By USHA ANCHA 0
CgtiGIN •
LANSI O-Double bunking,
elimin tion of everal recreational
programs for prisoners and hort
tamng can prove to be dangero
combination for the tate.
This i the contention of Fred
Parks, executive director of the
Michi n Corrections Organization,
a pri on guard union.
"One of the e day omething i
going to happen. Somebody i going
to get killed," he aid.
Parks thin the proposed budget
allocation for tie Department of
Conectio for the fiscal year 1992
i in dequate nd contend that
double bunking hort staffing and
elimination of recreational programs
are "three worst things" the tate can
have for its pri ons' operation.
ABOUT 17 MILLION ha
been proposed for the DOC, which is
an incre of 1.1 percent over the
fIScal year 1991.
"It i not ufficient to run the
I A."_�""'i'f'od_,.._U1me.nt like it bould be run,"
r -s
Ackno led ing there I over­
crowding in the pri 0 ,Gail Light,
a public information pecialist in the
DOC, aid "we have a long-range
diversion plan under which certain
kinds of prisoners would be moved
to boot camps."
"I'm concerned about double
bunking," aid Sen. Jack Welborn,
R-Montcalm. He supports passage
of two Senate bil enabli
to t fer sta
than five ye
cam .
The progr m c n ve the
department $50 million, he aid.
I
pri on rs who cannot be man ged by
the community, he aid.
"(Unfortunate) incident can
occur any tim , any pi ceo However,
when you follow them up, you will
find it i because omebody failed to
follow (the laid down) policy or pro­
cedure," Ught aid.
S e PRISONS, A·
AN AFfERNOON OF GOSPEL - The October 13th gospel concert at New Bethel Baptist Church drew
approxlamately 1,000 people. (photo by N. ott) .
Lawmaker grapple,
with healthcare
By KHRISTINE FLORANTE lion.
Cg/ull N.ws S""iu
lANSINO-Whit'estate legislators
aoo insurance officials agree that a
health policy fully funded by the
government i impractical, they dis­
agree on whether the government
should intervene at all to lower medi­
cal insurance costs.
A Senate Committee on Affor­
dable he8lth Care has been examin­
ing a 28-bill package since June 26.
The committee presented half of the
package to the Senate and will
present the other half this week.
The proposal includes bills that
would offer basic medical coverage
to families and individuals, establish
a Single Business Tax credit to busi­
nesses that supply insurance and put
limits on malpractice awards.
The proposal would cost $75 mil-
"THE PURPOSE IS to provide
affordable basic health care to
people who currently can't afford it
... the working poor," John Arundel,
administrative assistant to Sen. Paul
Wartner, R-Portage, aid.
Wartner wrote two bills in the
package Senate Bill 416 call for an
income tax credit for individuals
who buy health irsurance through
the state government, Individuals
would pay $100 a month for basic
coverage and familie would pay
$150. Individuals would be reim­
bursed for up to $800.
Arundel said basic coverage in­
cludes emergency ho pital vi its,
visits to one's doctor, prescriptions,
mammograms and ho pice care.
The bills especiall y would benefit
farmers and others who pay for all
their p city nd that ituation will
continue for the next two to three
yea , Ught aid.
Dive ion i a olution to a lot of
the e problems," he id.
Double bunking e duplica-
tion ofadministrative taff nd trans­
fer of prisoners to boot camps would
facllita the tate to h ve only tho e
medical expenses themselves.
Senate Bill 417 offers a tax credit
to businesses that provide insurance
to their employees. Arundel said the
measure would help small busi­
nesses that want to provide insurance
but currently cannot afford it.
Arundel said Wartner views
universal health care, which is fully
subsidized by the government,
"not workable and not practical."
S GRAPPLE, A·10
10 CUT
Making the witch:
rom
o r
By NATHANIEL SCOTT
stllqWrM.,
DETROIT-Th re i a chill in
th ir nd it' not n arily
rom th weather. And fall
rapidly
m 0 v e
toward th
cold of
winter,
many are
wondering
how the
9O,0Q0-plus
former
General As-
i t a n c e
recipient
will urvive
without
fin nee for
food, bel­
ter and
clothing.
However,
for orne,
the 1t ',ion
I not a
bleak a
orne may ttl
think, be-
cau e it is
possible for orne to go from tate
welfare to federal welfare: Sup­
plemental Security Income.
Marie A. Ander on, ad-
min e
di bility
while the
SSIclaimi
pending,
the in­
dividual
immedi­
ate I y
qualifie
for State
Di bi- lity
A i lance
(SDA).
Ander­
e -
that
t lea t
40,000 of
the former
General
As i ranee
recipients reside in the Wayne
County area. And of tho e, over
S a AID, A·10
People of Color ba
environmental raci
By GWEN McKINNEY
S".cilll to Micltl,tuI CitI;.1I
Janice Dickerson said she knows
how Native Americans must have
felt being displaced by powerful for­
ces who would use the Indian's an­
cestrallands in the name of greed and
exploitation.
Dickerson, 40, still regrets leav­
ing her home. It was land that she
said had been held by her people
since Reconstruction. As part of a
$1.4 million settlement from Geor­
gia Gulf, Dickerson and some 20
, other familie in Revilletown, .
Loui iana were brought out in 1988,
e capingemi ions of vinyl-chlorid
.and other t xins which Dickerson
said polluted the air, land and water.
"I was between rock and a hard
place. I could have tayed to fight,
continuing to subject my family to
petrochemical and w te industrie
to operate with virtually no monitor­
ing and little enforcement. Dicker-
n and other organize insist that
cancer Alley i a graphic and sym­
bolic tatementon the inj�tice being
confronted by the new, emerging en­
vironmental movement.
What f being called 8 w tershed
moment will be marked in late Oc- •
tober when Dickerson and other
Loui iana organizers join everal
hundred le der from African
American, Latino, Native American
and Asian American communities in
the nation' capital for the First Na­
tional People of Color Le dership
, Summit on the Environment.
Rev. Benjamin F. Chavi , execu­
tive director of the Uni ted Church of
Christ Commission of R cial Justice
Sa RACISM, A·10.
I
unregulated and deadly toxins. Or I
could leave, accepting a monetary
settlement, but forced from my an­
cestral home;" say Dickerson.
"Even though we won the suit, we
till lost."
Dickerson i now organizer,
working with other familie along an
SO-mile strip between New Orleans
and Baton Rouge known as "Cancer
Alley." It i an area inhabited by
poor people and the de cendants of
lave, It' al 0 home to orne 136
petrochemical indu tries and oil
refineries and cores of waste dump
nd incinerators that annually
release more than 900 million
pounds of toxins into the air, ground
and water.
IN LOUISIANA, TATE and
federal regulator allow the
