[Peace-discuss] News-Gazette

[Jan & Durl Kruse]

> This was on page #3 News-Gazette today.
> Jan K
> On Apr 11, 2007, at 11:26 AM, Bob Illyes wrote:
>
>> I saw no coverage in the NG regarding last night's township
>> meetings. Does anyone else see coverage that I somehow missed?
>>
>  
> Advisory questions to be on '08 ballots
> By Mike Monson
>
> Wednesday April 11, 2007
>
> CHAMPAIGN – Champaign and Urbana voters will weigh in on advisory  
> referendums in the March 2008 primary.
>
> In the City of Champaign Township, the advisory questions will ask  
> voters if they support cutting off funding for the Iraq war; if they  
> want to restore the level of general assistance funding to previous  
> levels in the township; and if they want the federal law creating  
> military commissions for terror detainees repealed or amended.
>
> In Urbana, following Cunningham Township Board action Monday, voters  
> will also cast ballots on the Iraq war funding and military  
> commissions questions, as well as a third question about whether  
> voters should ask their elected representatives to pursue all means to  
> prevent war with Iran, including legislation prohibiting the president  
> from attacking Iran without Congressional authorization.
>
> Local progressives, many from the Anti-War Anti-Racism Effort, jammed  
> the annual City of Champaign Township meeting Tuesday and easily had  
> more than enough votes for the questions on the March 18 primary  
> ballot.
>
> All audience members who live in the township and who registered  
> beforehand were able to cast a ballot in the meeting. Thirty-seven  
> residents voted, including several city council members who stayed on  
> after the council study session.
>
> The advisory question that was most hotly debated was the one over  
> City of Champaign Township. The township supplies general assistance  
> to needy clients, who are extremely poor and not receiving any other  
> form of governmental cash assistance. The township had been providing  
> $212 in cash per month plus emergency medical care, if needed. But due  
> to a looming budget crisis, township Supervisor Linda Abernathy was  
> forced on Feb. 1 to cut the level of assistance to $100 per month and  
> limit the program to just those who are unable to work due to illness  
> or disability. The change meant that 50 able-bodied recipients were  
> kicked off the program.
>
> Township voters last fall rejected a property tax increase of 5 cents  
> per $100 of assessed valuation, which would have generated an  
> additional $500,000 for the township. The township currently has an  
> overall tax rate of 3.7 cents per $100.
>
> Abernathy has asked council members, who also act as the town board,  
> to consider making a loan or grant to the township to enable her to  
> avoid the deep cuts.
>
> During debate Tuesday, former Champaign Mayor Dannel McCollum called  
> general assistance "a flawed method of welfare" and argued it would be  
> "an embarrassment" to put the question on the ballot. But Karen Medina  
> of Champaign said the question put before voters last fall was hard to  
> understand. "This referendum has clear wording," she said. "If the  
> people do not want the city to help, the city council will be told  
> this clearly."
>
> City council member Ken Pirok argued that the question of whether the  
> council should assist the township will be debated in coming weeks and  
> that the ballot question will be moot by the time it reaches voters.
>
> The question was placed on the ballot with 31 "yes" votes, 5 "no"  
> votes and 1 person not voting.
>
> The question calling for the repeal or amendment of the Military  
> Commissions Act of 2006 was placed on the ballot by a 34-2 vote, with  
> one person not voting.
>
> The act authorized the president to establish military commissions to  
> try unlawful enemy combatants, and prevents defendants from invoking  
> the Geneva Conventions as a source of rights during commission  
> proceedings. The law contains a provision stripping detainees of the  
> right to file habeas corpus petitions in federal court questioning the  
> legality of their imprisonment.
>
> The act also allows hearsay evidence to be admitted during  
> proceedings, so long as the presiding officer determines it to be  
> reliable. The law also addresses permissible interrogation methods and  
> clarifies what actions would subject interrogators to liability under  
> the existing War Crimes Act.
>
> Champaign resident Conrad Wetzel compared the act to McCarthyism,  
> saying it "also makes an assault on the basic rights of all citizens."
>
> The question about cutting war funding and occupation of Iraq drew  
> comments from the current and former Champaign mayors.
>
> Schweighart, who moderated the meeting, referred to the question as  
> "cut and run."
>
> McCollum said the war had lost public support and that all the  
> justifications for the war offered by the Bush administration had  
> proven false. "It is worse than Vietnam," he said. "We are not just  
> destroying a country. We are destabilizing an entire region."
>
> The vote to put the question on the ballot was 33-2, with two people  
> not voting.
>
> THE QUESTIONS
>
> – Shall the voters of the City of Champaign Township ask the township  
> trustees to restore the level of general assistance funding by  
> actively pursuing any and all means available to them in order to  
> preserve the health and well being of individuals, children, families  
> and adults living in extreme poverty in our township?
>
> – Shall the voters of City of Champaign Township call upon their  
> elected representatives in Congress to pursue all available means to  
> limit military funding in Iraq to only what is required to bring all  
> U.S. troops home safely?
>
> – Shall the voters of City of Champaign Township call upon their  
> elected representatives in Congress to do all in their power to repeal  
> or amend the Military Commissions Act in order to restore the U.S.  
> Constitutional right of habeas corpus and to uphold internationally  
> recognized rules of law, thereby preventing the cruel and inhuman  
> treatment and the arbitrary and indefinite detention for all detainees  
> held by the U.S. government?
>
> In Cunningham Township, voters are being asked the same questions as  
> in City of Champaign Township about cutting funding for the Iraq war  
> and detainees' rights. They are also being asked a third question:
>
> – Shall the voters call upon their elected representatives in Congress  
> to pursue all available means to prevent war with Iran, including  
> passing legislation that would explicitly prohibit the president from  
> attacking Iran without Congressional authorization?
>  Find this article at:
>
> http://www.news-gazette.com/news/2007/04/11/ 
> advisory_questions_to_be_on_08_ballots
JAN Kruse
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