Who is this mysterious Man in Black and why is he sullying the First Night with his political shenanagans?!

MIB is yours truly (supporting Women in Black on Peace Friday). I wrote the article in the third person on purpose. I was not "sullying" First Night. Some people were entertained/pleased. Then again some people insist on living in a dream world, at least one night of the year. For a more complete look at the issue of censorship on First Night, listen to Vinny Lombardo's mp3 file in the next article up from this one.

While we get to enjoy the freedom of celebrating New Year's Eve from beautiful Santa Cruz, our troops and the Iraqi people are stuck in a country where over 4,000,000 pounds of radioactive uranium was dropped in 2003 alone. This is the radioactive equivalent of 250,000 Nagasaki bombs!!

Sub-atomic particles acquired through radiation exposure rip through DNA, causing permanent damage to the exposed and all of his (her) future offspring. It also causes severe immune dysfunction, a sharp increase in all forms of cancer and severe birth defects in children.

I have to wonder how selfish we are as a community when we (or people supposedly speaking for the community) can't have our celebration "spoiled" by such humanitarian messages while our troops and innocent Iraqi civilians are suffering halfway around the world.

Source: Project Censored, 2005 (c2004)

http://www.savewarchildren.org
http://www.umrc.net
http://www.uraniumweaponsconference.de/
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/hotwords/index.htm
http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2004/nucs2004.htm

Go Man, Go!

I'm a member of the Peace Coalition and an observer of last year's censorship attempts by First Night. As a result of what I saw in 2004 I lobbied for a public apology from the First Night Committee for their inconsiderate and last minute attempts to remove the Peace Coalition from the procession. According to First Night Board-members, "The procession is technically a private event"!!! and they can therefore deny access to any group or individual- even though the city forgives First Night between $5,000 and $8,000 in publicly financed fees (for street closure, additional police, etc). There's such irony in this. First Night will continue to be troubled by attempting to censor groups and individuals from the procession. Can we really celebrate neutered art, devoid of any social content? (I suppose one could celebrate it at... The Thomas Kincade Gallery? or... the Capitola Mall).
First Night is, or at least it promotes it's self as... for the community. It's up to us as activists and community members of all persuasions to CELEBRATE! the rich diversity of people in our community.
If the First Night Committee continues to maintain their position, I propose that we add to next year's First Night Procession with a Free First Night Fringe Festival Flotilla!
They can't keep good art/activists down! We must take First Night back! Make it the people's parade! Rise Up! Fight Back! That's my new-year's resolution.

with love, of course
G-rant
grrrant (at) cruzio.com

G-Rant of Art and Revolution is to be commended for his satirical sallies against the Empire (and its local City Council reps). But as far as I know, the only person to brave the “No Parading Without Permission from Blake Smith� Ban this year was John Thielking of the Peace Coalition. Hats off to the Man in Black.

That Smith’s First Amendment-Free First Night agenda is oppressive and intolerable is not in question.

But it’s also old news.

Smith did this last year. At First Night 2004, Art and Revolution and the SC Peace Coalition tried to “fall in line� with Smith’s “no nasty news about the war� line. They agreed not to give out flyers or hold up signs. I’m told they even changed the buttons they wore from “SC Peace Coalition� to “Santa Cruz California�.

Even as they tried to be good a-political paraders, A & R/SC Peace Coalition were forced to the back of the parade. Even though they went to great lengths to follow the “Wizard of Oz� theme, their unacceptable lyrics were drowned out.

In the months that followed, Grant and Louis La Fortune of the Peace Coalition had several meetings with Blake Smith to “work things out.� Apparently that “solution� was more censorship.

Some businesses (such as New Leaf Market , I’m told) got to wave big banners in the parade (however “off-topic� from the Wizard of Oz theme). Corporate propaganda ok,. Anti-war satire or (this year) pro-Vet, pro-war protest not ok.

Perhaps New Leaf and the other business-backers of First Night should have been given a message: “No First Amendment on First Night? Then, no business a week before and a week after in protest�.

Perhaps the same message should still go out. True, that might make certain “politically correct� businesses anxious. But extended absence of the First Amendment and the expanded Iraqi war makes me even more nervous.

Can we have one day of celebrating without the usual depressing news we get shoved down our throats 364 days a year?

One day of apolitical celebrating wont hurt us

Also, Im sick of the BS of "supporting the troops" and not the war. Troops ARE war. Besides, we already "support" the with 200 BILLION tax dollars a year down the Iraq war rathole.

War is a protection racket started by men to protect us against other men. Now, some women are joining in the insanity. What shite!

No, we can't have one single day. Do the civilians in Iraq get to take a break from the bombs? How about the folks in Sri Lanka? You think they stopped trying to find their loved ones lost in the tsuunamis, just to pop a bottle of bubbly, and ring in the new year?

>Can we have one day
>of celebrating without
>the usual depressing news

YOU can have one any time you like... just close your eyes and tell yourself it's all OK. Lock yourself inside, put up streamers and don your party hat, and pretend everything is dandy.

BUT if you're asking for one day -- or even one minute -- where you get to dictate which topics can or cannot be broached on downtown public streets... well then, you can bloody well guarantee that not only are you not going to get your wish, but you're going to piss off a whole lot of people, as well.

And really, if you think "no free speech" day is such a winner idea, then I have to wonder just how often you'd like to have them.

"Also, Im sick of the BS of "supporting the troops" and not the war. Troops ARE war."

I do NOT support the war, but troops are *not* war. That is ridiculous. Troops are individuals, many of whom joined the military because they felt like it was their only option to better their life. Others were deeply moved by the 9-11 attacks and falsely believed that they could protect their country through military service. (And, yes, I'm sure there are more than a few who joined because they seek out violence.)

Have you ever faced hunger or homelessness or watched your family go through it? If not, it might be difficult for you to understand the desperation which drives people to sign away their futures and their bodies. (Women usually fall back on the sex industry; men tend to go into the military.)

If you think the war (and the idea in general) is bogus, why not join the movement to stop it instead of criticising others' effort to do so?

well said, free will! one more thing, alot of people "choose" the option of "joining" the military, instead of prison.

You cant have a war without soldiers.

Our first amendment rights to free speech exist 24/7 unless there is a compelling government issue involving health or safety which can reasonably be used to regulate time, place or manner.

THAT should be our bottom line!

No more 1 hour of free speech at a political table on Pacific Ave. and then you must move-along. This law is clearly a violation of our rights.

Community parades in the middle of our community using community money for the benefit of the community? Does the first amendment apply?? Apparently NOT in Santa Cruz!

You can have all the free speech you want to buy, apparently.

And MIB, in spite of your questionable association with the WIB, go man go! Free speech has to be fought for CONSTANTLY!

Please read Bill Moyer's "Battlefield Earth" at www.alternet.org/envirohealth/20666/

Depleted Uranium is one of the worst environmental atrocities, and its use should be considered a war crime. Even the people looking to be saved from Armagedon aren't looking forward to a nuclear war (I don't think). To answer Bill Moyers with a protest march might require say a Dec 30, 2005 march on Pacific Ave titled "Rivers of Death", where all the various liquid toxins (contaminated water, oil, blood, tidal waves, etc) could be represented as we "celebrate" the death of the old year. Or would that make too many happy go lucky Santa Cruz folks depressed right before the big night? Dec 30, 2005 is a Friday. Or the march could go 1/2 hour or so before the Blake Smith event on Sat Dec 31, 2005 so we could take advantage of the free street closure and police coverage. There is no reason why Blake Smith should be granted a monopoly on parading on First Night.

Yes, I know the Man In Black isn't a woman, but I think he would fit in great with Women In Black, a dedicated, artistic peace coalition of Jewish women.

"Free speech has to be fought for CONSTANTLY"

I TOTALLY agree with you!! We don't want our country to end up killing people who are practicing their freedom of speech! In Israel it has gotten so bad that they RAN OVER protester Rachael Corrie with a bulldozer!

The practice of running in front of, beside, or behind a moving bulldozer is inherently dangerous. Rachel Corrie's death was a tragic accident. I don't think her death was as much of a free speech issue as it is a civil disobedience issue. She was criminaly interfering with government sanctioned bulldozers. She made her point. She garnered a great deal of publicity and sympathy for her issue. I personally think she was an idiot putting her life on the line to protect a bunch of arms-smuggling tunnels. But that was her choice. The price she paid was awfully high.

I certainly don't think the incident demonstrates the Israeli government suppression of freedom of speech. That would have been the case if the IDF had come in and arrested all the ISM members for parading around with signs and bullhorns blocking a bulldozer from its work.

Ironically, if they had come in and violated her freedom of speech by arresting her for protesting, she'd be alive today.

Yes, free speech has to be fought for constantly. Like why are indymedia censors burying stories and comment threads???

>I don't think her death was as much of a free >speech issue as it is a civil disobedience >issue. She was criminaly interfering with >government sanctioned bulldozers.

The "government sanctioned bulldozers" were knocking down people's houses. And witnesses saw the driver run over Corrie on purpose. I hope Beckys post was sarcastic and not serious.

Uh oh. I think my computer is stuck on playing that "Here we go again" spyware/soundbug/soundbite...

Becky does not kid around about these issues.

For what it is worth, here is the link to the Veterans For Peace website that still shows some of the disputed photos of the Bulldozer and where Rachel Corrie allegedly was when she was run over by the bulldozer.

www.veteransforpeace.org/Statement_Rachel_Corrie_031703.htm

Note the missing feet of both of the people in the first picture. Some people claim that this indicates that the first photo was faked. That is not to say that Corrie was not in between a house and a bulldozer. I think she probably was in between a house and a bulldozer. But it may also be a bit much to expect that the ISM was really as prepared with a camera as they are made out to be. Everything was fine before the accident, so why bother taking a picture at that time?

Utopia: Those "houses" were hiding the openings to tunnels which were used to smuggle arms, weapons and bombs. Rachel Corrie was in the middle of a field when she was killed. The IDF was not there to destroy homes. It was there to destroy tunnels, some of which were concealed under homes.

As for the driver "running her over on purpose"; how does the witness know what was in the mind of the bulldozer driver? Yes, the ISM CLAIMED the driver killed her on purpose. But he didn't exactly track her down in Olympia, Wash. to kill her did he? No, she went thousands of miles from her home, put her own body in harms way, and in front of some guy who was just showing up for work that day. And you are SURE he MEANT to MURDER her??

As for John's "Rivers of Death" project, it would be a nice anti-dote to the saccarine sweet First Night lets-not-even-think-of-anything-but-sugar-and-spice one-size fits all event.

Becky, you make outrageous claims all the time, yet NEVER seem to back it up...

BJ: "Those "houses" were hiding the openings to tunnels which were used to smuggle arms, weapons and bombs."

To you I say, prove it. Back it up with facts....

"Ironically, if they had come in and violated her freedom of speech by arresting her for protesting, she'd be alive today."

True. And yet they did violate her freedom of speech. In a permanent and excruciatingly violent way.

Rachael Corrie was not there to try to aid "terrorism." She was there to protest the destruction of Palestinian homes. In emails she sent before her death she told people what she planned on doing and felt that because she was an American, they would leave her alone. As for the bulldozer driver, he certainly must have either gotten his orders (or had his own plans approved) from "headquarters." Anyone in touch with reality would have done so before running over a human being --- twice. (If he wasn't in touch with reality, the state of Israel would still be liable for giving a mentally ill person the keys to a bulldozer, right?) There were at least two eye witnesses to Rachael's murder, both of whom were not terrorists or criminals.

"Those "houses" were hiding the openings to tunnels which were used to smuggle arms, weapons and bombs. Rachel Corrie was in the middle of a field when she was killed. The IDF was not there to destroy homes. It was there to destroy tunnels, some of which were concealed under homes."

This claim is totally unrealistic on many levels. First of all, where would the Palestinians get the equipment to make such tunnels? They are dirt poor! Even if their friends, the Saudis (as you might claim) would give them such equipment, how would they ever get it in? All the roads going in and out of the occupied territories are heavily guarded.

Would they have made these tunnels with shovels? Even that would be unrealistic. The ground (as you can even see in pictures) is extremely dry and hard. This makes excavation extremely difficult, if not next to impossible. (This is also why most of the homes in the hot arid regions of the United States do not have basements.) And there could never be enough of these "tunnels" to account for the astronomical number leveled houses there.

Israel is certainly not the only country in the Middle East to stifle free speech. We all know of many political prisoners throughout the region. But at least they are *prisoners* and stand the chance of getting out someday! Even the corrupt Saudi regime usually takes the time to carry out an unfair trial before they issue their death sentences!

The brutal killing of Rachael Corrie was meant to not only stifle her personal message, but also those around the world would use free speech (and/or direct action) to question Israeli's policy towards Palestinians.

See for yourself:


www.rachelcorrie.org


www.tomhurndall.co.uk

"As for John's "Rivers of Death" project, it would be a nice anti-dote to the saccarine sweet First Night lets-not-even-think-of-anything-but-sugar-and-spice one-size fits all event."

YES!!! With the exception of what you've said about the death of Rachel Corrie, we seem to be on the same track, Becky.

How about just a generic "Last Night Parade", 1/2 hr before the "First Night Parade", where the passing of the old year is remembered/mourned/celebrated and we pat ourselves on the back for having survived it, despite Mr. Bush (or despite the Democrats), etc. We don't really need a theme, except to be all inclusive of whomever wants to participate. Rivers of Death is a little too Macabre for the little kiddies, except possibly on Halloween.

I know all you transplants think you're real fucking wonderful, as you've added so much to the community, like traffic, smog, higher housing$$, trashing the greenbelt, and endless whining... The rent/house you can afford, someone from here couldn't!... Oh yes, it's real cozy here with your trust fund, or government nipple to suck on, so now you're going to change the world with rivers of endless whining. Once in awhile you stumble on a real issue, and report about some real activists doings, but as a whole, lip service is the extent to which you'll stick your neck out.(Bumper-sticker mentality)... I could give a shit about first night phonies. They're a different flavor of transplant living some plastic fantasy, which isn't any more unreal than yours. Cheap entertainment on tuesday night is the grand total of your contribution around here. Pretty wimpy. Prove me wrong.

L B D: I came to Santa Cruz in 1984 to go to UCSC, and stayed on after graduation. Even when I had my high paying job as a Wafer Processing Technician in Scotts Valley I had to take on a room mate in my double wide 2000 model trailer to break even on the income vs outgo. I don't know how the folks who buy regular houses around here do it. If I am lucky, my new occupation as a (commissions only) liquidations "finder of merchandise" will earn me enough for me to keep my trailer. Or I can gather signatures on petitions for a couple of months. If none of that works out, the trailer goes on the market Jan 30th or so. How's that for free market economics in Santa Cruz.

Calm down, take your meds, and please explain, who exactly are you referring to, Larry?

Has it ever occured to any of you that while you fight with each other here, you could be out there DOING something instead?

Ego before activism, I suppose.

Spirited discussion and open discourse are one thing, but you've reduced Indymedia to a notorious mud bog of partisan sniping. No one wants to read this crap.

I strongly encourage you all to rise above this endless bickering and focus on the journalism you claim to practice.

And what fine exposes of greed and corruption have you authered lately? Wow, indeed.

V-"Authoring fine exposes of greed and corruption?"--exactly my point,--lip sevice. Wow-This is my opinion. If all you can do is pass negative judgement, you epitomize the arrogance of transplants I refer to. My point IS quit bullshitting/stroking each other and DO SOMETHING!. . JT--If you or your family were not here by the '60's or '70's it hasn't been affordable since, and the people I grew up with mostly had to leave, so yeah, I'm pissed to hear a bunch of arrogant, condescending people who can afford it here replace them. I only empathize with those humble folks from here, who had to leave..I miss the soulful black friends I met at school, played music with, and marched for civil rights along side. They're all gone. My point is to PROVE ME WRONG. DO SOMETHING to contribute around here, or in the world. Activism means "doing things with energy." (More than talk, or writing!) I only claimed to be one when they were trying to shove a nuclear power plant down our throats at Davenport, offshore oil drilling up and down the coast, and cities planned to connect us with San Francisco. I grew up poor and abused here, four suicides in my family, conquered mental illness, and drug addiction, but I've done okay, and have proudly worked all my life. So -Mr.Amused--I don't need medication anymore, and with your statement you exemplify a transplant geek.... Can you read? (You folks are so self-absorbed I wonder?) PROVE ME WRONG!!

Bones,

Nobody has passed judgement on you -- yet. However, I think you are telling tall tales. Anyone who has lived in Santa Cruz for a long time knows there were (unfortunately) very few black folks here in the 60s and 70s.

Your experience in Santa Cruz County is not unique. Most people from small towns throughout the U.S. have had to move to find jobs. So you decided to stay... fine, but I don't think you should complain about anyone else who moved here after you did. Maybe the people who you should be challenging are those who bought up all the affordable real estate and are now exploiting the lower income people as landlords and vacation rental owners.

You say DO SOMETHING? These people DO A LOT. Read the articles posted on this site and learn about what people are doing. Join a cause, attend a meeting and you'll meet many of us. Do you have an idea for action? GREAT! Let us know about it and maybe we'll join you. And if you "don't want to read this crap," then by all means, don't. Either way, the dialogue will continue on Indymedia.

No non-native plants growing in my fields, impacting native species!

No non-native fish in my streams, impacting native species!

No non-native critters living in my forest, impacting native species!

No non-native HUMANS living in my town, impacting native species!

Santa Cruz for Santa Cruzans! Preserve our native history and culture! Transplants go home! If you weren't BORN here, you dont BELONG here!

Response to Free Will: You say the Palestinians are too poor to dig tunnels? Check this out!

ARABS PRAISE TUNNEL BLASTS


[Updated]PLO Media Lionize Tunnel Bombers, Condemn Israel, Ignore HAMAS Connection

By Michael Widlanski (Special to IMRA) Monday, 13 December, 2004

The official Palestinian media opened their Monday morning broadcasts by lionizing the Palestinian Arab tunnel bombers who blew up a huge tunnel underneath an Israeli border checkpoint yesterday, killing five Israelis and
wounding several others.

"The heroic martyrdom of the youth Sabr Jullouth killed by the bullets of Israeli occupation troops who entered his home in Rafah in Gaza, and the heroic martyrdom of the youth Muayyad Ara in a clash with Occupation troops
near the Rafah Border Pass," declared the opening headline on Palestinian radio.

Tunnels have become the main way for terrorists to attack Israeli border troops in Gaza as well as the means of smuggling anti-tank missiles,
automatic weapons and explosives from Egypt towards Israel. (see continuation of the article at www.dafka.org)

You deny that there are tunnels. You deny that Rachel Corrie was guarding a tunnel in an open field. You deny that Rachel Corrie had any knowledge of or was helping the gun/bomb smuggling operation by blocking Israeli bulldozers that were there to disrupt those tunnels. Yet no one denies she interferred in that IDF operation.

The IDF claims they have discovered and destroyed over 90 tunnels since 2000.

www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Terror+Groups/Weapon+Smuggling+Tunnels+in+Rafah+May+2004.htm

Prior to 2000, arms were more commonly smuggled in by sea (remember the Karine A??)

I think it is legitimate for the State of Israel to go after destroying these tunnels. Lives are saved if the tunnels are shut down. Therefore the govt. of Israel had legitimate reason to bulldoze those tunnels, and any person interferring with such an operation should be arrested for such activity. ISM workers who pit their bodies against bulldozers are risking arrest, serious injury, and even death.

Barb, My family came here in the 'mid 1880's, and has lived on the same street ever since. I have a photo collection that starts with ones my Grandma took as a little girl in Seabright. It was not part of Santa Cruz until 1922. I was born at the old Santa Cruz Hospital on Soquel Avenue, that is now Branciforte Plaza, and grew up in the same house my father did. One thing I don't do is tell "tall tales", as anyone who says there weren't many blacks in Santa Cruz back then ('50's and '60's even) was not here. Walter Edwards, who now teaches at San Jose State was my first black friend (at Gault School), along with his brother Frank. Lovon "Lolly" Lowery was a football star, and pal, along with Willie Head. Other more distant football star/friends were Albert Marshall (played in NFL five years), and Gary Bowen. The late Luther Butler was a buddy in auto shop, and older ladies men I knew who hung-out at The Casbah and Coconut Grove were Big Frank Jones, O.T. Hunt, and Dancin' Jackson. Tommy Hughes was a funny guy I had enlish class with. The late Corny Bumpus was an inspiration and musical buddy, along with Corny Myers (singer), and Perry Brantly (tenor sax). Tom Jackson was in my (first) surf club, Northside Surfing Society (1964). (the only decent black surfer besides Gary Cocroft from Watsonville) Gary's brother Sherman played in the NFL for five years also. (Most try to get five years in, the minimum to obtain a pension) Everybody knows the Griffin brothers, Larry and Glenn, both incredible basketball players, and now sheriffs. Their sister Bunny was nice, and a cheer leader at SCHS. I was in drama class with Monroe Jones, who still owes me for that shirt I sold him. George Hightower was the only guy at Santa Cruz High who could beat me at the mile run. I vaguely knew his brother Ernie, only to say hi. Don Lowery (no relation to Lovon) was class president at SCHS in '65, and an outstanding guy. I could go on, but I think you get the point.....Thanks for the decent response. I get really frustrated with writers/people who pick at others they don't agree with like an order of french fries. Not unlike the ugly americans I dealt with as a musician/waiter when I lived in Centro America, and Hawaii. There isn't much respect for native Santa Cruzans anymore either....I only have time to take care of Mom these days, and help make a documentary of Santa Cruz surfing history.

Barb, Here's an idea for action! Did you know how Catholics at Mission Santa Cruz used to whip enslaved Ohlone Indians, when they wouldn't work fast enough? Tall tales? Nope. Well, now you can get similar results insulting Santa Cruz natives! First tell them they weren't born here! (Want to see my birth certificate?) And that their history with blacks here, anyone here awhile knows is not true! (Want to see my school albums going back to my fathers in the '30's?) Then train them on how they should feel/think about the changes here, and who's to blame! Also that their experience in Santa Cruz County is not unique!...I'd rather be whipped for no reason, like the Ohlone indians, than insulted like that! How truly ugly american! Another of my points that I am sure will never be considered--RESEARCH who and what you're talking about before you make rash statements!!...I tried, but couldn't let this slide. And people once again wonder why natives give them shit!

Bones,

Your above comments are mean and uncalled for. You know I never told you how to feel or called you a liar, but I'm sorry anyway if it hurt your feelings.

It sounds like we have a different way of looking at things. I am sorry you've seen a lot of your friends leave. That's too bad. I've lost plenty of friends, too. I've also made some nice new ones that aren't so bad.

I'm a tough nut too, but I usually come out smiling! That is the best way to not get cracked.

On the question of U.S. troops in Iraq it is important to see that the troops that have been sent there are committing mass murder for the U.S. government and the companies it represents, but that this is not in their interests and that they can be turned against the war. The U.S. occupation of southern Vietnam was ended by a combination of the heroic fight of the Vietnamese people and an anti-war movement in the United States that educated those drafted into the military to the point that many of the troops on the ground in Vietnam were refusing to fight the Vietnamese by 1972 and 1973 and many officers that tried to force them to kill the Vietnamese were killed themselves.

Iraq to the Iraqis! U.S. Out Now!

Thanks for marching John.

In response to Zionist Johnson on the question of Palestinian tunnels:

I'd dig tunnels too if the Israeli government fenced me in, denied me free travel (including to see immediate family), denied me ownership of my land, denied equal access to employment and education, and declared war on me as has been done to the Palestinian people.

End the $3 billion a year in military aid the U.S. government gives to Israel to terrorize the Palestinian people!

Thanks to Larry "Bones" Dunham for setting the record straight on Blacks living in Santa Cruz. It is sad to see someone call you a liar when they have not even bothered to research the question.

Maybe the Blacks were simply the first to go when the gentrification started.

But I wonder why some of the Native Santa Cruzans represented in this discussion think that they should have the town all to themselves. (Re: non-native speicies). I'm just glad that we don't live in Kosovo or Sudan where evicting 1/2 or more of the town's population over some classist ideology is a real possibility. But even then, I would not want the US govt or NATO "liberating" my town by shelling it with depleted uranium, as happened in Bosnia, and now Iraq. Now the doctors in Bosnia simply tell prospective parents not to have kids "for awhile". Try 4.5 billion years...

Some of the best people I know are immigrants, or Black. So get used to it.

An article posted on Madison Indymedia seems kind of related to this article posted on Santa Cruz Indymedia, and I thought other people would appreciate this link...

Peace Activist fined $102 and his protest sign confiscated by Wausau PD at the regular Friday Night Peace Demo.
madison.indymedia.org/feature/display/21106/index.php

Where in the World is Wausau, Wisconsin?
www.ci.wausau.wi.us/location.asp

"Located in the heart of Wisconsin at the crossroad of two major transportation systems, Wausau is ideally suited for business, recreation, and family needs."
www.ci.wausau.wi.us/location.asp

photo taken on January 17, 2005 at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration in Santa Cruz.