I haven’t fact-checked this, but it’s pretty funny if true. From a reader:
East St. Louis makes anybody’s short list. In the mid-70’s, an arsonist was arrested….he just happened to be the Chief of the city Fire Department. City Hall was privately-owned in the 1980’s–the city used it as collateral in a lawsuit over an accident in the Drunk Tank and lost. The Mayor of East St. Louis at one time lived not far from the riverfront…….across the river in St. Louis, MO. How bad is that? They’ve got river boat gambling, but that’s the only safe attraction on the river. During a campaign several years ago for Mayor, one of the candidates was shot at by opposition supporters at a speaking engagement. Like he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:”This is is East St. Louis. This ain’t Disneyland.”