****JavaScript based drop down DHTML menu generated by NavStudio. (OpenCube Inc. - http://www.opencube.com)****
July 17, 2008 - July 23, 2008 | Archives | Weather
Guest Commentary By Gil Cranberg Once a leader, Polk County now looks for help What a difference a few decades make. For years, beginning in the 1960s, Polk County was in the forefront of criminal-justice reform, hosting visitors from across the country who flocked here to learn from the county’s success in diverting people from jail. How far the county has slipped is shown by the recent news report about how most “key Polk County officials have toured Hillsborough County (Tampa) over the past few months” to learn from that county how to hold down the inmate count. Polk County’s earlier success was built around the strategy of using the time between arrest and sentencing to influence the disposition of cases by qualifying the accused for probation. (Disclosure: I had a hand back then in planning the jail-diversion program.) Release on recognizance replaced heavy reliance on bail bondsmen. That enabled poor people to benefit from the program’s pre-trial services, thus evening the scales of justice and reducing incarceration. The program measurably cut imprisonment by assisting the accused, usually indigents, who had little to commend them for probation, to “build a record” during the pre-trial period to persuade sentencing judges that it made more sense to allow them to work and receive rehabilitation services in the community then to be warehoused in prison. The National Council on Crime and Delinquency lauded the program for enabling defendants “to live useful lives while awaiting trial instead of wasting time in overcrowded jails.” The U.S. Department of Justice designated it an “exemplary project” and urged that it be widely replicated. The Iowa Legislature spread the program statewide. And when it came time to replace the county’s antiquated 130-bed jail in the early 1980s, planners figured a 180-bed facility would be adequate. Then, for multiple reasons, things began to go terribly wrong. Today, ads for bail bondsmen fill the Yellow Pages. The “new” jail is swamped, with the overflow filling an interim jail and hundreds more prisoners are being housed elsewhere in Iowa and Missouri. A new jail is set to open soon with room for more than a thousand inmates, most of whom simply will be awaiting disposition of their cases. A measure of how far Polk County has strayed from its status as a model is the way that judges resort to the retrograde, and possibly unconstitutional, practice of requiring cash-only bail. That can only make it harder to win pre-trial release and easier to fill up the new jail when it opens. The county now has created a Criminal Justice Coordinating Council to try to put into practice what was learned in Tampa. More helpful would be to revive the willingness to take risks and the spirit of innovation that once made the county’s criminal justice system noteworthy. Judge Leo Oxberger, now retired from the Iowa Court of Appeals, and Dan Johnston, former Polk County attorney, were important catalysts for change in those days. Their expertise and institutional memories ought to be tapped to help get the county’s criminal-justice system back on track. CV (Gil Cranberg is the former editor of The Des Moines Register’s opinion pages.) Comment on this story | Return to top Sales Associates Needed Drivers Wanted Communications Director Part Time Food Service Drivers Needed Warehouse Openings Kohls Is Hiring Positions Available at Mickeys Plasma Donors Needed Place your ad for as low as $165 for one week in print and one month online. Click here to request details.
Best Of . . . Wedding Guide Relish Dining Guide   Condo & Loft Guide Annual Manual Education Guide Nightlife Golf Guide Wine Tour Guide
Big Green Umbrella Media, Inc. 414 61st Street • Des Moines, Iowa 50312 515-953-4822 • 515.953.1394 (fax)

For those who haven't traveled east of 86th Street recently, check out Pleasant Hill, Ankeny or Easter Lake. You'll be amazed. Of course, the westward expansion has been mind-boggling, too. Twenty years ago I was awestruck when my secretary said she had never driven in downtown Des Moines. She lived in Waukee and had no interest in seeing what downtown Des Moines had to offer. Given Waukee's status as one of the fastest growing communities in the country, I'd guess downtown Des Moines is still undetected by Sonya's radar. Waukee, Grimes, Urbandale and West Des Moines will soon be indistinguishable from each other.

Territorialism is universal. Many Minneapolis residents rarely venture into St Paul, and vice versa. Kansas City, Kan., residents wouldn't think of moving to Kansas City, Mo., but they spend millions at the Plaza every year. Even residents of Boone have an attitude about West Boone. It's all a bit crazy.

I was raised in Beaverdale, lived on the South Side, had businesses in Johnston and near River Bend, bought a house in Highland Park, renovated homes South of Grand, lived in a downtown high-rise, had a charming home in Waterbury, and now live in a century-old opera house 20 minutes west of Des Moines. There were some great people and some real jerks in every location, but I enjoyed them all.

Along the way, I was as territorial as anyone. But at some point I realized that I'm the only one who misses out by having a territorial attitude. I like Bravo's lobster bisque and PF Chang's lettuce wraps. And I like Skip's smoked-chicken pasta and Latin King's chicken parmesan. I like Cool Basil's Pad Thai and 801's steak. I like Wellman's clam chowder and Cheesecake Factory's fish tacos. I like Sam's Club's beef tenderloin and Hometown Market's homemade beef jerky. I like a cocktail at the Star Bar, or a beer at the Filling Station - maybe two. I like Fusion's cool stainless bar cart, Projects' Loge chair and the Majestic Lion's Renaissance Revival furniture. I like William Sonoma's cutlery, TJ Maxx's bargains, and Elements' custom jewelry. I like Sherman Hill's historic architecture and my friend Dave's new house in Waukee.

I've found eliminating my comfort zone has been quite comforting. And my neighborhood is much bigger now. CV

Breaking group's free speech rights gives RAGBRAI a bad name

By Gil Cranberg

When Lance Armstrong spoke in the Newton town square and urged his 15,000 listeners to become agents of change and make cancer research "a national priority," it didn't occur to anyone to muzzle him. But that's essentially what happened when Iowans for Sensible Priorities tried to bring a similar message to Newton as part of RAGBRAI. The nonprofit, non-partisan business-executive-based organization had no presence during the RAGBRAI stop-over in Newton. David Stone, the group's director of grassroots development who tried to arrange for a booth to present the organization's message, says he was told it was "too controversial."

The message? That too much is being spent on obsolete weapons rooted in the Cold War and not enough is being spent on healthcare, education, deficit reduction and the like. The organization favors redirecting 15 percent, or $60 billion, of the Pentagon's budget for non-military purposes. In other words, give higher priority to things like cancer research.

You don't have to agree that the Pentagon budget should be trimmed to allow that point of view to be heard. It's called freedom of expression. And when Iowans for Sensible Priorities months ago approached the Waukee Chamber of Commerce to be a sponsor and to have a booth during the RAGBRAI stopover the day before the trek to Newton, the chamber initially was receptive. It didn't hurt that Iowans for Sensible Priorities offered to pay $5,000 and distribute $8,000 worth of free Ben and Jerry's ice cream. (Ben Cohen, the "Ben" in Ben and Jerry, is a founder of the national organization.) But then freedom of expression hit a pothole.

Stone says that after several months of discussions, and after being proferred a contract and an invoice for payment, he received a May 25 call from Nancy Shirk, executive director of the Waukee chamber, who told him there were "reservations" about the group's sponsorship. Thereafter, Stone says, he was told that his group could not even have a booth to display material.

But on July 24, less than 24 hours before thousands of bikers were due to descend on Waukee, somebody remembered the Bill of Rights. As Stone understands it, members of the event's legal team balked when they learned that Iowans for Sensible Priorties had been denied the opportunity to be a vendor.

So the Waukee chamber did a last-minute about-face and, according to Stone, quite a few visitors enjoyed the interactive vehicle his group was able, on short notice, to get to the site, which was public property. The Waukee lawyers apparently understood that public spaces - streets, parks, town squares - are public domain. No one can arbitrarily bar free speech in public places.

Iowans for Sensible Priorities had no trouble arranging a presence during RAGBRAI stops in Marengo and Coralville. The hard times it was given in Waukee and Newton, however, ought to be embarrassing to The Des Moines Register, whose name is synonomous with the bike ride. A news organization, of all things, ought not to want even a whiff of censorship associated with it. CV

(Gil Cranberg is former editor of The Des Moines Register's opinion pages.)

Comment on this story | Return to top

Best Of . . .	Wedding Guide	Relish Dining Guide
Condo & Loft Guide	Annual Manual	Education Guide
Nightlife	Golf Guide	Wine Tour Guide