4AM - All Quiet on the Campus Front - Almost

The phrase dates back to WW2, with quite a bit of irony in the literal translation from German, "Nothing new in the West." Just putting it into Madison context revives that irony one more time. Saturday, May 3rd was the last day for undergrads of UW-Madison to let it all out before finals starts, and boy did they let it out. I feel blessed to be such a part of something so big. This year sparked a little bit of controversy with the Madison Police Department; If you didn't hear, the residents of Mifflin Street were briefed earlier on this week about how they can avoid receiving a ticket. Stuff like: "Avoid having open parties" and "Be responsible for those on your property or kick them out." However, the afterparties showed a different side of the law. Battle scars included tickets for trowing a bucket into the air, putting one foot out onto public property while holding a beer, and holding a 2'x4' sign that read "This is what a police state looks like"(5). In fact, the peaceful sign holder was pursued by a cop on a horse. The bucket was unavailable for comment. It goes without saying that the MPD was out in force - a record 400 tickets were issued; easily paying for their presence today.

I love this town for it's ability to overcome. The Mifflin Block Party was started 40 years ago as an organized way to protest the war. Back in it's heyday, you could find the Mifflin Co-Op out on the street selling food, beer, and whatnot to anyone around.(1) This year Capitol Center foods was an obvious winner in it's ability to sell all the booze people could pay for throughout the course of the party, a luxury in a town where you can't buy a decent bottle outside of a bar after 9pm. One win that still needs to be fought for, however, only became apparent a few weeks ago when Brittney Zimmerman was murdered in her apartment. Not only did this happen a few short blocks away from Mifflin Street, but even with the police presence today it seems like this terrible tragedy wouldn't have been stopped. Don't look to the MPD, look to the cruddy job the county has been doing with the 911 system. It has been readily apparent in the news that shortly before her death, Zimmerman called 911, but her call was not handled properly due to the load that the call center was under. (2) If I may pull a bit of info from the Capitol Times, Dane County Board Chairman Scott McDonell seems upset that the whole situation is turning into a bunch of people pointing fingers at each other rather than solving the murder. Give me a break. Finding the murderer is a given, but I don't want to see this happen again. Ever. I would like to point out that the County Board sets the funding for the 911 call center that receives calls from cell phones in the area. Further Reading suggests that even the police are playing the blame game (3); After all, we do have 3 police departments in town. Meanwhile the call center's story gets hazy as th press tries to find explanation about the job status of the person who answered Zimmerman's 911 call. (4) It recently came to light that they transfered to a different city position shortly after. While we could attribute it to Zimmerman's call, it seems like the underlying problem is with the workload that the call center is under. Why haven't we found out what the content of the call was yet? It is intentionally being withheld, although we can only wonder why. Very recently (we're talking within the hours here), the Wisconsin State Journal reported on 911 call center problems addressed in a 2004 report that directly addresses the issues that might have lead to Zimmerman's dropped call(7). I can't wait to see the reactions this article gathers.

The sun is rising, defiant of the ten thousand people ready to sleep till the afternoon. There is so much I wish I could have fit into this article about the block party, but in reverence to the excitement that I've been through today and the unique experiences that Mifflin brings to all it's attendees, I feel that they are best left for word of mouth.

Further Reading:
(1) Wisconsin State Journal article, "Mifflin St. Block Party still wild at 40". May 1st, 2008
(2) Wisconsin State Journal article, "911 chief: We fumbled the call". May 2nd, 2008
(3) Wisconsin State Journal article, "Cops not cutting it, Marino family says". May 2nd, 2008
(4) Wisconsin State Journal article, "Dispatcher was transferred, boss admits". May 2nd, 2008
(5) The Capitol Times article, "Mifflin Street party-goers upset with police". 6:35PM May 3rd, 2008
(6) Wisconsin State Journal article, "This Mifflin Street party is different". 12:35AM May 4th, 2008
(7) Wisconsin State Journal article, "2004 report warned of 911 Center problems". 12:03AM May 4th, 2008

This article was accidentally released before it was finished, please allow the changes made before 5:45am.