Positive Story

Good police stories seem few and far between in these troubled times, but here's an Officer attempting to make a difference in one of the rougher neighborhoods around town:

• The corner lot at Jackson and Christiana is lined with enormous elephant ears, banana leaf trees and prolific coleus. Sweet potato vines cascade out and down.

  Deronis Cooper started this magical garden with just a few containers to brighten up the landscaping around his new condo complex. "I would go around and take photos of planters that I liked and wanted to somehow duplicate," he said.

  And duplicate he did. Over the last 16 years he has hand-watered thousands of plants in his yard. He calls himself "Grandma's Gardener," as he was by his grandmother's side, tending to her garden as a teen. "I loved my grandmother a lot, we always hung out and did stuff, so what it turned into was grandma saying I need you to help me in my garden," he recalled.

  Now an adult and a Chicago police officer, gardening has become his outlet.

We saw this garden once or twice during deployments and it certainly catches your eye in regards to the rest of the area, an oasis in a desert, and we had no idea it was one of our own.