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Conditions on Saturday were as bad as they could beand snow sculptors stuggled with temps in the 40’s. Adramatic drop overnight resulted in near perfect condi-tions and Monument Square is addorned with beautifulart pieces. See them while they last!
From tragedy to triumph
Febuary 1-15, 2013 2COMMUNICATOR NEWS
It’s interesting how people so often attack themessenger in hopes of distracting from the mes-sage. Alderman Greg Helding has chosen thisroute instead of addressing the very real con-cerns of Racine citizens relating to probable bid-
riggingthat hastakenplace in theawardingof citycontracts.Ratherthan re-
sponding to those concerns, Helding has at-tacked me for bringing those concerns forward.He has besmirched my judgment and my charac-ter in his attempt to distract from the message.But Helding himself has shown terrible judg-ment on matters affecting the citizens of Racine.He was one of the leaders of the attempt to
break the contract that the city had negotiatedwith city workers. Michael Shields and I werethe only two on the city council who advised theother members that breaking that contract wouldnot only be a serious breach of faith, but wouldnever be allowed by the court. This was proventrue, just as Alderman Shields and I warned thatit would be.
Mr. Helding has also been strongly supportiveof the efforts by some to close down minorityowned taverns in a manner that is provably dis-criminatory and which has exposed the city (and
thus the taxpayers) to serious legal repercussionsthat could literally cost millions of dollars.Now, instead of acknowledging that there wereirregularities in the bidding process for the man-agement of CAR-25, and encouraging an openand honest bidding process to take place, he haschosen the completely irrational tactic of de-funding the channel completely. There are many citizens who rely on CAR-25 forinformation or as an outlet for their creative tal-ents. One purpose that it is used for, that is ofparticular concern to me is the church servicebroadcasts that serve the Black community. IfCAR-25 were to discontinue, as must be Mr.Helding’s plan when he calls for de-funding thechannel, it would mean that those who dependon that ministry will be left out in the cold.No, Mr. Helding is in no position to question thejudgment or the character of anyone else, he hasfar too many skeletons in his own closet.
It really doesn’t matter to me that a person whohas displayed his lack of judgment and characterwould attack me personally. All of the chargesthat have been made against me, that he so hap-pily recounts in public, will be addressed in thecourt, and I have every confidence that in theend, little or nothing will come of them. What isunfortunate about his injecting himself into thediscussion of citizens concerns about bid-riggingis that he chooses to divert attention from a veryreal problem rather than seriously addressing it.I fully expect that this will prove to be yet an-other example of his failure as a public servant.
ALDERMAN FAIR FIRES BACK @ HELDING
It’s About
POLITICS
Febuary 1-15, 2013 3COMMUNICATOR NEWS
By Heather L. PremoNow, since the falling of the
empty building on the 1600block of Washington Ave. thatwas taking up precious gardenspace (hint, hint), there has beena delight of noises and such, likethe fence being put up to blockany drunkard from falling liter-ally off the street.
In the process of this, while atractor was backing up andheaded toward the back, he man-aged to push one of the barrelsinto the middle of the only rightside lane left after this whole or-deal. It remained there for 25minutes before one of the work-ers finally noticed it and moveditnback over so that traffic couldsafely pass.
In the time of 25 minutes,umpteen cars passed having todrive around the barrel and ei-
ther driving into the left lane orholding up traffic. One of theworkers actually walked passedthe dang barrel in the middle ofthe street 5 times and then gotinto the truck, looked backpassed the barrel and passed ityet again as he went down thestreet.
In addition to that, two policeofficers went around the barrelthemselves. Did they stop youwonder? NOPE, they just kepton going. How is this possible?Are we so diluted in our thinkingeach and every day that some-thing so obvious totally escapesus? Or is it that we are just tooself-absorbed to give a damn?That is the million dollar ques-tion (that will not pay me adime).
Roll Out The Barrel
THE AMAZON RAIN FOREST: Com-monly referred to as the “lungs of theplanet” due to its role in purifyingvast quantities of oxygen, it now hasa dry cough due to severe droughtsin 2005 and 2010. The National Acad-emy of Science is concerned aboutmeasurable long term effects whichthey attribute to global climatechange. But don’t worry, authoritieslike Rush Limbaugh know more thanthese science geeks and he says it’sall a hoax. Cough
THE SOUTH PACIFIC: Hey, a newmass of plastic garbage has beendiscovered, this one is swirling in theSouth Pacific near Easter Island. Aus-tralian researchers have said that ifhumans stopped putting plastic into
the oceans, there’s so much alreadyin them that these swirling masseswould continue to accumulate andgrow for hundreds of years. Prettyamazing, we haven’t even been mak-ing plastics for 100 years. Yep, Earth
was fun while it lasted.
WASHINGTON D.C.: The Busi-ness Roundtable, comprisedof more than 200 chief execu-tives and some of the nation’swealthiest individuals, is lob-bying Congress for deep cutsin Social Security and privatiz-ing Medicare. I’m sure theyhave our best interests atheart. Pass the Meow Mix.
WEST BANK OF PALESTINE:Palestinians have camped out
on some of their own territory (whichIsraeli “settlers” have been encroach-ing on) and attempting a peacefulhold on it. Israeli Prime Minister“Bibi” Netanyahu, deployed soldiers
to “maintain security in the area.” Asimilar hilltop protest was raided bysoldiers just days before and severalprotesters were injured. Yep we’regetting our money’s worth for our for-eign aid there aren’t we. Racine’scontribution? Over a million bucks ayear.
JAPAN: How about a bit of goodnews? Japan has put 47 nuclear re-actors into “long term shutdown”classification. Meanwhile, Mitsubishiannounces they are investing $770million in off shore wind farms togenerate electricity. They’ll still haveto turn the lights out when they leavethe room though, the wind farms willgenerate electricity equivalent to twoaverage nuclear plants.
NEWS FROM ELSEWHERE
Febuary 1-15, 2013 4COMMUNICATOR NEWS
“Reviving the Dream Through Education” was the theme of the 19th annual Dr. MartinLuther King, Jr., celebration which was held earlier this afternoon at the MadrigranoAuditorium at Gateway Technical College. The room was packed with supporters,award winners, and their families.The celebration started out with a video entitled, “Martin, Can You Hear Us?,” sung byElaine Biggs, courtesy of YouTube. The words repeated, “Martin, can you hear us cry-ing? Can you hear us now?”Jacqueline Morris, chair of this year’s committee, then made the introductory remarkthat they were happy to honor Dr. King on President Obama’s second inauguration day.Today is the observance of Dr. King’s birthday, and this is Gateway’s 19th annual cele-bration.Another video with the title theme was then shown, featuring the four 2013 Humanitar-ian Award winners, DaZhan Wilderson, from Racine, Trevor Foster, from Bristol, JamyKoepke, from Salem, and Jo Wynn, from Kenosha. Wynn said, “Dr. King stood for ed-ucation for all, all races, all creeds. Education empowers people. We can all go for thesame goal,” she said. “Dr. King just wanted to do God’s will. Education was the keyto knowledge, success. That was his legacy, and I am living the same dream. Aca-demic achievement is the key to success. If Dr. King were alive today, I hope that he’dbe proud.”Bryan Albrecht, president of Gateway Technical College (GTC), then said that Foster’sfamily was present and that Foster himself was attending the inauguration. He statedthat he was proud that Gateway was a resource for the community. He also recognizedthe numerous elected officials in the audience, including Senator Bob Wirch, StateRepresentatives Peter Barca and Tod Ohnstad, Alderperson Anthony Kennedy, andChief of Police John Morrissey. He also recognized Michele Hancock, superintendentof the Kenosha Unified School District (KUSD), and Lorna Floyd, president of theTechnical College System.Zina Haywood, executive vice president/provost of the college, quoted the Bible, andprovided inspiration. The Bible says, “Prayer is the key and faith unlocks the door.The realization of Martin Luther King’s dream is success, and eduation unlocks thedoor. She also said that education is to success as air is to breathing, and breathing isto life.”
Gateway Holds 16th Annual Dr. King’s Day CelebrationDaZahn Wilkerson, Racine, Jo Wynn, Kenosha; Jamy Koepke, Salem; andLisa Albrecht presenting the Humanitarian Award to Kristin Foster, Trevor Fos-ter’s mother, of Bristol; were selected as recipients of the 2013 Gateway Tech-nical College Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award. /Photo Courtesyof Lee Colony.
Wilkerson
Jo Wynn
Koepke Foster
The weather was not conducive to long marches or oratories at the 17th
annual “laying of the wreath”, which has become the traditional opening to
the events that unfold around Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday. Estimates
ranged as high as 300 hundred people in attendance, most of whom had
walked from the King Neighborhood Center to the King Statue. It was a re-
markable turnout on such a wintry day and it speaks to the fact that King’s
memory is still held in high esteem some 45 years after his death. A large
percentage of those present were students who had not even been born when
he was killed
Though remarks were brief, it was clear that Dr. King had deeply touched
all who spoke in some way or another.
Some may still view Dr. King’s birthday as a holiday for Black people,
but the diversity of the crowd was testament to the appeal that he has for all
people of good conscience. Sometimes it is the loss of a great leader that in-
spires others to step forward and continue the cause when they might other-
wise have waited for inspiration from above. The young people who showed
up for this ceremony prove that King’s dream of social justice and the broth-
erhood of all people, remains aliveand vital.
Y.E.S.we can!
Febuary 1-15, 20135 COMMUNICATOR NEWS
Febuary 1-15, 20136 COMMUNICATOR NEWS
President Clinton started the National Day of Serv-ice to honor the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther KingJr. The event continued across the country on Satur-day as a prelude to the second inauguration of Presi-dent Obama.
In Racine, 8 projects were officially a part of the Dayof Service on Saturday Jan 19. Volunteers donatedtheir time and talents at Robert’s Roost, The CountyFood Bank, The Library, the Big Brothers/Big Sistersoffice, SAFE Passage Transitional Living House, theLove and Charity Homeless Shelter, and the JohnBryant Community Center. The day was begun withthe annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. prayer breakfastat St. Paul Baptist Church, where volunteers did theserving and cleanup.
Additional events were scheduled for later days atthe John XXIII Educational Center and an UrbanLeague coupon book sale at the Boston Store.
Thanks to all of the volunteers who showed up to
share their love and energy in service to ourcommunity. Claude Luster served as thelocal coordinator for the day and in additionto his tireless efforts in that capacity, he tookservice to the next level when he provided ajump for my dead minivan in the library park-ing lot.
Smiling and energetic participants wereeverywhere. If you were unable to take partthis year, make plans to join in 2014, you’llmeet some great people and feel good aboutmaking life a little better for those aroundyou. I spoke with one volunteer who seemedto sum up everyone’s experience of the daywhen she said, “I feel funny when someonesays ‘thanks’. Being part of this makes mefeel so good I feel like I’m the one whoshould be saying thank you.”
National Day of
Service in Racine
7 COMMUNICATOR NEWS Febuary 1-15, 2013
Upper photo: Volunteers sort and packagefood items at the Racine Food Bank onDeKoven Ave.
Right photo: Devin Murphy, Mariah Brecken-ridge, Rosemary Christoph and ChardonayWingfield create decorations for the childrens’dept at The Racine Library. Lower right: Deah Machak dusts bookshelves.
On Tuesday evening Jan. 15,
Thomas Holmes made an appear-
ance before the Racine City Coun-
cil meeting during the public
comments segment. Mr. Holmes
requested that his license to oper-
ate an establishment serving alco-
hol be returned to him. He
reminded the meeting that his li-
cense had been illegally taken
from him as per the WI Court of
Appeals Ruling on Oct. 10, 2012.
In that ruling, Holmes stated, the
court ruled that Racine had no ju-
risdiction to proceed against him
and had violated his
civil rights when it
hired a prosecutor , at
taxpayers’ expense, to
represent former police chief Kurt
Wahlen in the complaint against
Park Six.
Holmes went on to object to the
fact that another Racine tavern
known as “All Sports” ( Rapids
Dr. and Green Bay Road), was
being given preferential treatment
and being allowed to remain open
despite its having a more exten-
sive and serious history of crimi-
nal activity and police intervention
than his own establishment had
ever had. He alleged that said
preferential treatment seemed
clearly based on the race of the
ownership and not on any public
safety or community peace issues.
The records show that earlier
this month, there was an attempted
homicide at All Sports and a sepa-
rate incidence of violence against
a police officer, who was trans-
ported to the hospital for care.
Unlike much less serious issues
related to his establishment that
were publicly reported on in the
newspaper, the incidents at All
Sports are almost unknown in the
community.
African American Bar Owner Says He Wants His License Back!Febuary 1-15, 20138 COMMUNICATOR NEWS
I read Mayor Dickert’s Commentary on
CAR25 in the Jan. 21st
Journal Times, and I have
to say I’m disappointed in
the man that I once voted
for. Having seen the min-
utes of the cable commis-
sion meetings and the
videos of common council
meetings that relate to the
issue, I am personally per-
suaded to believe that bid-
rigging occurred in the
process of implementing
“modifications to its man-
agement and mission.”
This may feel like effi-
ciency to some who work
in City Hall, but it doesn’t
sit well with the rest of us.
Nor does the public safety
and licensing committee’s
apparent campaign to close down “nui-
sance establishments,” all of which just
happen to be minority owned and oper-
ated while white owned businesses with
worse public safety records remain open.
The Mayor states that he has “worked to
steer CAR25 in the direction of positive
messaging and a regular programming
schedule” which sounds like brazen cen-
sorship to me. This is not the Dickert
Channel, it’s a public access channel.
Much of what citi-
zens produce or
would like to see
may not coincide
with the Mayor’s
idea of “positive
messaging” and their
voices should not be
silenced.
As for “regular
programming,” citi-
zen contributions
come from people
who are mostly not
focused on produc-
ing them regularly
and thus they are dif-
ficult to “program.”
I would suggest
that if the Mayor
wants to see more
“positive messaging” then he and the city
council ought not to do negative things.
It’s difficult for many of us to feel good
about our elected officials engaging in un-
fair business practices (bid rigging),
racism and questionable spending habits.
At a time when churches are asked to kick
in to the public coffers, we have concerns
about city hall bathrooms costing over
$400K to remodel. We’d also like to know
why we are spending $250K on an ar-
mored vehicle this year and no matter how
much they cost, what’s with the goofy
looking little towers on the city hall
roundabout? They’re ridiculous and a dis-
traction to drivers.
Let’s be clear, expressing dissatisfaction
with some of the things that city officials
are doing is not speaking negatively about
Racine. You don’t get a free pass for hav-
ing an office in city hall. Openly talking
about what you’re up to is in no way an
attack against the city, in fact it’s exactly
the opposite. When you guys make a mess
of things, putting them back in order has a
positive impact on our community.
Febuary 1-15, 2013 9COMMUNICATOR NEWS
DOC’S SIDE: Does CAR25 need to be steered in a new direction?
Dr. Ken Yorgan
Gov. Scott Walker says he is developing a
new way to measure Wisconsin's employ-
ment needs.
Walker has complained about the accu-
racy of monthly unemployment data
based on a survey of about 3.5 percent of
Wisconsin businesses. The more accurate
data, based on a census of nearly all Wis-
consin businesses, comes quarterly and
has a six month lag.
Walker said Tuesday that gap makes it
difficult to use those numbers for making
quick responses to the state's employment
needs. He says he is moving forward with
a real-time labor management system so
the state can react to job needs better.
Walker previously mentioned the idea in
his State of the State speech.
Walker promised in 2010 to create
250,000 private sector jobs over four
years. After two years, it is estimated that
37,000 have been created.
Walker developing new way
to measure employment
By James GreenAs has been the case after every major
incidence of gunviolence inAmerica, “guncontrol” hasbeen the topic ofpublic discus-sion. Those whodo not own andare not inter-ested in guns ad-vocate foreveryone justturning them inwhile those whoown and loveguns argue thatwhat we need isfor everyone toown and carry.
Obviously,neither of theseextreme argu-ments makesmuch sense. Theproblem is, thediscussion isbeing driven bythe extremists onboth sides, whilepeople morecentrally locatedwho are trying des-perately to reachsome sort of con-sensus that willallow sane people tocontinue with theirownership, while re-moving guns fromthe hands of thecriminally insane.
The media (whichin America is allabout selling stuff)continues to put theextremists out infront, which excites the rest of us, com-pelling us to watch and, of course, get ex-posed to the ads and commercials.
I see change on the horizon though.People are not responding to the constantencouragements to buy ever more “stuff”,whether that be cars, cabbages or cuckooclocks. Of course one reason for that ismost of us don’t have enough money toconsume at the pace we once did. Andperhaps that’s a change for the better, aslong as we can eat and afford shelter, andvisit a doctor when we need to.
One consumer item that hasn’t been hittoo hard by the recession is guns. Andevery time we have a mass shooting, sales
take off. One interesting fact about allthose gun sales is that the number of peo-
ple buying gunshasn’t increased.Some studies in-dicate that fewerpeople are actu-ally buying guns.So the samefolks keep buy-ing more andmore, which iskind of strangein itself, cuz theydon’t really wearout. You have toshoot an awfullot of roundsthrough a gun,and probably notmaintain it verywell for it to ac-tually wear out.
This makes it arather uniqueconsumer prod-uct. What else doyou know of thathas the longevityof a gun? Notmuch, maybe ahammer or a cast
iron skillet. Thispresents a problemfor the manufactur-ers and sellers ofguns, as in how doyou convince some-one to buy some-thing they alreadyhave and don’t needmore of.
Well, one waymight be to scarethe daylights out ofthem. Tell them thegovernment isgoing to come to
your house to take your guns and the moreof them you have the better your odds areof fighting them off. Or convince themthat the folks next door, or across town, orjust over the border are going to show upand take all their stuff and they need moreguns to discourage them. Or maybe getsome of them totally confused about thedistinction between their guns and theirbody parts.
The strategy sessions for their market-ing plans must get pretty interesting. Thelatest one doesn’t have much of a futurethough, in my estimation. I’m talkingabout the one to have teachers carry guns.Talk about a dumb idea. Do you know
many teachers? There are damned fewwho would want to or are capable of car-rying a gun and who could use it effec-tively in a crisis. I suppose it would boostsales though. One gun for every class-room, do the math.
Which brings us to Wayne Lapierre, theExecutive Director of the National RifleAssociation. I’m puzzled why any clear-headed American listens to this guy. Inas-much as most self-declared patriots loathanything French, how does a guy namedLapierre achieve the level of respect heseems to have among them? Especially inlight of his historic unbridled support ofaggressive American military adventuresabroad, but his avoidance of serving whenit was his time.
Lapierre gets paid around a millionbucks a year by the NRA, which despiteits origins is now not much more than alobbying mechanism for gun manufactur-ers. We know that Lapierre has never helda real job, but has always worked as a lob-byist or manipulator of public opinion.However, he recently took it beyond too
far in my estimation when he inferred thatthe mass killing of school kids in Con-necticut could have somehow been part ofa plan by the President of the UnitedStates to win public support for seizingeveryone’s guns.
Given the success that Lapierre and hispatrons have had with selling guns andammunition since that tragedy, it wouldseem that a more believable conspiracytheory would be that the tragedy wassomehow a PR campaign on their part.
Okay, if I dwell on criticizing Waynethe Whacko, I’ll become part of the prob-lem. I believe a better approach would befor all of us to become better acquaintedwith our neighbors including the ones wemay disagree with in many ways. Let’s re-develop the sense of community andshared responsibility that did so much inthe past to make this country a great andsafe place to live. We should be gettingthe message by now that aversion and iso-lation and packing heat are not makingthings better.
Extremism on both sides of the gun issueFebuary 1-15, 201310 COMMUNICATOR NEWS
11COMMUNICATOR NEWSFebuary 1-15, 2013
TUESDAY IS INTERNATIONAL DAY ATRACINE GATEWAY
CAMPUSLooking for an inexpensive and nutri-tious alternative for lunch? Try theStudent Activities Center at GatewayTechnical College on Tuesday’s at11:30. For $5.50 you can enjoy a de-licious meal prepared by the culinaryarts students. Today (Jan. 22) wasMexican Day. Jan. 29 will beCaribbean Day and February will fea-ture foods from S. America (Feb. 5),Asia (Feb. 12), Spain (Feb 19) andthe Middle East (Feb. 26).
The Student Center is in the RacineBuilding on the lower level. The cam-pus is designed for students so beaware that there’s a little walking in-volved in getting to your destination,but it’s worth the effort.
Instructor Adam Larkin, right, puts the finishing touch on students’ displays. Looking on were Roshann Cornella, MeganBrunette, and Shawn Ronkoski.
12 COMMUNICATOR NEWS Febuary 1-15, 2013