Wisconsin State Journal from Madison, Wisconsin • 25

Wisconsin State Journal Helping hands Area residents are stiU.trying to help people affected by Hurricane Katrina. COMING MONDAY SUNDAY MAY 21, 2006 Daily Record D2 Weather D10 GtyedHor Teryl Franklin 608-252-6117 tfianklirnamattai.can INSIDE: DEMOCRATS HOLD RALLY NEAR STATE GOP CONVENTION. PAGE D7 SOP gets fired up about-Green State gets another crack at Iraq war Thompson delivers a rousing speech He made just one glancing reference to the campaign, saying the country needs leaders in Congress like Assembly Speaker John Gard "and we need a new United States senator." He didn't elaborate. Thompson's former spokesman Tony Jewell told reporters to "stay tuned," adding that if Thompson were to run it would have been inappropriate for him to steal the limelight from Green. Please see GREEN, Page D2 But after a rousing speech full of vintage Tommy bluster Green Bay Packers will return to the Super Bowl with Mark Green as the former governor slipped out a side door without answering the last remaining question among convention-goers: Would he run for U.S.

Senate against Democratic incumbent Sen. Herb Kohl? mulled a run for his old office while openly questioning whether Green could defeat Thompson's old nemesis, incumbent Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle. Last week, Thompson finally announced he wouldn't run. Saturday he affirmed "the one person who can lead us forward again is Mark Green." ban gay marriage GOP convention here.

Warmly embraced by the hundreds of delegates who jammed the downtown hotel ballroom, Thompson nevertheless seemed to generate a collective sigh of relief when he formally, passed the mantle of party leadership to the con- gressman from Green Bay. For several weeks, the former four-term governor fights '-Wi' 4 1 4, life By PHIL BRINKMAN pbrinkmanmadison.com 608-252-6145 APPLETON Throngs of cheering supporters enthusiastically endorsed Mark Green as the Republican Party's candidate for governor Saturday. i But it was the endorsement of former Gov. Tommy Thompson that produced the most drama and perhaps carried the most weight on the second day of the state Group Fair Wisconsin works to defeat a referendum that would ban same-sex marriages. By BARRY ADAMS badamsmadison.com 608-252-6148 Nathan Figueroa and Hub Pinkerton are separated by 62 years but united in their push to defeat a statewide referendum that would ban civil unions and same-sex mar-; riages.

Figueroa, 24, and Pinkerton, 86, joined about 30 others Saturday in Madison to recruit volunteers and solicit cash for what will likely be a heated and expensive media campaign prior to the November vote. "It's fun," said Pinkerton as he went door to door in the Parkwood Hills Neighborhood near Muir Elementary on Madison's Far West Side. "I don't believe we ought to have second-class citizens." a About 500 more volunteers were on the streets Saturday in the state's 71 other counties marking the first time Fair Wisconsin has organized a same-day canvass for each county in the state. Fair Wisconsin is an arm of the Action Wisconsin Education Fund which advocates on issues affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. It's trying to raise $6 million, has 6,000 volunteers and 22 paid staff members.

Leading the fight to pass the referendum is the Wisconsin 1 -A Tft-wiamm: By GEORGE HESSELBERG ghesselbergmadison.com 608-252-6140 Exactly a year after the Wisconsin Green Party announced it would sponsor a campaign that ultimately resulted in 24 successful anti-war advisory re-ferendums across the state, the effort continues. Voters in at least two communities and as many as 20 may join those in Ozaukee County and the city of Milwaukee this November in giving their opinions on U.S. military activities, according to organizers of this spring's referendum campaign. But so far, there has been no groundswell of efforts to put the war question on ballots across the nation, as opponents warned and supporters hoped. The Racine Coalition for Peace Justice started its petition drive May 5 at a popular community pancake breakfast, gathering more than 800 of the 3,105 signatures necessary to get their question on that city's November ballot In Fond du Lac, organizers are hoping to get their petition drive started sooa In April, 32 municipalities from small towns to such cities as Madison and La Crosse in the state had referendums asking if troops should be removed from Iraq, and the measures passed in 24.

Wisconsin law allows such questions to be placed on the ballot either through a local board resolution or from a petition drive that nets 15 percent of the vote in the previous gubernatorial election. Following the April results, the Madison-based Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice received inquiries from groups in another 20 municipalities interested in mobilizing similar referendums for the Nov. 7 election, said Steve Burns, the group's "Bring the Troops Home coordinator." "We're seeing and hearing from a lot of people who were definitely inspired by the April results," said Bums last week. Because the law allows 60 days for collecting signatures, the WNPJ advises groups to begin their efforts, at the latest, by June 3, to be assured of getting on the November ballot While the referendum issue has been out of the media spotlight since the April elections, Burns expects more communities to join Racine and Fond du Lac in petition efforts. There has been interest mostly from southern Wisconsin and in the Milwaukee suburbs.

What has happened, he said, is that "opposition to the war is not really news any more, it's become the majority sentiment" 2 Illinois towns The referendum movement though, doesn't seem to have spread far beyond Wisconsin's borders yet but "it is still early," said Ruth Weill, Milwaukee-based co-chairman of the Wisconsin Green party. Please see IRAQ WAR, Page D4 WISCONSIN ALMANAC John F. Dietz, "the defender of the Cameron Dam" against the Chippewa Lumber Boom was pardoned by Gov. John Blaine on May 21, 1921, after 10 years in prison. Dietz had surrendered to police on Oct 8, 1910, after a daylong gun battle at the Cameron Dam in Sawyer County.

State Journal librarian Ron Larson DEREK MONTGOMERY For the State Journal Hub Pinkerton, 86, and Nathan Figueroa, 24, pause to fill out forms outside of a Yellowstone Drive home Saturday. Pinkerton and Figueroa were canvassing against a proposed constitutional amendment banning civil unions and same-sex marriage. Coalition for Traditional Mar- out their message, its leader, make Wisconsin the first state month while voters in Tennes-riage in Madison. It has sent Julaine Appling, has said. to reject the referendum.

None see, South Carolina, South Da-thousands of DVDs to Pinkerton, who has a son of the 19 state marriage votes kota, Virginia and Idaho also churches and has vowed to who is gay, and others op- so far have been close. spend "what it takes" to get posed to the ban are trying to Alabama will vote next Please see MARRIAGE, Page D2 UW active in growing cable channel on research about rocket scientists at UW-Madison's Space Astronomy lab and an hour-long, multimedia show about former West Coast dancer John Henry, who died of AIDS. Henry, who was in his 40s, didn't live to see the finished product, titled "Singing Myself a Lullaby." "He knew that his time was short and he asked us to collaborate with him on a project for the stage, a self-portrait of his life," said UW-Madison dance professor Doug Rosenberg, who produced the play Please see CHANNEL, Page D9 "We're trying to bring this to as many people as we possibly can," said Amy Philip-son, executive director of the ResearchChannel. "It's a pretty big change for some of these institutions, to have a goal of bringing this stuff to light. It's a more-is-better philosophy." Rocket scientists UW-Madison has partici- Eated in the ResearchChannel or the past three years for an annual fee of $25,000.

It has four new programs in rotation now 12 in total including a half-hour documentary Channel, spokesman Bob Pinter said. About 25 programs updated every two weeks will be available at no cost beyond the monthly cable bilL The 24-hour network, founded in 1996 at the University of Washington, already broadcasts to almost 22 million TV households in the U.S. via other cable and satellite systems. Anyone with a highspeed computer modem also can watch the television broadcast for free or pick through a video library with streaming technology at the channel's Web site, www. researchchanneLoTg.

Rosenberg Nordsiedc Madison and 70 other academic institutions across the country. Charter Communications will announce In the next week or two the date of their launch of video-on-demand programming from the Research- The channel will be available here to viewers with a digital cable box. By KAREN RIVEDAL krivedalmadison.com 608-252-6106 Starting next month, Madison-area residents with a digital cable box can get a front-row seat to the research discoveries, panel discussions, plays, documentaries and other offerings that their tax dollars help support at UW- BEST BETS Capital Springs Prairie Stomp: Hay rides, native plant and rain garden presentation, wildlife watching and more, noon, Lus-sier Family Heritage Center, 3101 Lake Farm Road. Information: 224-3604 or www.countyofdane.comlwrd parksheritage. Sharsheret: International youth dance festival, 2 to 4 p.m., Mid-dleton Performing Arts Center, 2100 Bristol Middleton.

Check out Thursday's Rhythm section and today's section for more listings. SOS WfV answer your call for help Several solutions to a barking dog problem haven't," she said. This is a common problem, said Kristi Crass, clinical instructor at the UW School of Veterinary Medicine. "Many a good neighbor relationship has been destroyed by a barking dog," she said. "There is a relatively easy fix." Crass said the neighbor could ask that the dog be kept indoors while its owner is gone.

"He could inform the Please see DOG, Page D2 charges. I don't want to cause any problems, but we work late at night, and most mornings we are awakened by the barking dog." "It is a house dog and when they leave, they put it outside, and the dog starts barking until almost noon most days." The dog owner says her pup doesn't bark outside it is likely other neighborhood dogs barking, she added. "I've asked neighbors if they heard (my dog) barking, and they By PATRICIA SIMMS Open windows and barking dogs it's spring in Madison. That's also the source of a tiff between two neighbors near Sherman Village Park on the North Side. "What can someone do about their neighbor's dog barking early in the morning?" wrote a resident.

"The police have been called Send us an S0SI Is something wrong in your neighborhood, your city or Wisconsin? Send an SOS: justaskusmadison.com, 608-252-6192, or P.O. Box 8058, Madison, Wl 53708. Visit the new SOS blog at www.madison.compostblogs sos. but do not want to do anything unless we want to press.