The Winnetka Home Owners Association’s (WHOA) newsletter recently said some people who wrote to the organization reported receiving harassing phone calls or visits because of their support for a Village Trustee candidate. Winnetka police say no formal complaints have been filed regarding the issue. 

“I should probably warn everyone who has written to WHOA lately that they will likely get a harassing phone call (or even a visit) from someone who is tracking this blog and personally stalking everyone who has spoken up for Patrick Livney,” the newsletter said. 

Livney failed to get Winnetka Caucus Council's support to remain on the proposed Village Trustee slate in October. Joe Adams replaced him on the slate. 

At Tuesday night's Annual Town Meeting, Livney also failed to get enough votes to remain on the Village Trustee slate. He could still gather petitions independently to appear on the ballot, just as Trustee Jennifer Spinney did last year. 

Check back later today for full coverage of the Annual Town Meeting, or like us on Facebook to get the latest updates. 

“Several people have contacted the police department to tell their stories and we know of at least one person who filed a formal complaint. Everything is getting out of control,” the newsletter said. 

The newsletter is created by WHOA's chairwoman Carry Buck. The group led the charge against affordable housing in 2011.

Winnetka Police Chief Patrick Kreis says the department has received no formal complaints regarding the harassment. 

“We don’t get involved in trying to make people polite or kind to each other,” Kreis said. 

So far, Kreis says police have spoken with three residents to provide advice on what constitutes harassment or disorderly conduct, but “there haven’t been investigations sparked by these or other conversations.” 

“I’ve talked to a couple of residents over the last two weeks and provided advice regarding what is generally deemed harassment in the eyes of law,” Kreis said. “I would characterize the conversations I’ve had in recent weeks as general in nature, explaining the type of activity that is generally considered harassment and where the line is crossed.” 

Kreis says fighting words that are meant to bother someone’s peace of mind or cause someone to become alarmed are some of the actions that could be considered harassment. Examples of disorderly conduct include ringing of doorbells or repeated hanged up phone calls. 

The recent incident of a Winnetka resident receiving inappropriate text messages and photos on her computer is not suspected to be related to harassment issue mentioned on WHOA’s newsletter.

“I don’t think it has anything to do with the types of messages that was mentioned in the blog,” Kreis said.

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