The village of Crestwood Illinois, in the news recently for arresting an innocent mother at the local Wal Mart and charging her with child endangerment has some explaining to do.

The mayor of Crestwood, Robert Stranczek defended the arrest of the Tinley Park mother last December saying “anything could happen” when the mother locked her sleeping child in a car and walked a few feet away to put some change in a Salvation Army kettle with her two other daughters.“It only takes a minute” said the recently “resigned” police chief Timothy Sulikowski. Both the mayor and the chief of police expressed their concern for the children.

Today a disturbing photograph was found on the village’s website… the picture was posted by the village to promote its upcoming Crestwood Summer Fest. It shows a small child, a girl who looks to be about two years old riding on the back of an alligator.

The photo was posted on the Crestwood Illinois Topix site and has drawn a good number of visitors with critical comments for the city. They are horrified by the overt act of child endangerment. You can see the full story at:

http://www.topix.com/forum/city/crestwood-il/...

The image itself is located here on the villages website:

http://crestwoodrecreation.superfri.com/pics0...

People have expressed outrage and alarm that the people who charged an innocent mother with child endangerment would not only tolerate such dangerous behavior in their village, but that they would use such a photo to promote their festival.

What do you think?