UNION UNITED
From the Stratton and Dirksen buildings to the Old State Capitol to
several other sites across Springfield and throughout Illinois, thousands of
state employees took to the streets during lunch hours on Monday. They gathered
to deliver a message to the governor.
After five months of stalled negotiations, the American Federation of State,
County and Municipal Employees is calling on Gov. Rod Blagojevich to settle
a contract before the budget deadline on June 30.
On the southwest corner of Second Street and South Grand Avenue, AFSCME staff
representative Erin Gorman led picketers in a chant.
“The governor keeps talking about inefficiencies, but there are a lot more
inefficiencies in his office” she says. “If we don’t get a fair contract it’s
going to be a tremendous handicap for these people.”
THE CONTINUING DEBATE
Same-sex marriage is the topic of the next meeting of PFLAG-Springfield
(Parents, Family & Friends of Lesbians and Gays) at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May
25. PFLAG will show and discuss a videotape of a recent Colorado Springs, Colo.,
debate between representatives of Freedom of Marry and Focus on the Family.
The meeting will be held in the second-floor atrium conference room of the SIU
School of Medicine, 801 N. Rutledge St.
OH, DEER!
It’s not uncommon to encounter wildlife in the city. Squirrels in
the park. Bunnies in the back yard. Aldermen at Saputo’s.
But very early one morning last week — stone cold sober, wide awake and everything
— we saw a full-grown deer bound across Sixth Street just a few blocks north
of South Grand.
We’d tell you more, but she had no comment.
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This article appears in May 20-26, 2004.
