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Prepu cent Innerclty art dlrectln attention to the loftier thin of life. (photo by D. Cooks)
City funding ough for
inner-city afterschool art cia
By DANNY COOKS
Corr •• poncNnt
Working with the Upjohn In­
stitute, the City has a paid artist,
Lazarus Bain, running an art class
for those 'other' children, White
said, "and what we're saying is fund
programs for at risk kids."
hopeless ituations. He said the
City of Kalamazoo should find
monies to continue the program.
Should we be concerned with art
programs for impoverished
youngsters when funds are hard to
come by for meals programs for the
homele? Yes, according to
White, as long as there is money for
art programs for other youngsters in
the City.
"The City's emphasis is on art
programs for middle class
youngsters but not 'at risk' children
of the inner city." White said these
art programs in the better part of
town claim to be for everybody but
no money is made available for
transportation. . "Transportation
lacking to huttle these inner-city
kids to the programs is a major clue
that impoverished kids aren't cared
about," he told the Michigan
Citizen. hovering over his no k of
artists at work, some a young as
two year old.
WHITE SAID emphasis should
not be on basketball exclusively in
the inner city. "Creativity demand
a working mind, physically activity
such as basketball does not. Thi
class is concerned with increasing
literacy skills, bolstering self-e -
teem, and increasing confidence-­
all this taking place in a positive
environment. "
By relieving some of the burden
on parent through afterschool
programs such as the art class,
White believe the program reduces
domestic violence. "It is a win-win
situation for everybody."
A make-shift poetry, art, and
creativity class which began with
seven elementary school students
eight weeks ago, but which now
boa ts nearly twenty children
anxious to be exposed to the arts has
ended due to lack of funding. Al­
though art supplies were donated
and instructors and poets volun­
teered their time and creative ener­
gy, space proved too costly.
"Thi is a volunteer effort by
people who are basically concerned
parents who want to have their
children involved in afterschool
programs which would get them out
of drug-infested environments,"
Larry White stressed. Community
.Service Worker for Kalamazoo
.County Human Development
'Bureau, While has a lot of empathy
. for at ri k kids and believes the cia s
wa an effort at breathing life into
'Tis the season to be careful
: By LAURA BLAKE
:Capltal NWf. Service
cracks in the chimney (which is
more often the case) the fire can
easily spread to the rest of the
house. .
"We've seen homes where there
is an opening in the flue where the
Chimney joins the house and it
caused the roof to catch on fire."
If you do get a fire in your chim­
ney, Sweeny said the best thing to
do is shut the doors of your wood
burner to cut off the fire's air suppl y
and call the fire department.
LANSING - "On the average, a
Christmas tree caught fire some­
where in Michigan every day
during the 1990 holiday eason, and
claimed the lives of seven of our
neighbors, friends and families,"
said State Fire Marshall Capt.
Wayde Schaefer.
While Christrna is a time for
'having fun and sharing time with
others, it also bring words of cau­
'tion from fire officials throughout
. the state.
"It seams like every year we
have something tragic happen,"
said one southwestern Michigan of­
ficer. "The sad thing is that most of
them are preventable."
"Just last week, we had four vic­
tims in a house fire," said state
police, Detective Sgt.. Micha�l
Sweeny at the stale police post 10
Paw Paw.
;'Nine out of 10 times it's the
smoke that gets them," he said. "It's
like being underwater; you only
have as long as you can hold your
breath."
Because so many fatalities are.
cau ed by smoke, Sweeney tre ses
the importance of smoke detectors.
"You can never have enough
moke detector," he said.
And despite the number of fires
cau ed by Christrna trees, Sweeny Sledding
said that a more common problem
. When you're in the mood for
i chimney fires. some outdoor wintertime fun, con-
"People burn their Chri tmas B
wrapping paper in their firepla�es sider sledding or tobogganing. ut,
or woodstoves and that flaming the National Safety council uggests
paper going up the chimney catches keeping yourself and your equip­
the creosote on fire," he said. "We ment afe and in good working con­
have more problems with that than dition.
with Christmas trees." Be we to repair any harp edges,
If a chimney flue is intact,' cracks or splits in the wood of your
Sweeney said, the fire eventually sled,
burns itself out. But if there are Find spacious, gently loping
hill away from roadway and frozen
water. Avoid slopes with tree,
Battle the bite
Do you know how to pot
frostbite? Early warning signs in­
clude white or yellowish-grey kin
with tingling, tinging or dull ching,
followed by numbness. The Nation­
al Safety Council suggests beating
the bite by bundling up this winter.
holes and'other ob tructions.
Ore s appropriately and take
breaks in a warm place when you
begin to feel cold and tired.
TIG ARG UES 11IE gas tax increase
is tre only sensible way 10 insure ta
morey will be availabl ; otters y dif­
ferentoptiors sbould be eorsidered befo
any taxes are raised.
Before any lrereese could become
law, it would have to he passed by the
Legislature am approved by Gov. Engler,
Sen. John Pridnia, R-Hubbard Lake, is at
work on a group of bills that will add�
� gas tax question. whil Engler' staff·
ing tre and benefi5 of hiking
ttl: present tax of 15 cen
David Osborn, tre direclOr of tate
affairs' for the Michigan Municipal
League, said without the increa e
Michigan taxpayers' dollars will be used
to tinl road projects in other states.
''To the extent that we don't match. the
dollaIs will go tootrerstatrs," Osbomsaid.
"Tbe aitical issue is to get Michigan
citizens' dollars paid bad( to Michigan I
don't think anybody-frnm Gov. Engler
to tte legislature to the taxpayers-s-wam
to hive their tax dollars spent on arouer
state."
While mostagree that grabbing as high
a percernage as possible of tbe federal
morey would be ideal, the verdict is still
out as to wretrer a gas tax is the best WdY .
to do it.
ENGlER POKF.SPERSON John
Tnscott said while the govermr has rot
ruled out the possibility of an ircrease, he
defini�ly waras to look at other options.
"Wewanttoscehow thatmoneyoould
be raised am bow and if it could be
marhed (by other means) before we even
comiderraising the gas tax,"Trusrottsaid.
''We are just going to wait and see."
Truscott said Engler could be ready to
take a stand before tre end of this year.
pending recommendations form the
DeJl8l1l:nent ofTramportation.
In � meantime, analysts are trying to·
figure out if a tax lrcrease would help or
hurt the sagging economy. Gary
Wolfram,aneoooo�tin the taxation ami
ecoromic policy division 0 � Depart­
ment bITreaslU)', said a good cost-berelit
analysis will look beyom the positive
effects a tax ircrease might bring.
"Our goal is to capture as rmeh of Ox
federal furds as we can - but essentially
eliminate as much tax as we can,"
Wolfmm said, adding that reverues could
be iocreascd in otb!r ways, such as toll
taxes.
"WE'RE LOOKING at a num­
ber of different proposals that are
primarily designed to have
people's use of the roads conform
to their payments," Wolfram aid.
"We're not ure (a gas tax increa c)
is neces ary to match the federal
funds. Clearly, it' the implcst
way-but that doe n't mean it i the
best public policy."
But 11G representative, noting
thut Michigan's tax is among the
lowest in the Midwest, sayan in­
crease is not only essential, but long
overdue. They argue that any nega­
tive impacts the tax might cause
will be outweighed by the job and
commerce created from road con-
truction.
tty "I' ju t look at the
con truction and ay it' going to
reate j b . You have to look at th
effects 0 the tax incre eo" he aid.
cents per gallon since 1984.
An increase of 1 cent per gal­
lon in the ga tax would raise $42
million, but the Michigan
Department of Transportation
(MDOT) gets only about 40 per­
cent of that, aid Deryl Holme,
MDOT legislative executive for
governmental affairs.
ax hike
ible for roads
a
po
By AMY MIDDLETON
Capt/a' NWf. Service
LAN IN -A northern
Michigan legi later, who drives
more than 1,000 mile a week on
deteri rating road, said he'll
lead effort to increase the
state' gasoline tax.
Sen. John Pridnia, R-O coda,
aid he plan to introduce
gasoline tax legi lation in early
1992.
"I know fir thand that
Michigan ha some of the most
deteriorating roads in the
country," he aid.
Leelanau County Road Com­
mi ion engineer manager Jim
Gilbo said the road
commission's yearly revenue is
just enough to keep roads clear
in the winter and keep up with
basic maintenance. By summer
there' no money left to buy
paving materials.
"OUR ROAD Y TEM i
crumbling just like. other sys­
tems in the tate becau e we
haven't been able to maintain
that investment," Gilbo said.
The U.S. Senate andHouse of
Repre entative approved a
package of bill that would end
a total of 3.1 billion to
Michigan over a period of six
years if it becomes a law. The
figure includes 1.2 billion more
than Michigan' most recent
five-year package of federal
funding. '
The money would be ear­
marked for roads and bridges
and would be given under the
stipulation that the state match
20 percent, or about $200 mil­
lion to $300 million, of the total
over ix years. The problem is in
coming up with that 20 percent.
The tate' current tax on
ga 'oline ha. been capped at lS
AN INCREA E OF 6 cents
per gallon would make up the
amount the state need to match
federal fund , according to the
Transportation Interest Group
(TIG), a group acting in favor of
increasing the gasoline tax.
TIG poke person Roger
Martin said that politically it'
hard to find upport for any kind
of tax, regardless of whether it'
needed or not.
MDOT ha had to do more '
with les over the past few years
because revenue have lagged
behind increasing expenses,
Holmes said .
"Becau e of the increasing
fuel efficiency 'of cars, our
revenues (which depend heavily
on the current gas tax) have es­
sentially been flat over the last
four or five years," Holmes said.
Gov. John Engler and
Michigan Transportation Direc­
tor Patrick Nowak have imple­
mented measures that would
save about $100 million in the
transportation budget, Engler'
press secretary, John Truscott,
aid.
"IF THAT MONEY can be
put toward the match we'd be
pretty well off," he aid.
Although Michigan does not
need any new taxes, Truscott
said people may find a' gas tax
more acceptable because it's a
direct user fee. Those who drive
the most would pay the mo t.
I
,