.
Posted on 08/10/2006 7:53:38 PM PDT by Graybeard58
Seeing gang members openly dealing drugs in front of abandoned homes and being mugged six times just feet from her front doorstep were finally enough to drag Salomeja Januska from her Marquette Park home of almost 60 years.
But it wasn't enough to keep her from visiting the old neighborhood for a hot cepelinai, a loaf of fresh Baltic Bakery rye, and a trip down memory lane.
On Tuesday, the Lithuanian grandmother of three paid a price.
Salomeja Januska suffered a broken arm.
'Fell right down on her face'
As she climbed into the car parked in front of her old house, 94-year-old Januska was rushed from behind by a man who snatched her purse, pushed her off balance and sent her crashing onto the sidewalk.
"She fell down right on her face," said her longtime friend Veronica Matuzas, a fellow transplant to the safety of suburban La Grange. "Her glasses cut her face, and the fall broke her arm."
Januska and Matuzas had left a doctor's office in Marquette Park about noon Tuesday, heading to the neighborhood where Januska had settled when there were only a few two-flats, corn fields and other recent arrivals from Lithuania.
After visiting the bank at Washtenaw and Lithuanian Plaza Court, they walked across the street to Antano Kampas, a long-standing Lithuanian deli, where they shopped for comfort food such as balandeliai, sausages and fresh hot cepelinai -- a Lithuanian potato roll with meat -- as they did almost monthly. But this visit ended at Holy Cross Hospital, less than a block away. "It took just a second," said Matuzas, "there was no time for a fight."
According to witnesses, after knocking Januska over, the mugger fled down the gangway next to her old house. He was pursued by a good Samaritan, but he got away.
'Talking about going back'
"This really burns me," said a guard from the private security firm Illinois Homeland Security who spends his days shooing drug dealers from the neighborhood streets. "Not only did he rob her, but he stole her food."
Chicago Police Department public affairs officer John Mirabelli said no suspects were in custody late Wednesday, but police were looking for a man spotted at the scene of the crime near a green van.
Januska came out of surgery Wednesday afternoon with surgical pins and a cast on her arm -- and a positive prognosis from Holy Cross doctors.
Januska's son Edward Dambrauskas expects his feisty mother to recover quickly -- and be back in the neighborhood before long.
"She's already talking about going back," said an exasperated Dambrauskas. "She'll tell you, 'I'm not going to let these criminals keep me from going where I want.'
Salomeja Januska suffered a broken arm.
I hope he got food poisoning.
When I first read that, I thought it said, "shooting drug dealers.
It's ashame there wasn't some peace officers around to put rounds in the heads of all who committed crimes against this grandma...
I lived in Illinois for three years.
That was more than enough.
No description of the democrat that mugged her? I wonder why.
I'm glad to hear LaGrange is safe. I got people there.
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