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Your July 14 editorial, ''Rent hike overdue for Stroger cronies,'' misstates myriad facts and -- from beginning to end -- seems to intentionally mislead your readers. When the Forest Preserve District of Cook County purchases land with a habitable home, it has been historically used as a resident watchman house -- a practice established in 1918. There are currently 65 of these homes, which equates to one home for just over 1,000 acres of Forest Preserve property. The simple existence of the watchman home serves as a deterrent to crime that cannot be measured. Furthermore, I would argue that with only 263 incidents reported last year, the system is doing exactly what it is intended to do: preventing crime and vandalism on district property. Watchmen are required to perform a number of duties, the most important of which is ''fire watch.'' This includes reporting to a division headquarters between 16 to 32 hours per month, and being on 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week call to fight wildfires on district land. Watchmen are required to submit monthly reports relative to inspections and incidents. These and other duties are in addition to the employees' regular job responsibilities as naturalists, laborers, police officers or administrative staff. Your claim that I argue it would not be fair to charge fair-market rents is true. However, I have never been opposed to increases that take into account the responsibilities these individuals undertake. Furthermore, I have initiated fee increases twice in recent years and have agreed to look at this issue again and make recommendations to the board for the upcoming budget year. Your editorial falsely claims that rent is reduced for repairs made by individual watchmen. The fact is that all utilities are paid by the watchman as well as routine maintenance and upkeep. Your statement that many of the watchmen ''pay their monthly fee in cash, instead of by check'' is an additional misstatement. A report written by Park District Chief Attorney Robert Kinchen -- which was quoted from in the July 10 story -- states clearly that no employees pay their fees in cash. That report also includes a listing of the watchmen and the method by which they pay, the options for which include only payroll deduction, money order or check. We have corrected the glaring inaccuracies. I would hope in the future for more fair and balanced reporting for your readers. John H. Stroger Jr., president, Forest Preserve District of Cook County Board of Commissioners