August 31, 2006

Published February 2, 2006

Short Takes

Excluding Cal Anderson

No more rest for the weary at Cal Anderson Park.

Now that the Parks Department has remodeled the reservoir park, it wants to clear it — and 12 other parks on Capitol Hill and First Hill — of unacceptable activities, such as sleeping overnight.

In response to what a Parks memo calls “several complaint letters” from residents about illegal behavior, including drug dealing, the Parks Department wants to create a new Cal Anderson Parks Exclusion Zone. The zone would include a huge swath of territory, from Miller Playground (at 400 19th E.) to small corner lots such as First Hill Park (at Minor Ave. E. and University St.) and Plymouth Pillars (at Boren Ave. and Pike St.)

The move would allow police officers to issue trespass notices and eject people as they do downtown for drug use, drinking, and camping. A trespass notice in one park would ban a person from all 13 — primarily affecting homeless young people who sleep at Cal Anderson. Parks staff say drug dealing there has already declined.

Parks staff will brief the Board of Park Commissioners on the issue Thursday night, with the board to take an advisory vote on Feb. 23. The final decision is up to Parks Superintendent Ken Bounds. Both meetings will start at 6 p.m. at Parks’ headquarters in Denny Park at Dexter Avenue N. and Denny Way.

— Cydney Gillis

Innocence regained

Imagine being sentenced to life in prison for crimes you didn’t commit. This was reality for Wilton Dedge of Cocoa Beach, Fla. In 1982, Dedge was found guilty of sexual battery, aggravated battery, and burglary. In 2004, Dedge’s attorneys proved through DNA testing that their client was innocent of the crimes he’d been charged with. Following 22 years of injustice, Dedge became a free man.

On Feb. 9, Dedge and film director Jessica Sanders will host the Seattle premiere of the documentary After Innocence, which focuses on the stories of Dedge and six other exonerates.

The event will be held at the Varsity Theatre, located at 4329 University Way N.E. It will run from 7 to 9 p.m.

The idea of making the film came from producer Mark Simon. At the time, Simon was a student at the Innocence Project, a non-profit legal clinic and criminal justice resource center that since 1992 has worked to exonerate prisoners when DNA testing can prove actual innocence.

One of the sponsors of the premiere is the Innocence Project Northwest (IPNW). Since 1997, IPNW attorneys, professors, and students have been working to free innocent people in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, and Montana. The IPNW clinic is based out of the University of Washington School of Law; since being formed, IPNW attorneys and students have freed 11 people.

— Jeff Brown

I want you — gone

A local coalition of students has banded together to pass a city-wide initiative banning military recruiters from public schools, colleges, and university campuses — much like a similar ban passed by San Francisco voters in November.

The “College Not Combat” group met for the first time at Seattle Central Community College last week to discuss the possibility of passing the initiative in Seattle.

Student leaders, who hail from Seattle Central Community College and the University of Washington, say their push to remove recruitment from schools comes from a strong belief that the United States military enjoys a poverty draft: students who cannot afford an education consider signing a contract with the “voluntary” military in exchange for pay and the possibility of schooling after their service is complete. While the main impetus is to remove Army recruiters from public schools, organizers may also push to increase college funding to subsidize poorer students at area colleges.

If military recruiters are not allowed on the campuses, according to the federal No Child Left Behind law the schools risk losing their federal education funding.

Weekly meetings of the “College Not Combat” group will continue at Seattle Central. To get involved, email katej326@hotmail.com or call (206) 853-5866.

— M. C. Simmel