The
Voice
January 12, 2012
3
Accounts continue of Occupy Wall Street protests in 2011 The television news has broadcasts in the evening been covering a series of demonstrations in New York City by a group called Occupy Wall Street (OWS), based in Zuccotti Park in the Wall Street financial district. The first protest was September 17, 2011, and by October 9 similar demonstrations either were ongoing or had been held in 70 major cities and more than 600 communities in the U.S.. Other Occupy protests modeled after Occupy Wall Street have occurred in more than 900 cities worldwide. The protests were initiated by the Canadian activist group Adbusters. They are mainly protesting social and economic inequality, corporate greed, corruption, and influence over government, particularly from the financial services sector, and lobbyists. The protesters' slogans read: “We are the 99%” referring to the difference in wealth and income growth in the U.S. between the wealthiest one percent and the rest of the population. Barry Paddock and Helen Kennedy of the New
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Chronic medical at senior center Tuesdays, starting January 17 and going through through February 21, from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., the Oswego Senior Center, 156 E. Washington Street, Oswego, will hold a program for those who have a chronic medical problem that is affecting the way they live. The program is free, and taught by trained leaders, with health conditions, on how to set goals and make a plan to improve health and life. The program will be on how to find practical ways to deal with pain and fatigue. Discover better nutrition and exercise choices, understand new treatment choices and learn better ways to talk with your doctor and family about your health. Check www.oswegoseniorcenter.org or call Sandi at 630-554-5602, or by E-mail at andypastore@att.net for more information. —Oswego Senior Center
Volunteers needed for adult literacy Waubonsee Community College’s Adult Literacy Project is seeking volunteers to tutor adult students in reading, writing, and speaking English, as well as math and other basic skills. All training and materials are free. The Waubonsee Adult Literacy Project at the college’s Aurora Campus at 18 S. River Street, will offer a tutor training program that will meet Saturday, Jan. 21 and Saturday, Jan. 28 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.. Prospective tutors must complete both sessions before working with adults one-on-one or in a classroom environment. Tutor applications are available online at www.waubonsee.edu/adultliteracy or by calling 630-801-7900, ext. 4221. —Stephanie Wennmacher Waubonsee Community College Marketing and Communications Manager
Vooice
One
Donna Crane
York Daily News reported on an incident involving well known actress Ellen Barkin and supporters of the OWS movement when they moved police barricades to the center of Zuccotti Park to celebrate the new year. A video was shot and posted on the Internet on a recent Sunday of a cop shoving Barkin after she got caught up in the chaos surrounding a New Year’s police roundup of OWS protesters. Barkin said: “I have never been afraid of a New York policeman until last night. What I saw was random and senseless arrests and unnecessarily threatening behavior.” Barkin, 57, said she was walking home when she saw mass arrests at 13th Street and 5th Avenue. “It was upsetting, and looked unnecessarily aggressive and random,” she tweeted. Barkin said she tried to make her way to a young woman who had been put into a police van and was screaming for help. “She was not a protester. Was not drunk. She was walking home,” Barkin said on Twitter. “A video shot by Barkin’s companion, 26-yearold actor Sam Levinson, shows a police officer herding Barkin from the street to the sidewalk and then pushing her by the shoulders. “Take your (expletive) hands off me,” she can be heard saying furiously. “Then she tweeted again: “Is it a crime 2 stand in the street in NY? WTF is going on here?” “Barkin is a prolific Twitterer who is profanely outspoken in her support of the Occupy movement. “The NYPD had no immediate comment Sunday night on her tirade. “Barkin’s tweets became more angry as the night went on: “I cannot believe what I am seeing. U pro-
tect nothing. U ARE the violence in my city.” Paddock and Kennedy wrote: The police arrested 68 people as they shut down the Occupy Wall Street march near Union Square. The arrests came after protesters in Zuccotti Park pulled down the metal police barricades sealing off the public park and retook it while the NYPD’s focus was uptown at Times Square. “They danced on a giant mound of the barricades, waved signs and projected a message in light, ‘Whose year? Our year!!’ until police regrouped and shut them down. “Most of the 68 arrests were for disorderly conduct, though some protesters were also hit with charges of trespassing and obstructing governmental administration. “In the tussle, Zachary Miller, 28, of Berkeley, Calif., allegedly attacked a cop with a pair of scissors. He was charged with assaulting an officer. “The officer was treated at Bellevue Hospital. Protesters said the police responded by pepper spraying them. “Miller, a Berkeley graduate, is an organizer of the so-called Rolling University, a California student movement fighting to make education more accessible to the poor. “His rabble-rousing predates Occupy Wall Street: He was one of two people arrested in early 2010 for inciting a riot after a melee at UC Berkley in which students broke windows at a Subway restaurant and set a garbage bin on fire. “He was initially denied bail because of three outstanding probation violations, according to an account in the Daily Californian. “Miller and his co-defendant were found not guilty by a jury after a two-week trial in November 2010, the paper reported. “In March 2011, Miller helped organize a dramatic demonstration at Berkeley in which eight students chained themselves to a fourth-floor ledge on the facade of a campus building. They were wearing adult diapers and were in it for the long haul, but came down after a day after the university agreed to some of their demands.” Paddock and Kennedy wrote.
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Holiday Magic with Miss Merry Christmas, Jack Frost By Carter Crane The Christmas holiday season traditionally follows Thanksgiving Day closely. In communities around the Midwest, turning on the lights in the chilly air is a ceremony taken seriously, even with a wink. More than 1,000 observers and participants squeezed into plaza area outside of North Island Center in Aurora, across from the Paramount Theatre, last Friday, to partici-
pate in Holiday Magic, the city government’s welcome to Santa and the holidays. (See page 3 for expanded holiday happenings in many communities.) Singing carols, viewing live reindeer, consuming cookies and hot cocoa, and lighting the 38-foot Christmas tree at the plaza outside of the North Island Center were part of the annual event. Santa arrived on the Aurora fire truck from the Fire Department Museum and with him were Miss
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Merry Christmas and Jack Frost, the children selected by the readers of The Voice in a photo contest to turn on the Christmas tree. There was no parade this year, and the fireworks, because of extra expense, were canceled. The relatively clear, but chilly, evening, starting at 6 p.m., still allowed a large crowd
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