HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/06/1995Maplewood Human Relations Commission
Minutes from June 6, 1995
Present: Marie Koehler, Gordy Heininger, Linda Wainio, Carol Cude, Regina Laroche-Theune,
Lynne Croes. Ex-officio: Mike McGuire, Sherrie Le. Absent: Gail Schiff
The meeting was called to order at 7:02 pm by Chair Marie Koehler.
A motion to approve the agenda was moved, seconded and approved.
A motion to approve the minutes was moved. An amendment to the minutes was made by Marie
to include her in the clean-up crew for the open house event. The motion was seconded and
approved.
Old Business:
A. Update on opening night dicussion (July 27) for "To Kill a Mockingbird": A notice
will be pubished in the Maplewood in Motion for July. Regina passed out a copy of what would
be used for the announcement to be sent to businesses, libraries, schools. There was some
discussion on changes to the notice. An announcement will be put on the cable access channel
and in the Community Center. Sherrie has started planning for the refreshments. Refreshements
will be cookies, coffee and lemonade.
The structure of the post-performance discussion ensued. The director and Regina (as co-
director) will facilitate. The mayor will not be able to participate. Marie will make opening
remarks to the audience to ask them to stay and participate.
B. Procedzrral response for hate/bias crimes: Gordy has agreed to be the response
coordinator.
New Business:
A. Mort Ryweck- Responding to Hate/Bias Crimes: (short training). Mort is associated
with the League of MN Human Rights Commissions. He provided some general information and
shared some printed materials developed by the League. Some of the things he said: The
response network in a community reacts as a"good �amaritan." i�he cooperation or tne police is
necessary and it's recommended that the police tell the victim about the Human Rights
Commission. Police also should give the name and number of the victim to the response
coordinator. Some questions to ask as the HR Commission: Are the police being as helpful as the
can be? How is the community responding to the event? Is there need for a public meeting?
The HR Commission should discuss jointly with the victim what should be done. The HRC
should follow up with the police to determine if the victim has told the HRC anything they didn't
tell the police. Is it OK to tell this to the police?
We should write up a plan and know our procedures. The Chief of Police needs to sensitize the
officers. We also need to consider language interpretation.
B. Open House evaluation: There was a smaller number attending (300-400 people) over-
all, but more stopped by our booth than in the past. The storytellers may not have been prepared
for the young audience they attracted. There wasn't much visual enticement for people to listen to
them.
C. September planning meeting: The planning meeting for the next year and the regular
monthly meetingwill be Sept. 5 from 6-9 pm. A motion was made to change the meeting date to
Sept. 12 as Sept. 5 is the first day of school. The motion was seconded and approved.
D. Tri-disirict video: We did not watch the video.
Other business:
-There are no other events scheduled for this calender year.
-��e ��v:l� have the ani?ual renort, k:ey chains and book marks available at the reception on
opening night.
-The "Puppets Against Racism" will be performing at the Boys and girls club in
Minneapolis on June 7.
-A'thank you' card from Edgerton school for winning the Diversity award was passed
around.
-A suggestion was made to video tape brief portions of the plan for promotion on the
cable access channel. No action will be taken on this.
-We will look into working with the community theater group to do one play per year on a
theme of diversity/discrimination/bias.
-Regina met with the ECFE group to brainstorm ideas for their programs. There may be
possible connections with us.
Reports
City ofMaplewood: The community center's satellite facility has been completed. This is
located on the extreme west side of the city (at Edgerton) at a cost of $250,000. The site at
Carver School was proposed at over $600,000 for less space.
Grievances: none
Agenda for September:
Puppets Against Racism
Evaluation ofpiay aiscussion-Regina, iviarie, Gordy, Lynne
HateBias Crime response continued discussion
ECFE goals - Regina
REMINDER: The September meeting has been changed to the 12th and will start at 6 pm
to plan for the next calender year. A meal will be served.
A motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:35 was seconded and approved.
Respectfully submitted,
Lynne Croes
HRC Secretary