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Thursday, September 17, 2009
Peace Park renovations on the way, final designs approved By Andrea Parins THE DAILY CARDINAL
Madison’s Urban Design Commission approved its final improvement plans for Lisa Link Peace Park Wednesday. The major features include an ATM, Peace Pole and plentiful seating. The architect on the project, Ken Saiki Design, investigated several design themes to achieve a more grassroots expression of their idea. The Peace Pole was chosen under the category of symbolic commitment to peace at the world, national and community level. The Peace Pole will consist of an organic-looking wooden pole with the message, “May Peace
Prevail on Earth” in four different languages on four sides, centered along the entrance to State Street. One of the largest concerns was the addition of an ATM. A 24-hour surcharge-free ATM was added to the design by the Business Improvement District to help draw foot traffic to the area, and in turn gain an annual income of up to $5,000 in the area. This added revenue source would allow for the building to be open longer to better serve its purpose as a tourist hub. However, the panhandling ordinance of the city states that panhandling is not permitted within 50 feet of an ATM
machine, a common activity performed by the park dwellers. “There is a perception that this plan is solely is to discourage panhandling, and I don’t support that motivation in any way,” said an opposing commission member. “Now we’re looking at an ATM that I was not thrilled with and a social engineering aspect that could be very controversial.” Tom Link, son of Lisa Link, served as a planning committee member on the project for 2.5 years. “My mother would’ve been comfortable with the type of people that use the park, but a lot of people can’t deal with homelessness and poverty,” Link said.
Act would recognize same-sex marriages Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) introduced a bill Tuesday calling for the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The bill, entitled the Respect for Marriage Act, would ensure that all valid marriages, including those between same-sex couples, would be respected under federal law. “Our legislation will extend to
same-sex, legally married couples the same federal rights and recognition now offered to heterosexual married couples, nothing more, nothing less,” Baldwin said in a statement. “Repealing DOMA is a necessary step toward full equality for LGBT Americans.” DOMA, enacted in 1996, stipulates that no state be required to recognize a relationship between two persons of the same-sex as marriage,
even if it is considered marriage in another state. It additionally defines marriage, as recognized by the federal government, as between one man and one woman. Polis has openly criticized DOMA, saying in a statement, “[It] is a valueless tradition that undermines the spirit of love and commitment that couples share and sends the wrong message to society. It is time for its repeal.”
Glover officially suspended from UW men’s basketball team UW-Madison freshman Jeremy Glover was dismissed from the men’s basketball team Tuesday after his arrest last week. According to a UW-Madison athletics release, Walter Dickey, chair of the Student-Athlete Discipline Committee and the Athletic Board made the
announcement stating that Glover violated the student athlete discipline policy. Glover along with Diamond Taylor, also from the men’s basketball team, was arrested Sept. 6 for burglarizing money and possessions from a UW-Madison dormitory and a residence on Langdon St.
Glover and Taylor, both UWMadison freshmen, were also arrested for charges of underage drinking. As of last week, Glover, a walk-on from Haymarket, Va., and Taylor, a recruit from Bolingbrook, Ill., were suspended from the team but the case was still under investigation.
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St. Mary’s Hospital follows suit and suspends all of its student volunteers By Ryan Hebel THE DAILY CARDINAL
Madison’s St. Mary’s Hospital is immediately suspending its 170 student volunteers after five experienced flu -like symptoms, though none had volunteered while contagious, according to Volunteer Coordinator JoAnne Johnson. T h e suspension includes 90 college and 80 high school students, and follows UW Hospital’s similar suspension of 350 student volunteers on Friday, though UW Hospital officials had not reported any H1N1 among its volunteers. Both hospitals were likely reacting to the mounting number of infections on UW-Madison’s campus. On Tuesday, University Health Services announced 543 people reported “flu-like” symptoms between September 1 and 12.
“We figure this is really kind of the beginning,” Johnson said. “With the volume [of volunteers] we had, we felt that our patients were our priority and that it was important ... to err more on the side of caution.” Approximately 600 people volunteer at St. Mary’s and contribute about 1,700 hours per week, Johnson said, with about 450 of those coming from students. St. Mary’s Registered Nurse and UW grad student John Blabaum said he didn’t know the suspension details but disagreed with “blanket suspensions” for all student volunteers. “I also think it would be unfair to suspend student volunteers but not the student employees,” Blabaum said. Neither Middleton VA Medical Center nor Meritor Hospital has announced similar suspensions.