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Monthly Archives: August 2008

Daily Bead: August 22, 2008

Good morning, Whitewater

There are no public meetings scheduled for the City of Whitewater today.

On this day in our state’s history, in 1920, the Wisconsin Historical Society reports that “native Milwaukean, Arlie Schardt, won the bronze medal in the 3,000-meter run at the Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium.”

The National Weather Service, predicts a high of around 85 with a nearly even chance of thunderstorms. The Farmers’ Almanac holds a prediction of showers for the Ohio River Valley, then fair and pleasant.

Center for Small Government: “Small Government is Beautiful”

Carla Howell is a libertarian activist and president of the Center for Small Government. A renaissance woman, she’s also a singer-songwriter. She’s successfully placed initiatives on the ballot in her native Massachusetts to end the state income tax, and her efforts have won significant backing – in 2004, 45% of voters in her state supported the initiative.

The CSG has a compelling motto: “Small government is beautiful.”

Her work shows two things, among others – dedicated citizens can make a difference, and gender doesn’t matter. She’s thought about what she believes, researched the law, understands her state’s politics, and then acted on that effort.

Many places still have a ceiling beyond which women cannot easily rise for ‘serious’ political work. Howell ignored those barriers, joined with libertarian Michael Cloud as co-founder of the Center, and her state is better for it.

The ‘Neo Prohibitionists’ and Science

Earlier this week, I posted on a proposal from over 100 college presidents to begin debate on lowering the drinking age. The proposal was only to begin debate, but that alone is too much for those ‘Neo Prohibitionists,’ like those at Mothers Against Drunk Driving, who argue against a lower age on the basis of ‘honoring science.’

(In this clinical age, all arguments are wrapped in claims of science, data, and studies, however nebulously presented. The original temperance crusaders were not as academically inclined as our era requires.)

Brandon Arnold of Cato delves deeper than a superficial citation, and finds that MADD relies on a flawed study that ignores progress against drunk driving before and apart from drinking age of 21 years. You can bet that MADD will push its flawed study, and argue in the most shrill and emotional way, against any change in the law.

If anti-alcohol crusaders really want to honor science, they should look more carefully at the studies they cite.

Hat tip to Brandon Arnold at Cato, for the term ‘neo prohibitionists’ and parsing studies carefully.

Wisconsin as a (Library) Police State

The Smoking Gun website reports that twenty year old Heidi Dalibor was arrested, handcuffed, and photographed for a mug shot because she had two long overdue books from the Grafton, Wisconsin library.

It’s nearly funny until you consider that arrest over two library books is an absurd waste of police time and effort.

A serious department would be embarrassed to undertake that effort, but at least one person wastefully and ignorantly assumed that it was a good idea.

Ms. Dalibor’s story and agreeable mug shot are available at

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/
years/2008/0821081books1.html

Daily Bread: August 21, 2008

Good morning, Whitewater

The City of Whitewater has no public meetings scheduled for today.

Today in Wisconsin history, in 1851, the Wisconsin Historical Society reports that

On this date John McCaffrey was executed, the last execution to be carried out under Wisconsin law. McCaffrey received the death penalty for murdering his wife, Bridget McCaffrey. McCaffrey was tried in the county court in May 1851. The jury found him guilty of first-degree murder. This murder trial was the first major trial to be held in Kenosha. 3,000 citizens turned out to witness McCaffrey’s execution by hanging….McCaffrey’s execution revived a strong statewide campaign to abolish the death penalty. Two years later, in 1853, the Death Penalty Repeal Act was signed into law.

The National Weather Service, predicts a high of around 78 with a chance of thunderstorms. The Farmers’ Almanac predicts showers for the Ohio River Valley, then fair and pleasant, part of an unchanged, multi-day prediction.

Voters Want Libertarian in Presidential Debates, Major Parties Not So Agreeable

Over at the Los Angeles Times, one of that paper’s bloggers reports on a study that shows that about 55% of voters would like to see the Libertarian candidate for president in the upcoming presidential debates.

Unsurprisingly, the number drops when filtered to include only partisan Republicans or Democrats.

Those major parties have a good thing going – why let anyone else in?

Here’s the link to the LAT post –

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/08/bob-barr.html

The Police and Fire Commission Meeting for August 20, Part 5

5. Why not televise? Months ago, I came out against televised PFC meetings, on the theory that television would inhibit complaints. It was a faint hope.

Candidly, it’s the reputation of leadership that makes reliance on any supposedly confidential process dubious.

I’ll ask a question: Have police leaders ever sat in on citizen-commissioner interviews of police candidates? If even those interviews have not been confidential to citizen-commissioners, then a complaints process in that forum would be unreliable.

Go ahead and show the community the public workings of the PFC public meetings as other commissions routinely and confidently do.

The Police and Fire Commission Meeting for August 20, Part 4

4. Why so few meetings? If one looks at the schedule of PFC meetings, they meet regularly – if they do – only quarterly.

Many other Commissions meet more frequently. Is their work more important?

Notes from one meeting are not approved until the next – an entire season goes by before they are approved.

On the bright side, the PFC agenda does have a colorful new logo.

The agenda is available at

http://www.ci.whitewater.wi.us/Your_Government/Agendas/policefcagenda.html

The Police and Fire Commission Meeting for August 20, Part 3

3. City Manager’s Oversight? Our small city has a council-manager form of government, and the appointed city manager is Kevin Brunner.

On the City of Whitewater website, the city lists the dozens of functions of the city manager. Among that number one sees that he claims oversight of the Police and Fire Commission.

Should that be so, one would expect that he would assure that the PFC meets the same notice and procedural standards as, for example, commissions whose meetings are actually listed in the local paper.

Why the exception? Why so long – four years of the current administration – without consistency now?

The Police and Fire Commission Meeting for August 20, Part 2

2. Notice. Does the Register not publish a notice for the PFC the way it does for other committees? If the notice were faxed on 8/8, as it says, why does it not appear with other legal notices in the Register’s 8/14 issue for meetings the week of 8/20?

The Common Council and Planning Commission notices appear – do PFC members not care as much about public notice as members of those other public bodies?

Other commissions often have two weeks’ notice – do their members care more about notice?

Surely our PFC should meet the same standard as other commissions, not a lesser one.

The Police and Fire Commission Meeting for August 20, Part 1

Whitewater’s Police and Fire Commission will meet tonight. Here’s the first of some quick questions.

1. Who prepares the agenda? By Wisconsin statute, the PFC oversees the police department, not the other way around. One who drafts a meeting agenda typically controls the meeting.

The current PFC agenda, like others before it, says that it was “Sent to PFC members.” They should be sending it to the Municipal Building – did this agenda and those before it come from the department, not citizens?

It’s easy to say that it’s drafted by citizens, but sent by the city. The agendas are so alike a common municipal draftsman is more probable.

Daily Bread: August 20, 2008

Good morning, Whitewater

The City of Whitewater has one public meeting scheduled for today. There will be a meeting of the Police and Fire Commission at 7 p.m. in the municipal building, in the City Manager’s Conference Room.

The agenda for the meeting includes the following items:

I. Call to Order, Roll Call 
II. Approval of minutes of May 14, 2008 minutes. 
III. Citizen Comments 
IV. Old Business ? None 
V. New Business 
A. Downtown Parking Enforcement 
B. Fall Resident Education 
C. PFC Support of Department/Share Accreditation 
D. Member Training 
E. Freedom of Expression Resolution 
F. Chief’s Report 
1. Accreditation Status 
2. Personnel Updates 
a) Community Service Officer and Dispatcher Hiring 
b) Field Training of New Patrol Officer
c) Probationary Status of Patrol Officers
VI. Adjournment 

Today in Wisconsin history, in 1938, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society, a “wind storm wrecked the Janesville Canning plant, nearly ripping off the entire third story that housed the cream corn department.”

The National Weather Service, predicts a high of around 85 with patchy fog. The Farmers’ Almanac predicts showers for the Ohio River Valley, then fair and pleasant. That’s as close as they come to Wisconsin.

The Debate on a Lower Drinking Age

I am unsure if America would benefit if states could lower the drinking age to 18 without federal penalty, but I am sure the current restrictions are a failure.

Recently, a group of college presidents from among 100 of America’s finest schools called for a debate on lowering the drinking age to 18.

Note that these are serious, accomplished men and women who recognize that current efforts are a revolving-door failure.

Many towns benefit practically from fines from the drinking that they condemns so vociferously. It’s a cottage industry.

Often no one succeeds meaningfully in reducing year over year underage drinking.

We say it’s wrong, but if it did not continue, we’d be at a financial loss.

An entire apparatus has sprung up, a handsome set of municipal machinery, to enforce these laws.

It produces no permanent gains in reducing underage drinking, but lots of show about combatting the problem.

Here’s a link to the college presidents’ call for a debate on the matter:

http://www.nysun.com/national/college-presidents-want-lower-drinking-age/84123/

Planning Commission Meeting for August 18, Part 4

Talent and experience raise daunting expectations.

Watching the Planning Commission, one feels that they have all the ability that success requires. If they should fall short, it won’t be for lack of ability or commitment.

A dozen outside events might obstruct their efforts; still, they have as strong a roster as any commission in the city, and better than many.

I am no advocate of government planning, but I see that even skilled planners would have trouble in a political culture so odd and distorted as Whitewater’s.

Whether any group of citizens, no matter how dedicated, can make headway in Whitewater is a question yet unanswered.