DAILY LOBO new mexico
The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895
tuesday May 6, 2014
Protesters hijack City Council meeting by Zachary Pavlik
news@dailylobo.com
Protesters commandeered the Albuquerque City Council meeting Monday in a bid to highlight a perceived lack of accountability among city officials. The Albuquerque Government Center was shut down and cleared around 6:30 p.m. A police officer who helped clear the building said the council meeting would not resume that evening and the building would be closed. He cited the protest as part of the reason. The afternoon’s movement began when protest participant David Correia approached the council and presented a “warrant” the protesters had drafted for Police Chief Gorden Eden’s arrest, Correia said. “We issued an arrest warrant,” he said. “I read the charges, and then Gorden Eden’s rights. When President of the Council (Ken) Sanchez tried to call the meeting to order I told him that it was no longer his meeting, it was our meeting. That is when we took over the meeting.” According to a copy of the “arrest warrant” crafted by the protesters, Eden should be charged as an accessory to the murder of James Boyd, for willfully harboring fugitives from justice and for committing crimes against humanity. The group of citizens took charge of the meeting by refusing to return the microphone to Sanchez, Correia said. Before long the citizens in attendance occupied the seats of the council, at which time they unanimously voted no confidence against Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry and Chief Administrative Officer Rob Perry, and called for the resignation of
William Aranda / Daily Lobo Albuquerque citizens throw copies of arrest warrants for Police Chief Gorden Eden during a city council meeting held Monday afternoon at the Vincent E. Griego Chambers at City Hall. Citizens held a protest in the chambers soon after, forcing most of the council members and Eden to leave, shutting down the meeting. The citizens also demanded the recall of Mayor Richard Berry. The protest was held in response to the fatal police shooting of Armand Martin on Saturday evening. For more photos visit DailyLobo.com. Eden, Correia said. Other issues the citizens voted on during their council takeover included making it mandatory for all officers to wear lapel cameras, which are to be on at all times, and to establish an independent organization with the authority to discipline police
officers, Correia said. Andrés Valdez, one of the citizens who sat in a councilor’s chair after the takeover, said the movement was symbolic, and that this form of public action has been long overdue. “What occurred, really, was a symbolic coup d’état of the City
Council,” Valdez said. “This has never happened before, but it has been a long time coming. We have been fighting police brutality for 20 years and people are fed up.” Valdez said that during the 30 minutes he sat in a councilor’s seat, he heard public comments
and listened to the demands of those in the audience. He said official Council members Klarissa Peña and Rey Garduño remained and attempted to speak with protesters. “We heard public comments and talked about some of the
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Camp caters to kids on autism spectrum @ChloeHenson5
news@dailylobo.com A summer camp associated with UNM is offering University students the opportunity to work with kids and teens with who have been diagnosed with autism. Camp Rising Sun runs for two weeks — one during the first week of June, and the second during the last full week of June, said program manager and camp director Paul Brouse. The first week will be dedicated to young people between the ages of 8 and 12, while the second week is for teenagers, he said. Camp Rising Sun began in 2006 with 18 campers in attendance, Brouse said. This year, the camp is expecting 121 attendees. In 2009 the camp became part of the Autism Programs at the UNM Center for Development
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and Disability, according to the center’s website. The camp aims to provide kids with autism a traditional camp experience, Brouse said. “They will do all the same activities that any other kid would down at the (YMCA) camp, or any other camp,” he said. Camp Rising Sun also aspires to educate college students about autism and provide respite for parents, Brouse said. “Oftentimes, parents of kids with autism don’t really have a good support system because of the challenges that some of their kids face,” he said. “When they bring them to camp and they can drop them off in a safe environment … often that’s the first opportunity they’ve had to be without their child for more than a night.” The camp offers two opportunities for college students to
participate, Brouse said. One is through the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities program, which is the more intensive aspect, he said. The LEND program gives undergraduates and graduates a chance at hands-on training with autistic youths, said Kathleen Mo Taylor, practicum director for LEND and lead of the behavioral team at Camp Rising Sun. The process is effective, she said, because the students get to spend time with campers and there are professionals on hand who can help the LEND students. “I’ve had graduate-level students tell me that this particular experience has taught more than any grad class they’ve ever taken because the learning curve is incredibly steep, yet they’re really working with someone with autism,” said Taylor, who is also
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an adjunct professor of occupational therapy at UNM. Students in the LEND program will go through training prior to the camp to prepare them for working with the campers, Taylor said. Brouse said another opportunity for college students is to work as a counselor. “As a counselor, you get a similar training, although not as intense,” he said. “We train you about autism and how to interact with kids with autism and how to motivate them … they’re really just kids with support needs that are a little different. And then we go and play and have fun for a week.” Students don’t need to be experts in order to be counselors, said Rachel Gillespie, counselor coordinator for Camp Rising Sun. “We’re more-or-less just looking for people who are open to
adaptation and inclusion and who have an open heart,” she said. One challenging aspect of the camp is that about one in 68 kids is diagnosed with autism, most of whom are boys, Brouse said. But about 80 percent of camp workers are female, he said. “The thing that our kids need is male role models,” he said. “I think that’s an important distinction.” Gillespie said this is her seventh year at the camp. She said keeps coming back because she appreciates going to a space that encourages kids with autism to be who they are. “I like the philosophy that our body structures and functions or the way we happen to process the world shouldn’t be a limit for us being able to participate in activities we enjoy,” she said.
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