The Capital Times from Madison, Wisconsin • 3

1 Thursday, August 1, 1996 City editor: Charles D. Sherman 252-6419 Associate city editor: Ron McCrea 252-6430 Assistant city editor: Anita Weier 252-6448 The Capital Times E-Mail Address; Citydeskcaptimes.madison.com Psssst! Gov says feds welfare plan falls short Compiled by The Capital Times staff serving health coverage for children than an earlier Republican version, which Clinton vetoed. State Rep. David Travis, D-Madison, said the W-2 (Wisconsin Works) plan is an enormously complex proposal, and its important that it mesh with federal welfare reform. Its up to the politicians to put together a system to get people to work.

Lets get it done right, said Travis. U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann, R-Janesville, said the new federal welfare plan is great news. He said this bill truly moves us from welfare to work while still providing certain protections for those who are truly needy and unable to provide for themselves.

But Neumann said hed join Thompson is seeking Clintons approval for all parts of the W-2 program. The federal plan does not cut foster care, adoption assistance, child abuse prevention programs or the school lunch program, he said. It does not deny cash assistance to disabled children and it includes more funding for child care. It protects our children, which is of primary importance, Kunicki said. U.S.

Sen. Herb Hold, said the bill certainly has some flaws, but added it takes one major step that everyone supports: it totally abolished the current welfare system that provides federal funds to recipients for all the wrong reasons. The current system subsidizes those mothers who agree not to work, not to marry, and not to seek a stable life for their children, Kohl said. U.S. Rep.

David Obey, said the new federal plan does a better job of pre The U.S. House of Representatives approved the plan Wednesday; Senate approval was expected today. The vote among Wisconsins delegation in the House was 7-1. Rep. Steve Gunderson, R-Osseo, did not vote, and Rep.

Tom Barrett, D-Milwau-kee, opposed it. Democratic leaders in Wisconsin praised Clinton for agreeing to sign the plan, calling it something to build on. The bill also received praise from some local Democrats. State Senate Majority leader Chuck Chvala, D-Madison, said Clinton made the right choice. Now we have to get back to work here in Wisconsin and fix up W-2 so we can get people off the welfare system and back to work, Chvala said.

Assembly Minority Leader Walter Ku-nicki, D-Milwaukee, called it a step in the right direction. The Capital Times Gov. Tommy Thompson thinks the new federal welfare program is a positive step forward but warned that it doesnt cover a key feature of Wisconsins reform plans. Thompson said Wisconsin will continue to press the Clinton administration to allow the state to overhaul medical coverage for the poor. Under the Wisconsin plan, those getting jobs would have to take their health insurance from the employer.

If the employer didnt offer insurance, they and other working poor could get coverage through a new state plan. The federal plan apparently would not allow this process. I hope that President Clinton will not use this legislation as an excuse to walk away from W-2, Thompson said. Convicted (Her stalls sentencing By Joe Schoenmann The Capital Times Except for sobbing from his victims mother, convicted murderer Darnell Hines handwritten appeal for the truth silenced the packed courtroom. When Circuit Judge Michael Nowakowski on Wednesday reluctantly granted Hines request for new counsel after reading the teenagers July 19 letter, it meant that the personal trial of the victims family wont end for months.

The way my nephew died and now this its just torture, said Russell Henderson, uncle of Steven Greg Henderson, who was shot to death July 7, 1995. But Hines mother, Bernice Cooper, was defiant, repeating an argument Hines attorneys had made earlier this year: that the Henderson family has such deep roots in Madison that her son cant get a fair trial. The power in that family that doesnt count for anything, you really think thats so? Its not right. Its not right, she said. The Henderson family in Madison goes back four generations.

Russell Henderson is a Madison police officer. Rita Henderson, a court reporter, is an aunt by marriage. Hines' letter, written from the Dane County Jail July 19, contains five sentences. I am writing on behalf of my appeal. I am requesting for the transcript from my trail (sic) to contiune (sic) what I feel is my search for the truth.

After further legal advice, it was brought to my attention that I did not have adequate legal representation. I realize at this point an appeal is my only path of recourse. Thank you for your time and consideration. Sincerely, Darnell Hines. DCJ 727 East.

Nowakowski asked Hines if he was prepared to go forward with his current attorneys representing him. After a lengthy discussion with one of two attorneys, Hines replied: Id like to appoint a new attorney. Assistant District Attorney Gretchen Hay Lisa Wegner, a 35-year-old mother of three, is the new Mrs. Madison. Wegner and 84 other contestants competed for the Mrs.

Wisconsin title Sunday at the Pfis-ter Hotel in Milwaukee. Although Wegner didnt end in the top 10 statewide, she says that as a mother with three kids Maxwell, 1, Marlena, 3, and Madeline, 5 representing Madison for the next year is fine with her. Everyone came out a winner because each woman will be representing her own city for a year. Her husband, Eric, is the one responsible for getting her into the pageant. He saw the ad in the paper, she says.

He got all the paperwork together, rounded up sponsors for me and was very encouraging. Its wonderful to have a husband who thinks so much of you. Its the ultimate compliment. She says he lost his father recently, and this was his way of bringing some joy into the house. Each husband, decked out in a tuxedo, escorted his wife to the stage.

The women competed in interview, swimwear and evening gown competitions. She wore a floor-length, se-quined, teal dress in the evening gown competition. Its the first sequined dress Ive ever owned, she says. The first time I put it on, my 1 -year-old son, who cant even talk yet, said Wow! It was a long day, she sighs. I got there at 7 a.m.

and it didnt end until 10 p.m. But Im glad I did it. It was a good experience and a great high for a woman whos home all day with three kids and then gets to wear a gorgeous gown and hear everyone applauding for her. The sweet com is getting sweeter, but its still scarce. Nancy Burtch-Myers, who has worked at Pecks com stand on Odana Road for the last seven years, says this year she didnt open until July 17 the latest ever.

Like everything else, she says, the com needs sun and hot weather. Its not ripening very fast, so theres a scarcity. But the com is at its peak now for ripeness, and the super sweet is now available. TCI gets huge new customer- Firm takes over at UW I By Dave Newbart The Capital Times Madisons biggest and only cable provider just got bigger. Starting today, TCI Cablevision will provide cable service to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which was left in the lurch last spring when a Fond du Lac company withdrew as the original campus cable provider.

In pulling out, the company, Cyberstar, left $300,000 worth of equipment it had already installed. The company donated the equipment to tire UW, but now TCI will benefit from at least some of it, including a fiber optic cable network that links much of tire campus to the main cable receiving point atop the Computer Science Building, 1210 W. Dayton St. To secure the contract, state law dictated that TCI, the second lowest bidder in the original bid process, had to agree to charge the UW the same rate Cyberstar offered: $12,000 a month, or about $2.85 per room once all 4,000 campus residence hall rooms have been wired (the last 500 will be wired by October). Over the summer TCI agreed to lower its rates, and thus was awarded a one-year contract.

Cyberstar, whose contract ended June 30, continued to provide the service until the new contract was finalized Wednesday. Today TCI will hook up a cable from its offices to the Computer Sciences Building, thus taking over as the cable provider for the university. We are very excited, said Maury Lee, TCI general manager. We think the university has a lot to offer the community and us. While TCI has 85,000 customers in 35 communities, the UW has just become its largest single client.

TCIs contract with the UW is different from its contracts with local municipalities because it will merely provide the satellite feed to the university, which owns and runs the cable network on campus. Under such an arrangement, TCI Ls responsible for the licensing-of the satellite feeds and providing the commercial channel signals, but isn't responsible for linking the signal to individual rooms. So for maintenance problems, students dont have to worry about getting put on hold by a TCI operator. They will work directly with the Division of Information Technology, known as DoIT, which is Continued on Page 4A This letter came as a surprise to everyone. Nowakowski called it very unfortunate that Hines chose to wait until the very last moment to write the letter.

He even stated that the attorneys did their job adequately at least from my observation. Still, Nowakowski might have had little recourse. Had he not granted Hines request, it might have provided a strong argument for an appeal in the future. If an appeal was granted, it would mean many more months of court hearings. But by granting the request, Nowakowski, in essence, is giving Hines probably 30 to 60 days at the most, at the end of which he will be sentenced.

Then if his new attorney files an appeal, hell have to find a new reason to do so. ward protested: Its unfair to the family of the victim to go over this case again. But Hines attorney, Michael Heaston of Chicago, said he had no knowledge of the letter until Wednesday. He added, however, that in light of the letter it would be very difficult for him to continue as Hines attorney. Heaston was one of five attorneys from Chicago, Milwaukee and Madison who came to be known in court circles as Hines dream team during his trial in March.

During the trial, however, the team of attorneys did not call any witness to testify on Hines behalf. A Dane County jury ruled that Hines shot and killed Henderson a few days after Henderson allegedly stole Hines drugs and money during a bad drug deal. Abrahamson takes over as chief justice By Mike Miller into court to work in a variety of capacities, from helping people find their way to court to serving as mediators in small claims actions. Abrahamson, a native of New York, came to Wisconsin after graduating first in her class at Indiana University Law School and being unable to find a job in law in Indiana in 1956. She earned a doctor of laws degree at the UW Law School and eventually became the first woman granted tenure at the school.

She was in private practice in Madison with the law firm of La Follette Sinykin for 14 years before being appointed to the high court by Gov. Patrick Lucey in 1976 to fill the vacancy created by the death of Chief Justice Horace Wilkie. court. Since 1889, the most senior member of the Wisconsin Supreme Court has served as its chief justice. Although there are no revolutionary changes in the offing, Abrahamson said she would like to see the expansion of the use of lay people as volunteers in the legal system, and cites a project in Eau Claire County as demonstrating how that can help in several ways.

One of the problems we have is we are the least understood of the three branches of government, she said. Programs to counter that amount to a sort of judicial outreach program she hopes will continue. The Eau Claire project, in effect for several years, brings citizens tices of a state court. Ellen Peters, Abrahamsons schoolmate at Hunter College High School in New York City, is the chief justice in Connecticut. As she takes over the duties of chief justice today, with the retirement of Chief Justice Roland Day, Abrahamson is not predicting any sweeping changes in the administration of the court.

We are going to do what we think is important to continue our good system of justice and to improve it, Abrahamson said. "We will build on our strengths. The 62-year-old Abrahamson takes the reins as chief justice, making her the head of both the high court and the states judicial system, by virtue of having the longest length of service on the The Capital Times Shirley Abrahamson becomes the 26th chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court today, and the first woman to head the court in the history of the state. With Abra-hamsons ascension to the post of chief justice in Wisconsin, her high school alma mater has the distinction of producing two of the small number of women in the nation who have become chief jus- 1 1 IT it 7P t'ri i 4 i Church vandalism costly vs My name is Skeeter. Im a 6-year-old buff male tabby who has been altered.

Space is getting real tight here, so if you want to adopt an adult cat, I just may be the one for you. Im 2657 and available for adoption at the Dane County Humane Society, 2250 Pennsylvania Ave. The shelter offers lout-cost spay and neuter services to eligible families. For shelter hours or more information, call 246-3340. jLf i By Jerry Ambelang i I -i i -W V' 't 4 W.

-V 'ii 1- A-v ,) I NATIONAL CONVENTION JSSSEfc V'A happened several weeks ago. The DNR suggested firms that could handle the toxic waste cleanup. Trucks and excavation equipment started work this week. Engineers found they would have to remove and replace roughly 5 feet of soil in a 20- to 30-square-foot area behind the building. It isn't a big spill, but even a small contamination project is costly to return to normal soil condition.

Initial estimates range from $6,000 to more than $10,000. Fortunately, the churchs insurance will cover the first 10,000 in costs. It was a senseless act, Sartain said. The person who did it probably did not realize the damage it would cause. It could have been a kid doing it as a prank.

Church officials do not believe it was caused by anyone angry with Zwingli UCC or for religious reasons. Area News Chief MOUNT VERNON A simple prank or outright vandalism at Mount Vernons Zwingli United Church of Christ could cost $10,000 in cleanup costs. Someone poked a hole in the churchs fuel oil tank. The spUl polluted part of its back yard, forcing the removal of tons of contaminated soil. We obviously feel a responsibility to clean up the spill, but its such a waste of energy, time and money to take care of the situation, said Rev.

Jeff Sartain, pastor of the 82-year-old church in this community six miles southwest of Verona. Members of the congregation are very discouraged over the incident. No one can understand why someone would want to do something like this at a church. Members agreed it should be handled quickly and according to state regulations, and notified the Department of Natural Resources right after it J-V, BRIAN EBNER Overseeing soil removal at Zwingli church are Mike Minier of Jepa Construction, church members Doug Dahlk and Waiter Brink, Rev. Jeff Sartain and Tom Culp of BT2.

"Testing tax cut, tax cut, tax cut me, too, me, too I.