HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-02-1999 Articles 4-C 1he Gazette Ceda(Rapids, lowa Sat. Jan 30, ~999
Police reviews
face discussion
City attorney tells
council: Don't treat
allegations as fact
By Lynn M. Teffi
Gazette Johnson County Bureau
IOWA CITY -- The Police FOUR OF the five review Vanderhoef said the board
board members observed Fri-
Citizens Review Board needs to could be provided general data
be careful not to treat allega- day's meeting but did not partic about the other complaints, but
tions of misconduct against po- ipate, her colleague Connie Champion
lice officers as fact, the city Board Chairwoman Leah Co- said the board needs to see all
attorney told the City Council hen said later that identifying the complaints to fulfill its jo[).
officers with a number system "The (review board) is sup-
on Friday. does not bias the board.
"An accusation is not an in- posed to ensure that police are
ference of guilt, culpability or Cohen also disagreed with acting in a way citizens want
anything" City Attorney flea- Dilkes' suggestion that tracking them to act," Champion said
-- "How can they do that without
nor Dilkes said. information could be provided information?"
Council members met with separately from the police Thornberry said he doesn't
Dilkes on Friday to prepare for chiefs reports, want the board to have an ad
their meeting with review board "It doesn't do much good to versarial relatim~ship with thc
members on Feb. 11. have it after the fact," she
One issue up for discussion is police department.
Police Union President I)an
whether officers should be idem THE COUNCIL agreed to give Dreckman, who observed Frb
tiffed in the police chiefs re people 90 days, rather than 60, day's meeting, said officers have
ports to the review board in a after an incident to file a coin- felt it was adversarial and said
way that allows review board plaint with the board, he was encouraged by Thornber-
members to track them. However, only some counbil ry's remarks.
Dilkes said she is concerned members agreed with Dilkes' Cohen said the relationship
about how the information suggestion to allow the police isn't adversarial at all.
could be used. chief to investigate complaints "We feel right now that the
She cited a recent review and F~,le his reports width the board has been in existence a
board decision that upheld Po board in a "timely manner." year and a half and it's time to
lice Chief R.J. Winkelhake's rul- The chief currently has 30 days change some things," she said.
lng that an officer had not used and can ask for extensions. "Everyone needs to negotiate to
profanity during a traffic stop. "The accurateness of the in- make it acceptable to all."
However, the board's report vestigation overrides the time
stated: "It should be noted that factor," council member Dean
this is the second incident with Thornberry said.
in a $ix week period that an Council member Dee Norton,
allegation of the use of profanity who favors a specific deadline,
has been filed against the offi- replied, "If I thought time was
cer." related to accuracy, I'd buy
The previous allegation, also that."
refuted by the police chief and Council members also differed
the board, should not be used to over whether the review board
judge the officer in the subse should see all complaints filed
quent complaint, Dilkes said. against the police department.
Council member Mike ()'Don
or only those filed through the
m~I1 said he saw no reason to board. People have the option of
identify the officers. "Each corn filing a complaint without hay
plaint is individual and lnvesti- lng the board review the ch~et's
gation is warranted," he said decision.
Such a tracking system could (;itl,' Manager Steve Atkins
harm officers who, by virtue of said lac ami the assistant city
Val~(Ierhoef said. them.
But Karen 14. ubby argued that
Opinion
Saturday,
January 30,
1999
Iowa City Prexx-Citi~en
Letters
Let board
do its job
I agree with everything m
your editorial, "Council culs
heart out of Police Boutd."
cxccpl thc conclusion.
Thc Police Citizens Rc~
('ily Council tire scheduled
decide which procedures to
cially adopt.
myself and Connie Champion,
The m~lonty said that
Bo~'d pr(~cdurcs al'~cr thc Feb
Thc council majorit?s xotc
strings thc ability of thc Rc, x iow
Karen Kubb5
hma (515
Local
Thursday,
January 28,
1999
Iowa City Press-Citizen
Local lawyer
gets nominated
for 6th District
By Jeff Charis-Carlson posititm, u, hich I dunk ~s a very
A local commission of Iowa Rus,cll graduated t'rom the
district judges muned an Iowa [Jni~ctslly et Iowa School of
City tawyc~ as one el two tlotll- Law in 1978. After graduation,
races for 6th District judge, he ~orked as an assistant
Thc 6th Dislrict Judicial Johnson County attorney lbr 20
viewed 23 applicants Tuesday. practice in 1980 as an ass~iate
Aflcr tl~c corn- in Ihe fim~ ~fl-, Hau~ ~d
Io~ ~it~ mission mere- Traw. In 1983, he ~came a
only two candidates remained: Russell also serves as the
Douglas S. Russell and Roberl attorney for the Police Citizens
Trig. Review Bo~d.
Russell is a plainer m thc A district judge is appointed
Iowa City firm of Stein, Russell initially for a one-ye~ te~,
and Push. %is is an assistant until the next general election. If
federal attorney in Cedar retained, the judge may stand
Rapids t'or rclcntion evew six ye~s.
mitred to Gox. ~k)m Vilsack. system hogan in 1963, only lbur
who will have 30 days to decide judges have nol been retained.
WhocxCl Ibc goxerm~ :lp[3oIIItS conducl,*' said William R. Eads,
Ibc h~x~a ('ou[I o1 Xppcals Thc 6th District judge will
Ittruty to he q~msidctcd Ib~ ihi~ ;tll annual >ahtry of 597,6(~}
1999 JLV~. DM
Police complaints Complaints
fairness doubted treatment
· di~atisfaction with handling of
complaints.
questioned
AND TOM ALEX police usually tabor the o~ac~ POUC[ ~, :~ favoritism to,
Mso. 67 percent said they '
Most people who file eom- weren't satisfied with the del Continuedfmm Paae 1M
plaints wilh tile Des Moines pa~ment's final decision ~ter
with expla~tio~ of
Police Dep~tment say their investigation, and 61percent lesser propo~on of ~ple who fioaldecision.
gripes don't get f~r treatme~lt said they didn'l like the way were di~aiisfied,'~ek~d~er
and thal police show a bi~ to- the situation was handled. ' the repoWs rele~e. "The res~
ward fellow officers when de- The smx'ey of crime ~ctims, show tha the sys~m c~ be im-
termining fault, 8tale Ombuds- suspects, witnesses and ~pem proved, or should be improve, l'm
man William ~lgrick said in a pie who called the depa~ent not s~e I'm w~lmg to jump to the
studyrele~sed Wednesday. for various reasons w~ done conclusion thathere~aetu~lybi~
fna repo~ that stems from l~r the ombudsman by a pri~ ~ca~ ~ple beUevo ~mt. But it
il~e 1991 controversial arresl vale firm. d~s concern me that the ~ss~s- ...say poliao
and alleged beating of a man, "I was hoping for a much f~on m ~at Mgh.' koop thom info~
~grick said ~he findi[~gs are ~ dufin9 invostiOa~o~.
blmed on a su~'ey of 90 people C~ef Skeptical
~s Moires PoUce CMef Willi~
not av~able to comment, sad he
w~ skep~cal m a letter COhered in
· e 24-p~e repmX. Police Depa~ment is doMg a be~er
"TMs su~ey is ~ attempt to mca- job, but improvemenm ~e needed
s~e ~s~tisfaction. We c~ a~ee re~fiewing compline.
th~ ~ple who file compl~n~ ~e
~sfied,' he wrote. Recommendations
Asshs~t Clfief W~ McG~hy ~ck has r~ommend~ ~at
said Wednesday: "We are the only compl~t mv~ti~ona not move
police depa~ent m Iowa sub~ect to up ~e c~ of eo~d ~ ~e de-
tMs re,dew. To say it is the resMt of p~ment ~a~e, M p~, 'a suer-
an incident ~at occurred so many ~r mi~t be modvated to ensue
yearsagois to stretch credulity." compla~ ~e not sust~ed."
~ther, ~e resM~ of ~ Mvesti~-
~lton ~rest lion, usu~ly done by the Mterna
~e repo~ is ~ out~o~h of the Office of ~ofe~ion~
~est of ~ ~ton, who clMm~ shoed go ~ectly to the eMef, he
tMt Iris head m~d face wo~ds were ~d.
calised by excessive force by t~ee ~gfick ~ommended that
~res~g officers. ~ton's corn- peainenC ~egaGo~ of pohce ~
plum brou~t race relations to the conduct ~ recorded "reg~ess of
fore b~ause he is black and was ~- whether the matter is form~y
rested by white officers, vestigated.~ He s~d pohce kept a
Moulder ~d ~ter a depmlment record of oMy a potion of the
Mvestigation into the a~e~ that the complants.
force u~'d by an officer w;ks "pro~ Mc(?~hy ~d most people M Des
er.' A report by lhe ombudsn~an Moines beheve their complaints will
concluded Ihat Millon had ~'ab~d [~ laken m~ously mid that there wi~
an officer's weapon, and a ~'cond ~ corrective action.
officer was.lUSiified ill hitting Mil/on Rolllelle [L Slaughler, admillistra-
seven to eight times with a flashlight, tc~r of the Iowa (lommi~siol~ on the
- ~tgl~ck then began az~od~er inves- Status of ~ica[1-~ne~ca~s, ~id he
tigatimx to look at the depallment's has not gotten a complaint about ti~e
handhng of complainm. Police Depa~menl ~ file four years
:The new sludy concludes that the he has been on the job.
THE
PRAIRIE
PROGRESSIVE February1999
A NEWSLETTER FOR IowA's DEMOCRATIC LEFT
Millennial Honor Roll for 1998
p ay attention, friends, 1999 is as SEIU was also starred in the year's abortion ban, raised money for an
good as over. This might be the most dramatic labor victory, not only in African~American history museum in
last Honor Roll of the 20th Iowa but in the nation, when 1900 Cedar Rapids, and participated in the
century, and soon there will be no more nurses and professional staffat Economic Justice conference spon-
talk of building a bridge to thc Universityoflowa Hospitals and sored by the American Friends Service
next one. Clinics gained representation by Committee. In contrast, thc
The pas~ year was less than voting for SEIU's Local 150. Leading McCangheys endorsed Jim Lightfoot
glorious for hog farmers, Friends of Bill, the PP Honor Roll arc attorney Matt and did TV ads for an electric drill.
and the people of Iraq, but 'gg had its Quiet and cautious Iowa City
m°ments °f h°n°r' M°st n°table were l/~ Icouncil member Dee VanderhOef cast
some remarkable prairie union triumphs, the tie-breaking vote in favor of
650 Titan Tire workers repre- allowing same-sex couples/domestic
sented United Steelworkers Local 164 partners to qualify for federal
have been on strike in Des Moines housing aid.
since May 1. The battle against CEO In her tenth year on the city
Morry Taylor is a tough one, but the council, Karen Kubby showed why
workers have successfully resisted she's the longest-serving member since
management efforts to drive genera- John MacDonald. Frequently on the
tional and racial wedges between the short end of a 6-1 vote, "the socialist
strikers, and continue to maintain a pot-maker" maintained her commitment
united front. Glasson and the hundreds of UIHC to open government and fiscal fairness
More than 600 workers repre- staff who demanded accountability and by opposing a local-option sales tax
sented by International Brotherhood of respect from one of Iowa's most ballot, opposing a $12 million parking
Electrical Workers Local 1634 went paternal institutions, ramp, opposing a plan that would have
on strike against Rockwell Collins in **** made the landfill the most elevated spot
Coralville. Unions from across the In an election year, only Kay in Iowa City, and opposing Dean
state joined the IBEW picket line, Chapman, Minnette Doderer, Ed Thornberry for Mayor pro tern. Kubby
spurring the workers to victory and a Failon, Mary Mascher, and Dick also worked to imbue the "peninsula
contract free from concessions in Myers of the Iowa House of Represen- project" with citizen input from start to
health care and benefits, tatives voted against an $85 million tax finish, and to give local developers
450 nurses joined United Food and cut that disproportionately favored some opportunities for creativity along
Commercial Workers in Sioux City. wealthier Iowans. Said Myers, with profitability.
700 workers joined a coalition of three "There's more to being in the Legisla- When a district judge threw out
unions at Prairie Meadows. Nearly 120 tare than supporting tax cuts." All five charges of "public indecent exposure"
Head Start teachers, counselors, and were re-elected easily, against the Southern Comfort Frec
social workers voted to join Service One of the physicians who deliv- Theater for the Performing Arts, Scott
Employees International Union in Linn, ered the McCaughey septuplets, Paula County Sheriff Michael Bladel threw in
Johnson, and four Mahone testified at the Iowa legislature Honor Roll,
other counties, against the so-called "partial birth" Continued on Page 6
THE PRAIRIE PROGRESSIVE ° FEBRUARY 1999 · PAGE 1
Johnson County Legislators
Promote Regressive Taxes
J~ohnson County progressives face Local activists on the Johnson support for this regressive re-writing of
a real dilemma in the upcoming County Democratic Central Conunittee our tax code. The exceptions are worth
election on a regressive local had an entirely different view in 1988, noting. Although the majority of our
option sales tax. Liberals and and the county party played a key role local delegation voted for the local
progressives support progressive in defeating the first local option sales option sales tax for schools in 1998,
taxes, but also support maintaining the tax referendumby actively campaigning both Dick Myers and Minnette Doderer
quality of our local civic institutions against it. (It will be interesting to see voted no. State Rep. Doderer sup-
funded by the sales tax. How did we what role the central committee plays ported the sales tax increases of the
get into this dilemma, which gives us this spring.) But local party opinion 1980s, but courageously broke ranks
the choice of supporting the local had little affect on the views of local with the Johnson County delegation
public library only at the cost of a tax legislators, who had voted to make the and stood entirely alone in opposing
that raises the burden on those least local sales tax an option precisely in recent income and inheritance tax cuts.
able to pay? order to provide more funding for Some members of our delegation are
The short answer is that our municipal government, now suggesting that it is time for Rep.
Democratic legislators from Johnson There have been six key pieces of Doderer to retire.
County created this situation. In 1982 legislation in the regressive restructur- Last month, as President Clinton
Terry Branstad was elected governor ing of Iowa's tax code. In the 1980s launched 450 cruise missiles on Iraq
and Democrats took over control of the Iowa's 3% sales tax was: without so much as a courtesy call to
legislature. Since that time, whether in · first raised to 4% Congress or the U.N. Security Council,
the majority or in opposition, Demo- progressive Democrats held rallies, not
crats from Johnson County have · then raised to 5% to protest this unconstitutional and
cooperated with Governor Branstad in a · a local option tax made it 6% in cynical exercise of military power, but
major restrncmring of our tax code. many Iowa communities, to defend the President and "the
The burden of taxation has been shifted Then in the nineties, legislators integrity of the constitution." As soon
away from corporations and investors, as the impeachment trial is over,
and placed squarely on the backs of the · cut the relatively progressive Clinton will of course join with the very
wage-earning majority oflowans. The income tax by 10% people who are trying to remove him
local option sales tax is only part of a · eliminated most of the burden of from office, and partially privatize the
much broader re-structuring of our tax the inheritance tax, which falls social security system.
code, which has been brought into largely on unearned income and The assault on the key values of
conformity with the principles of capital gains, the New Deal/Great Society Democratic
Ronald Reagan. party is not merely coming from the
Contrary to what many Johnson Finally, in 1998
White House, but from Democratic
County progressives believe, our · they added a local option tax for elected officials at all levels of govern-
legislators have not reluctantly capitu- schools, pushing the potential merit. In local as well as national
lated to the Reaganite agenda on taxes, sales tax rate to 7%--more than politics, it appears to be impossible to
but have been key players in putting it double the 1982 rate. be an active progressive Democratic
into place. When I first moved to Iowa without being put in the position of
City in 1977, I was amazed to hear our On the spending side of the promoting an agenda that undercuts
legislators routinely defend the sales budget, these regressive changes in tax liberal and progressive values.
tax, claiming that it was "not really rates were accompanied by a shift in
regressive" because food and prescrip- funding toward economic develop- -- Jeff Cox
tion drugs are exempt. When ments grants to investors in the
challenged, they would concede that eighties, and by an unprecedented
the sales tax is in fact regressive, but expansion of state prison system in
change the phrase to "not so bad". the nineties.
From their point of view, the fairness of With a very few exceptions, our
the tax code was less important than Democratic legislative delegation from
raising money for state government. Johnson County has provided solid
Tug P~tRI£ PROaRESSIVE · FESSUARV 1999 · PAag 2
Wellstone Out, Darling In
pclen I ran for Governor of If America elects me as their next cult and ideology. Perhaps that's why
alifomia in 1978, my President, I will focus all of the power we feel compelled to tell the rest of the
atform was clearly ahead of of the Presidency on solving the world what to do, but we can no longer
its time, but today it doesn't sound education crisis in America. I will not afford this behavior.
so far-fetched, sign one budget until education is If you support my basic concepts-
For example, I promised that ifI on top. that we must make education bigger
continued my political career and were We must train and hire far more and better than ever, and that we must
elected President, I would start the teachers, and we must build hundreds of make it available to every child-help
Presidential Network (PTN.)As new schools. Wherever uncrowded send a mandate to Washington, DC.
President I would wear a small video classrooms are needed, we must build Support my campaign for President of
camera to record everything I said, saw them. This revolution can occur in every the United States. Support PTN.
and heard. This camera would broad- nook and cranny of this nation, and in Support total democracy. Help find a
cast to every television set in America, way for every American to be educated,
24 hours a day. Americans should have safe, and healthy.
the option of seeing what the President In order to finance my campaign, I
sees. After all, we pay the bills, am asking for contributions just like
On PTN, the President could inform every other candidate. And like every
Americans of events on a daily basis, other candidate, I hope to receive
and he could take the pulse of the matching federal funds. Unlike every
people by holding daily elections, other candidate, however, I am promis-
When a national consensus is required, so doing we can rebuild America and lng to return my contributor's money
ihe President should not rely on polls inspire the world--to say nothing of along with half of mine. I will hire my
they are conducted today. We need restoring our children's faith in contributors to talk about my campaign.
,tn honest, inclusive polling system their future. Their salary will be one-and-a-half
that reflects America's diversity. We "Where will the money come from?" times the amount ot their contribution
could vote with Total Democracy That is what politicians always say (within the legal limits.) In other words,
Voting Cards, designed for tolevision when asked about education. Here is my if a contributor sends me $100, I will
sets, VCRs, gas pumps, and/or comput- ~ answer: America will retire as a world hire that contributor at a salary of $150.
ers. American technology could make military power. We will bring our troops What politician has made you a
this a reality, home, and their only job will be to better offer? Supporting my campaign
With regards to campaign reform, I protect our nation from the threat of is an investment. At last, a politician
support a system that would make foreign invasion, natural disaster, and to who pays you to do nothing but talk. I
every political campaign in America meet America's contribution to the will be in Iowa in 1999, and I will hear
subject to the same scrutiny as our United Nations. We will be one nation what you have to say then. In the
current President has recently been among many, an equal partner in meantime, thanks for listening. }~
subjected. A campaign should be a world peace.
contract, and a politician should be Following WWII, General Dwight -- Lowell Darling is the author of One
held accountable for any and all Eisenhower issued a severe warning Hand Shaking, an account of his
statements made while seeking office, against our succumbing to the military- California gubernatorial campaign,
What is tree on the campaign trail industrial complex. Had we taken his in which he received 2% of the vote
should be true after an election, advice, America's dominant bureaucracy against Jerry Brown.
Here is why I am running for today might.be health and education
President: Someone must convince rather than the Pentagon. It is, however, Darling grew up in the Quad Cities
Congress to alter their attitude toward not yet too late to restore our priorities, and is the only presidential candi-
education. A President need only study America should once again become date known to be a direct
our public schools to understand the great international experiment. We descendant of Marcel Duchamp.
America's major problem. An unedu- are the testing ground to see if the
xted population is not ideal for people of Earth can actually get along.
~ontinuing democracy, and if we don't Everyone is represented here--every
beef up our schools, this nation is lost. race, religion, nationality, philosophy,
Tmr P~,~ir~E PROaRESSIV£ · FEBRU.4~r 1999 · lP/IG£ 3
There's Something about Beloved
To ensure that this movie gets its save it from life as a slave. With this Hamilton (Young Sethe)--may have
due from at least one source, I act, Sethe went one step beyond the already played the most important roles
hereby bestow the Prairie horror of Sophie's choice. The strong of their lives.
Progressive Best Movie of the Year presence of the supernatural gave some No, America doesn't have the time
Award on Beloved. critics an opening to dismiss Beloved to deal with the slavery which stains its
Three observations: First, Oprah as a ghost story, even a horror movie, history, nor with a movie about slavery.
Winfrey--who is both the "mother of But the ghost and the horror in the It's too busy at the moment trying to
the movie" (Demme) and Sethe, the person of Beloved is the embodiment hold off a pack of Southerners out to
motherj~t the movie--apparently can get a president whom, according to
do about anything she sets her mind to. Toni Morrison, many African-Ameri-
Second, Jonathan Demme need take a cans regard as their first black
back seat to no other American direc- President, "Blacker than any actual
tor. And third, the timing was bad for a black person who could ever be elected
movie about slavery, when movies in our children's lifetime." And not
about dumb white guys are reigning even this president has dared issue a
supreme in Hollywood and the formal apology for slavery. The only
Southern White Male has taken part of slavery America wants to hear
over Washington. about is Thomas Jefferson's DNA.
After much hope and hype, The top grosser during Beloved's
Beloved bombed at the box office. It of the tragedy of slavery, what rapid exit from theaters was Waterboy,
breaks your heart to read Winfrey's Morrison calls "the Misery," that a movie that, by any post-pubescent
journal about the making of the movie, refuses to go away. standard, is as horrible as the subject
bursting with the joy of turning her 10- One critical mark of a good movie is matter of Beloved is horrific. There is a
year dream into reality and the belief that you wake up thinking about it the great irony in this. The title Waterboy
that this compelling story of her morning after. This one really haunts, recalls the name of an actor, Stepin
ancestors would open the minds and I played "most powerful scenes" with Fetchit, who has come to symbolize the
hearts of millions and help stop the two friends. Mine was easy: the degrading buffoonish roles that Blacks
bleeding from our national shame, climactic killing-of-the-baby scene. I were limited to in the early days of
Beloved was to be her Schindler's List. can't imagine any other director doing Hollywood. Now it's the whites
How could it fail? Starring the it better. Another chose Sethe seeing playing the demeaning parts in
beloved Queen of Television (there is Ohio, a free state, across the river for Hollywood's celebration of white male
no king), directed by an Oscar-winning the first time. The third was most stupidity, while an African-American
director, from a novel by the Nobel moved seeing the scars on the backs of project like Beloved is too complex, too
laureate Toni Morrison. Try to top both Sethe and Paul D. during a love serious, too intelligent for mainstream
that. Just as the novel never made it scene, which was as gut wrenching a moviegoers.
easy on the reader, the movie refused sight as any whipping scene. Each of Beloved may not find its audience
to play down to the viewer. It didn't these moments argues against the view until someday in the future, but film
fail. Only at the box office, that the ghost element detracted from history is sure to reward this noble
Where it pays to be dumb. Not the central theme of slavery. Every- effort to face our past. ~
only are dumb movies bringing in big thing in the movie is about the physical
bucks, they are beginning to fool the survivors of slavery struggling to --dae Retz
critics. Gene Siskel, the one with the survive emotionally.
thin thumb, included There's Some- If the Academy is in a mood to
thing About Mary in his list of ten best start making up for its history of
movies of 1998. The only thing about slighting Black filmmaking, Beloved has
Mary is her knack for attracting stupid a wealth of potential, deserving
white guys. nominations, beginning with the movie
There are a lot of things about the itself. The remarkable young women of
character Beloved, and most of them Beloved--Thandie Newton (Beloved),
defy explanation. She is the reincarna- Kimberly EIise (Denver), and Lisa Gay
tion of the baby her mother killed to
THE Pn. nlnlE PRo6n£ssIve · FERgUAg¥ 1999 · PAGE 4
E March 23, 1989
The Exxon Valdez oil
N DA R tanker runs aground,
fouling 500 square miles
of Alaskan waters
March 26-27
January 10, 1989 Two-day Media Training
Karen Kubby elected to Seminar sponsored by
the Iowa City City Women's Resource &
Council Action Center and ~ ~-~.~
facilitated by the Spin
January 30, 1948 Project of San Francisco.
Gandhi assassinated Trainer: Robert Bray,
former media director for
February 26-27 the Human Rights
Envisioning Sustainable Campaign Fund and the
Worlds: Campus, National Gay/Lesbian
Cur,ca,am. Task Force. ,owe A . ,ecial
Community, a cultural Memorial Union, iowa
studies conference at City, $50,319-335-1486 PrairieProgressive
Drake University.
Speakers include Sandra March 27
Sanchez, Linde Democratic Off-Year Thank You
Appelgate, & Ed Fallon. Caucus, Johnson
Free and open to the County, 319-338-1997 ~ to Joe Sharpnack and Loretta Popp for
public, creating the classic Beanie Baby fundraising
ww~v.env.drake.edu/ March 28, 1979 cartoon and the Prairie Dog Beanie Babies for
sustain.html Nuclear power plant at lifetime subscribers
Three Mile Island ~ to the 74 readers who have contributed $1206
malfunctions and 10,000 yen since Thanksgiving 1998
~ to thc comrades and relatives who have
stamped and labeled thousands of Prairie
Progressives with passion, gusto, and
bemusement
THE PRAIRIE PROGRESSIVE has been published
quarterly since 1986. Editor for this issue: Dave Leshtz. 6 6'~J[ ]re have no permanent
~ $10 1-year subscription. ¥ ¥ friends, only permanent
issues. We arc beholden to
[21 $__ 1999 sustaining fund gift. no individual or party. Let us
121 $8 1-year girl subscription turn up the heat until the
politicians see the light."
Your Name Gift Name
-- Andy Stern,
Your Address Gift Address President, SEIU
city, State Zip City, State Zip
Please return to: The Prairie Progressive, P.O. Box 1945, Iowa City, IA 52244
THE PRA~E PROGRESSIVE · FEBRUARY 1999 · PAOE 5
Honor Roll, The Cedar Rapids Civil Rights The Iowa City Citizens' Police
Continued from Page I Commission voted 6-1 to recommend Review Board, formed in the wake of
the towel, saying that he would ~'no adding "sexual orientation" to the the shooting of Eric Shaw, got off to a
longer dispatch morality patrols for city's anti-discrimination ordinance, slow start but showed courage by
the state." Since that vote, the Cedar Rapids City taking seriously the growing number of
Randy Bezanson, Gil Cranberg, & Council assured itself a spot on the police stops for "driving while black."
John Soloski began an in-depth study 1999 Honor Rollby adopting the SevenyearsagoMiya Rodolfo-
of how ownership structures of recommendation, 3-2. Voting yes were Sioson was a random victim of violence
newspapers affect journalism. TheUI Lee Clancy, Nancy Evans, and Dale on the University of Iowa campus.
professors are examining how and why Todd. Today she works for the Center for
Having already astonished eastern Independent Living in Berkeley, where
newspapers are operating increasingly
for the sake of shareholders rather Iowa with its first-ever endorsement of she helped pass a city ordinance to
than readers, a Democrat for Governor, the Cedar permanently fund emergency-assis-
The student-led Gay/Straight RapldsGazetteurgedtheCityCouncil tance services for people with severe
Alliance of Valley High and others in to protect the rights of gays and disabilities. Rodolfo's advice for
the Des Moines area and Ames are lesbians in the areas of employment, activists, with or without disabilities:
working against anti-gay bias in high education, credit, and housing. "There's tons of stuff you can still do.
schools. Slurs and threats of violence Another Honor Roll hopeful for lust focus on what you can do, and
have failed to keep teenagers such as 1999:rookieStateSenator Joe don't worry about the stuffyou
Bolkcom, for resisting meth madness, can't do." ~
Andy Cowan and Erin O'Brien from prison expansion, and tax breaks for ~_ . .- - . - .....
providing supportive forums for
discussing sexual-orientation issues. Iowans who least need them. - . --Prairie-Dog ......
THE PRAIRIE PROGRESSIVE o .......
Box 1 gq5 .,
Iowa City, IA 52244