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HRC STUDIES TO FOCUS ON POLICE, COMMUNITY RELATIONS

BY NICOLE SACK
THE SOUTHERN

Tuesday, January 11, 2005 7:08 AM CST

CARBONDALE -- The Human Relations Commission prepares for another round of study circles this spring. This time the focus will be narrowed to one topic: police and community relations.

HRC commissioners anticipate the second year of the Carbondale Conversation series to be more intense and dynamic. But if past performance is an indicator of what is to come, then success may also be in store.

The HRC officially cut the umbilical cord with the Make a Splash for Carbondale group, which was created during last year's community conversations. While the study circle group began under the wing of HRC, it has now outgrown its confines and is mature enough to deal directly with the city and the park district to bring a public pool to Carbondale by the goal date of May 2006.

"They have taken on a life of their own," HRC Commissioner John Holmes said at Monday's meeting. "I was thinking we should emancipate them."

Sam Goldman, HRC chair, said it was a natural progression for the Make a Splash Group to move on.

Now the task is to tackle the issue that created HRC.

"Remember why we got started," Goldman said. "It took us a while to get around to it."

The HRC was formed after Carbondale police sprayed more than 80 black Southern Illinois University students with Mace at a block party in April 2001.

The HRC wants to break 200 residents into conversation groups, which will be mixed racially, by age and will include police. The goal is to discuss how the city is policed and how citizens interact with officers.

"If you want genuine feedback and honest dialogue, there are going to be things said that are not so pleasant for the police to hear," said Deborah Walton-McCoy, community service manager and president of Illinois Municipal Human Relations Association. "In turn, the public is going to hear some things that they might not want to hear."

nicole.sack@thesouthern.com 618-351-5816