[Mpls] This Week in The Minneapolis Observer

[Craig Cox]

T H E M I N N E A P O L I S O B S E R V E R
A Weekly Digest of All Things Minneapolitan
www.mplsobserver.com
Vol. 3, No. 5
September 1, 2003

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THIS WEEK IN THE OBSERVER:
* Synergy Academy Closing May Spark Lawsuit
* Policy Group Exploring Ways to Save Urban Trees
* Proposed Middle School Would Replace Historic Victory Garden
* Minneapolis Cop Finds T-Rex
* Local Co-op Wins Workplace Award
Plus: Good seats at the Pantages, Barret Lane and J. Lo, Mezzrow's best restaurant values, and State Fair therapy

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SYNERGY ACADEMY CLOSING MAY SPARK LAWSUIT
The decision by the Hennepin County Board to drop its funding of Synergy Academy, the pilot out-of-home placement program for black families, has sparked an angry call for a lawsuit and a boycott of the county's African American Men Commission.

Writing in Insight News (http://www.insightnew.com), Al McFarlane calls County Commissioner Mark Stenglein's unwillingness to support Synergy a "deceitful betrayal" of the black community and another example of the county's inability to support solutions created and implemented by the black community. In response, he calls for a boycott of the African American Men Commission, a project Stenglein has helped fund at the county level, "unless Hennepin County changes its policies and practices that kill a program like Synergy Academy."

Stenglein and other county officials argue that the county can no longer afford to support Synergy, which they say has not attracted enough referrals and suffers from too much turnover. But MacFarlane and others counter that the county's own policies discourage referrals. "Both Stenglein and the county must accept responsibility for failing to place children in the facility," he writes. "They must also own up to the history of working with and problem-solving for white social services business and using a double standard for black people because it is refusing to extend the same support for a black agency."

MacFarlane also raised the possibility of a lawsuit against the county, which he says would seek "relief from the history of racial bias in out-of-home placement that has resulted in the routine termination of parental rights of black parents and the subsequent placement of their children in white homes," which he calls a "cottage industry [that] serves as an incubator for programming black boys in particular for a lifetime of incarceration."

POLICY GROUP EXPLORING WAYS TO SAVE URBAN TREES
A City Hall task force working to find ways to preserve our urban "forest" is considering a citywide ban on paving any existing boulevards.

PROPOSED MIDDLE SCHOOL WOULD REPLACE HISTORIC VICTORY GARDEN
Supporters of the 60-year-old Dowling Community Garden in South Minneapolis are marshalling opposition to a school board proposal that would build a new middle school on the site.

MINNEAPOLIS COP FINDS T-REX
Minneapolis police officer Dan Wells, an amateur paleontologist, has unearthed the bones of a Tyrannosaurus Rex in Montana.

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The Minneapolis Observer is published 48 times/year by Independent Media, L.L.C. �2003 Independent Media, 4152 Snelling Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55406; www.mplsobserver.com. No part of this publication may be reprinted without the permission of Independent Media. Subscriptions: $12/yr. To unsubscribe, send us an e-mail ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) and we'll get you off the list and refund the unused portion of your subscription.
Editor: Craig Cox
Senior Executive Editor: Sharon Parker
Contributing writers: Chris Dodge, Leo Mezzrow
Equine consultant: Nora Cox
Perspective: Martin Cox
Thanks to: Greg Abbott, Christia Fieber, and Denny Schapiro

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