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[On a local matter falling within AWARE's concerns, I've sent the
following personal letter to the News-Gazette in advance of the
April 5 election. Perhaps AWARE as a group will want want to make
some similar representations. --CGE]<br>
<br>
<br>
To the editor of the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette:<br>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The primary responsibility of the
Champaign city council is to protect and promote the health and
safety of the citizens of Champaign. Their failure to do so in
regard
to the city's police means that no member of the present council
should be returned to office.<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The killing of an unarmed fifteen
year-old in the presence of two policemen - one the police chief -
is
so disgraceful that it is almost unimaginable that those two are
still members of the police force.<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">When the council rejected recent
proposals for a Champaign police review board, the members of the
council asserted that they would function as a review board. Their
nonfeasance in that role is a scandal.<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Kiwane Carrington has been in his
grave
for almost a year and a half, but the council members have yet to
undertake the reform of the police force.<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The legal responsibility of the those
two officers is a separate matter, although citizens of Champaign
are
rightly skeptical of an investigation carried out by other local
police and sympathetic authorities. James Madison, author of the
Constitution, took it for granted that "No man is allowed to be
a judge in his own cause ... with greater reason, a body of men
are
unfit to be both judges and parties at the same time."<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">We should vote against incumbent city
council members and demand that the new council reform the police,
beginning with the removal of those responsible for this killing.
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Sincerely,<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">(Dr.) C. G. Estabrook<br>
</p>
<br>
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