STOP PROTECTING JOHNS

Terry Bibo tells a nice story in her July 13 column, " 'Shaming' has
long history in Peoria," as she educates Chief Settingsgaard about
how Peoria has dealt with prostitution the last decade or so. She
seems to approve of Mr. Sandberg's and Ms. Van Auken's opinion that
"shaming" johns will blow up in the chief's face.

What she fails to mention is the tactics of Chase Ingersoll 10 years
ago came about for the same reason the Peoria police are using its
Web site to report arrests of those soliciting prostitutes: the
Journal Star has deemed being arrested for solicitation as not
newsworthy. Unless it is a certain city councilman who wasn't
actually arrested in the first place.

Police don't need to name drug users and sellers and other criminals
on their Web site. Those matters are routinely published in the
Journal Star (sometimes with mug shots) and aired on local TV and
radio news. Perhaps Ms. Bibo should ponder why the Journal Star,
which is usually full of ideas of how to clean up our city, remains
so focused on protecting Peoria's johns. This Journal Star subscriber
would appreciate being educated on that.

Steven P. Tibbetts

Peoria