• LAC P nthers, org -
-nized in response to police brutal
: ity, ran food program nd h 1
:for ghetto youths nd radicalized
:the civil rights movement with i
-call for Black liberation.
• Robinson's lawyers d argued
:during the is-week tri I that
: Robinson ot ·Newton in If-de
·fense fter Newton pulled mall
=rcvolver and fired t him. Only
: Robinson' gun was found, and ju
: rors rejected the argument.
•
ngler reneges
· '
on promise to
� evive CCC jobs
·
: By NANCY DONNELLY
: C.pIi.t New$ Sel'Vice
LANSING - When Gov. John
Engler cut a job-training program
thatprovidedservieesfor tateparks
and wildlife, he said it would be
• resurrected under the Department
of Labor, but the labor director y
· he' not working on it.
Lowell Perry said the Labor
Department' division for job train
ing; the Job Training Partnership
Act, does not provide for the Michi
gan Civilian Conservation Corps,
which had been paid for under the
Department of Natural Resources.
Engler cut funding for the
MCCC for the 1m fiscal year.
Press Secretary John Truscott said
the governor intends to wrap the
corps and other service programs
up into one job-training program in
the Department of Labor.
TIlE GOVERNOR has been
criticized by MCCC supporters who
claim they haven't seen anything
done to reinstate the program.
The MCCC was formed seven
years ago for welfare recipients who
participated in ucb projects as
planting trees, building trail bridges
at state parks and constructing state
park handicap-acces facilities.
Some MCCC camps were residen
tial.
PERRY SAID the ITP A fund
ing does not provide for the corps
because the MCCC is partly a resi
dential program, while the JTPA
specially does not deal with resi
dential job training. The ITP A
, coordinates worker training and
placement activities and develops
• programs administered through lo
cal government and private indus-.
try council .
Doug Site ,an executive assi -
tant in the governor' office for job-
· training, says he's the only person
: working on the tbe MCCC. His
• personal goal is to get a reduced
: form of the corps in place by next
� summer, and be's working hard on
: coming up with tbe money.
"I'm looking at an environmen-
• tal education service corps for sum
mer, with maybe 150 kids," be said.
· I believe itcan be done or I wouldn't
· waste time on it."
Petty reminisced about the job-
· training camp institutedduringthe
Great Depression of the 19305 which
the MCCC was modeled after, but.
be didn't see the same legacy for the
corps.
"I remember the Conservation
Corp camps before the war that
helped build the bridges and roads
of the tate," be said. "That was a
going thing. But the monies in
volved (with tbe MCCC) aren't that
large, when you think about it. So
it won't have big impact."
Perry said be is confident that 8
program like the MCCC will return
"in some fasbion." After their next
meeting be will be able to y "how
expansive, or bow soon."
00
o
I
tb
food tamp i very po ible. "If you
put it into orne kind of currency that
everyb dy lse idling with, t r
i nothing to pure e," Smith aid.
What it com down to is obey
ing 0 th law. It i against th law
to ell food tamp in exchange for
cr
di
ard
y
available in les -developed rural ar
Oettle said it' might be tough to get
everything hoo ed up by September of
1992.
" HAT WOULD beareally optimis
tic time frame if it is a whole new system,"
he.said. "I think it's doable if you hook into
something already existing."
Besides making the sy tems more effi
cient, electronic transfer would cut down
on food-stamp fraud, Roth contended.
"On of the problems we have - in
urban areas particularly - is that people
are selling their food stamps, "Oettle aid.
Recipients ould no longer be able to
sell off tamps under an electronic system
because there simply wouldn't be any
stamp as such, Roth said.
"A CL in lieu of having coupons
would have aplastic card-much like a bank
card " Roth said. The card would be run
through a machine at the store and no further
transaction would be needed.
"This is an. item that is high on our
agenda," he said.
"I KNOW the governor and the director
are interested in getting rid of food stamps,"
he aid, while noting the Michigan's current
tight budget. "New wrinkles cost money."
Both Roth and Oettle said one of the
difficulties would be making the technology
" OW that every per-
on on as i tance, that receiv
food tamp, i n't the ca e of
trafficking," Sanders . d.
How the plans advanc depends on the aid. "They are interested inpo ibly looking
availabilityoffederalfund . Roth explained at om pilots if they have omenewwrinldes
th U.S. D partment of Agriculture has to to them" he aid. "And we are optimi tic
approve any pos ible projects. • about developing such a pilot here."
Ken Oettle, acting director of office sys
terns and technical ervices at the DSS, said
though an electronic system would have
many advantages, it might be hard to garner
the funds necessary to make the switch.
Oettle aid several studies he has worked on
have shown it will be difficult to keep initial
co its down.
By STEVE BYRNE
CtJpClIl/ N� Service
LANSING - Needy Michigan r iden
may buy food with credit cards instead of
food tamps as early as September of 1992,
aid the deputy director 0 f the Department of
Social Servic .
Ed Roth said plans are being considered
that would allow for the electronic transfer of
food credits to the hungry.
"THE everal pilot programs
around the country but not in Michigan,"
Roth aid. .. At the present time they've
indicated they don't want to approve any new
pilot that are exactly like any other pilots
aero th country."
Currently food stamps are either di trib
uted through the mail or at i suance ites
where tellers can hook into a DSS sys tern that
tell wh ther a person is eligible or not. In a
new program, there would be no actual tamp
involved in the transaction.
Receiving funding would hinge on com
ing up wah a different kind of y tern, Roth
By STEVE BYRNE
.dumping
•
rne
He added that the governor has
not endorsed Welborn's bill, and will
more likely go on the recommenda
tion of Commerce Director Art Ellis,
which could come some time in the
next month.
While Ellis said the Welborn bill
is moving in the right direction, he
added the Department of Commerce
needs more time to study all the
possibilities and potential repercus
sions.
"THE DEPARTMENT of
Commerce is doing an independent
review of the liquor operation with
the Liquor Control Comntission and
we hope to have that done within the
month," Ellis said. "There was no
question Sen. Welborn was headed
in the right direction, but we just
need more time to finish our own
analysis."
Ellis is unsure what would hap
pen once the study is comp ed, but
aid the responsibility would have to
fall into the hands of the Legislature
to change the way liquor is handled.
"Perhaps Sen. Welborn's bill
might be the perfect bill to do that
if it is modified," he said.
Welborn's bill currently its in
co mmittee, awaiting approval. But
most agree there are several sticky
i ues that need to be addressed be
fore privatization is possible.
For instance, under the Welborn
bill, more than 450 state employees
would lose their jobs. And while
many would likely receive early re
tirement or job transfers, there is a
large amountofconcern among work
ers at the Liquor Control Commis-
ion.
"In all probability a 'fair number
of people would be laid off," said
Walter Keck, the commission's busi
ness m ager. "Obviously people
have concerns on how such a thing
would affect them."
Kec said the concern level is
running especially high because it is
obvious the administration i erious
about the privatization option.
"Thi is really the first bill that
has gotten introduced and the firs �
time the discussion bas gotten thi
intense. So obviously there is a lot of
concern, " he said.
Keck predicted there will be a lot
of talk before anything is decided.
"You are going to have ome
fairly heavy philosophical arguments
in addition to economic arguments,"
he said.
On the economic side, Welborn
said his bill is designed to be revenue
neutral - the amount of taxes col
lected on private liquor sales will be
equal to the profit taken in by the
current system. Welborn said the
one-time sale of the state's stock
could produce as much as $25 mil- •
lion, a figure Ellis confirms.
But will privatization make the .
operation more efficient? Rich
Studley, vice president of govem- .
ment relations for the Michigan
Chamber of Commerce, thinks so.
"We're still in the process of re
viewing the legislation but it's mov- �
ing in the right- direction," Studley
said. "Obviously there are some more
details and questions that need to be
answered along the way, but we sup- It
port the concept.
"I think the choice is between
having a government operation that
consume tax dollars providing a er- .
vice or having the private sector pay
tax dollars. I thing most Michigan
residents would ide with the private
ector," he said. .
THERE HAS been ome con
, cern privatization would cause the
price of booze to skyrocket because
..
the prices would not be regulated.
Welborn' bill does baveaprice floor,
in order to protect small hops from
being run out of business by larger
chains.
Studley said there is no way of
telling what would happen to liquor •
prices."1 think that will depend a lot
on 'the legislation," he said. "I would '"
say a (price increase) is not auto
matic."
Keck aid he was almo t certain
there would be price jumps.
..
•
LAN ING - Signs are increasing
that the state may indeed get out of
the liquor business - and that one
res ul t may be higher price fo r thirs ty
customers.
Sen. Jack Welborn, R-Parchment,
just introduced a bill aimed at getting
the tate out the liquor bu iness. In
addition, Gov. John Engler has asked
the Department of Commerce. which
heads the Liquor Control Cornmis-
ion, for a report de cribing
privatization options.
Under the current ystem, the
state wholesal all hard liquor \0
retailers, who are able to ell i at a
state-controlled price. Under the
plans like those in Welborn' bill, the
state would sell out its sto k and a
private whol aling company would
take over the di tribution of
Michigan's spirit.
Privatization would likely leave
the liguor distribution irnilar to the
one that ship beer and wine.
Proponents say the tate hould
not be in the liquor busine at all;
others argue 'it i a profitable venture
the tate can't afford to leave.
Nina Smith, Renaissance High chool tudent.exchange
greeting with community actlvl t Kwameatta at the tudent
pon ored Afrikan Marketplace held recently at the chool. The
Marketplace offered the community the opportunity to purcha e
African in pired arts and crafts. (photo by Houston Hudson).
Budget cut drop
double whammy
ADDI'llONALLY,tho eagainst
privatization ay more than 450 state
employe would be laid off if the
whole aling operation of the Liquor
Control Commission were elimi
nated.
"I look at the legitimate reasons
for government and elling alcohol
i n't one of them," Welborn aid,
adding that he spent about two years
drawing up tb bill. "Primarily, what
I want to do is get the government 0 ut
of the alcohol busines and allow
government to do what it is up po ed
to do - regulate, license and tax."
Engler pokesman John Truscott
aid the administration had imilar
philo ophic reasons for wanting to
100 at the privatization route. But
Truscott aid the inter t will con
tinu only if "it can av money and
vital ervi will be pr erved."
By NANCY DONNELLY
Caplia/ N� Service
building trail bridges and maintain
ing trails at tate parks and con
structing tate park handicap ace
facilities, visitor us faciliti and
camp sites. They were aU paid for
with Department of Natural Re
sources funds eliminated las t month
from the fiscal year 1992 budget by
Gov. John Engler.
"We're disappointed to ee the
MCCC go," aid Hank Zurburg,
sistant chief of state par for the
DNR. "Butwe'Umakeadjustments."
'LANSING - Michigan will suffer
two strikes in one blow with the
elimination of a job-trainiag pro
gram fOf welfare recipients that pro
videdservices forstate fish and wild
life management and recreational
facilities.
, The Michigan Civilian Conser-
vation Corps was a program designed
even years ago as a take-off onjob
training camps instituted during the
Great Depression of the 1930s.
Under the MCCC program, corps
memberspanicipeted in uchprojects
as tree planting and erosion control,
. ZURBURG AID some imme
diately noticeable problem for
See Budg t cut, Page A·l0