Update: City bus drivers on strike

Starting at 4 a.m. Monday Belle Urban System drivers and other workers officially hung up their keys and went on strike.

BUS workers operated since July 1 without a contract, but they have refused to work until their contract is resolved.

The strike could last at least two weeks, said Curtis Garner, executive director of Professional Transit Management, the firm that manages city bus service. It could take that long to reach a contract agreement., Garner said from his office inside the picket line Monday.

“We’re going to wait and see if they are going to come back to work,” Garner said. “Our offer is final. We’ll see how long they can afford to stay out of work.”

Garner made a final contract offer Aug. 12, but the union did not accept it and warned it would strike.

Monday morning the union put its plan into action, closing down all bus lines.

Outside the picket line at the transit hub on 19th Street, union President Wes Gable said the bus drivers will not be operating until their union, Teamsters Local 43, reaches a contract agreement with the bus management company.

“It’s unfair it has to come to it,” Gable said. “But sometimes we have to stand up and protect our families’ rights.”

Employee retirement benefits and an increase in management jobs are the two big points of disagreement for the union and management company, representatives from both sides said.

Professional Transit Management seeks to convert dispatch and payroll positions into non-union management jobs, Garner said.

Having existing management take over payroll would save approximately $60,000, according to a written summary of the management company’s final offer.

A union employee has temporarily been working with payroll since February when the clerk retired, and Garner said the employee knew the position was going to be cut.

Converting dispatchers into management positions would also be a smart move, Garner said, because dispatchers should be able to discipline drivers when they receive complaints.

“There is (currently) no accountability because essentially they are ratting out a fellow union member,” Garner said. He added that changing the position to management would not mean a loss of seniority or benefits. Also no one would lose their jobs because someone would likely move up internally, he said.

But dispatcher Lisa Blankman is still concerned that these changes could mean job losses for members, she said, and Gable agreed.

Retirement medical coverage is another contentious issue for both parties. Garner proposed insuring retired employees through private insurance rather than group insurance, he said. That alteration would save the city $250,000 in the fist year of the contract, Garner said. The company would also reimburse some of the out-of-pocket expenses, according to the final offer summary. But Gable said the coverage is not the same and people do not want to lose any benefits while they wait for social security to kick in.

While the BUS workers are on strike they will be receiving some pay through the union, Gable said. For full-time employees who make $15 per hour, their weekly strike pay would equal about $150 total, Gable said.

The BUS workers are able to strike because they are contracted with Professional Transit Management and not directly with the city. Unions contracted with the city are not allowed to strike.

The management company typically works with the transit planner in city hall. But the transit planner, Kathy Casper, stepped down from the position in mid-July and the city is looking for a replacement, Garner said.

Adrial White jury trial may bring two days of testimony

A judge will likely hear two days of testimony about the mistakes made during the jury trial for Adrial White, who was accused of shooting people he caught breaking into a car in January 2006.

Adrial White, 33, is serving a life sentence for first-degree intentional homicide after he was convicted of killing Christopher “Eric” Carbajal, shooting Enrico Serra Jr., and shooting at Phillip Jardina after he found the trio breaking into his fiancee’s car.

He is now asking for a new trial, largely based on claims of ineffective counsel from his original attorney, Robert D’Arruda.

Now represented by Mark Richards and Christy Hall, White’s case is again coming before Judge Charles Constantine, who oversaw the case and trial in 2006.

Richards and Hall filed a 61-page brief outlining the reasons they believe White is due a new trial. The first step in that appeal is to have an evidentiary hearing in front of Constantine.

The hearing, slated for Nov. 6-7, is expected to take two days.

D’Arruda will be called to testify about his actions preparing for and during the trial, and will be asked about his handling of the case, including why he did not hire an independent defense expert or spend more time with his client. According to the brief, D’Arruda spent less than eight hours with White before the trial in which White took the stand in his own defense.

Richards said they requested a list of dates that would work for Attorney Robert D’Arruda, White’s trial attorney, but got no response. Given that, Constantine said they should take necessary steps, including issuing subpoenas, to ensure he and other witnesses appear at the hearing.

Also expected to testify for the defense is Dr. Jeffrey Jentzen, the former medical examiner for Milwaukee County. Richards and Hall have hired him to testify about the fatal gunshot wound.

At trial, the state’s expert testified that Carbajal was shot while his stomach was pressed against something firm, a conclusion she drew from the appearance of the exit wound. She said the most likely scenario for the wounds and holes in his clothing to line up, was for Carbajal to be face down on the ground with one foot in the air.

Jentzen is expected to testify that the exit wound’s appearance was not caused by Carbajal’s stomach being pressed against something firm, but that it was due to a bullet that tumbled as it passed through his body after striking his spine.

Arrest made in Youngblood murder

Police have arrested a Zion, Ill. man in connection with the murder of Lance M. Youngblood, the 18-year-old Chicago man who was shot while sitting inside a vehicle outside a local gas station on Aug. 8.

Investigators from the special investigations drug unit, the Racine SWAT and U.S. Marshalls Service, arrested Samuel L. Booker, 31, after a search of 911 Elm St. today.

Booker was a primary suspect in the Youngblood murder, which occurred near J.D. Petroleum, 1917 16th St. Police also arrested two others in connection with the murder. Police did not identify the two individuals who are in custody on other charges.

It is expected that additional charges are forthcoming and that this homicide is still under investigation, according to a Racine Police Department statement.

Youngblood was shot in the head apparently after an altercation. He was transported to Wheaton-Franciscan All Saints hospital, 3801 Spring St., where he was pronounced dead at 5:34 a.m.

Booker is being held on $500,000 cash bond until he is arraigned on six charges: 1st degree intentional homicide-use of a dangerous weapon; two counts of attempted 1st degree intentional homicide-use of a dangerous weapon; and three counts of bail

UNION: BUS STRIKE COULD LAST MORE THAN TWO WEEKS

The city bus strike that started at 4 a.m. this morning could last more than two weeks, according to the union.

Last week the Belle Urban System employee’s union warned that they were serious about striking and today they put their plan into action, closing down all bus lines in the process.

4 a.m. – The bus strike officially starts.

5:10 a.m. – Bus employees picket outside the transit center.

5:30 a.m. – Riders begin to wonder where their buses are.

The drivers will not be operating until their union Teamsters Local 43 reaches a contract agreement with the bus management company, Professional Transit Management of Racine, said union president Wes Gable.

“It’s unfair it has to come to it,” Gable said. “But sometimes we have to stand up and protect our families’ rights.”

The bus strike will probably last at least two weeks, said Curtis Garner, executive director of Professional Transit Management.

“We’re going to wait and see if they are going to come back to work,” Garner said.

Strike affects many

Normally at 5:10 a.m., bus driver Mary Pierce would be just starting to pick up riders on bus route one. She would be on the road heading towards Careers Industries Inc., 3502 Douglas Ave., the area where she normally picks up her first passengers. Instead she was outside the State Street transit center holding up a sign saying it all: “On Strike. Local Teamsters 43.”

“I don’t get to work today,” Pierce said.

She and the other bus employees will likely not be the only people scheduled for work but not working today.

Benito Bernal, 43, is a dishwasher at SC Johnson in Sturtevant and was scheduled to start work at 6:30 a.m. But just before 6 a.m. he was at the transit center, and there were no buses in sight. “It ain’t right,” Bernal said. “I didn’t know about it. They didn’t tell me.”

He doesn’t have a car and his family members with vehicles already left for their own jobs, he said. All that he can do is call his work and try to explain to them what happened, he said.

The frustration was the same at bus stops along the road, where people stood waiting for buses that never showed up.

“What?!” said John Norvillas, when he found out the bus wasn’t coming. “Oh no.”

Norvillas, a painter, lives on Douglas Avenue and was supposed to be at a job site at 7 a.m. to clean. Standing near the corner of Douglas Avenue and Rapids Drive, he estimated he was about three miles away from his job site on West Boulevard. He is going to have to walk there, he said.

The idea of walking annoyed him, but he was even more annoyed that no one told him about the strike ahead of time.

“I think they should notify the people that ride the buses,” Norvillas said.

Gable explained they could not warn people about the exact date of the strike because the bus company could have lined up replacement drivers and the strike would not have been as effective.

Bus employees have been working without a contract since July 1.

Strike could affect Unified Students

Strike could effect Unified Students

It remains to be seen how the current city bus drivers’ strike will affect Racine Unified students when they start school in two weeks or how the strike will affect the district’s bottom line.

Union officials for the striking city bus drivers said the strike could last longer than two weeks. Unified students head back to class on Tuesday, Sept. 2.

District transportation officials say putting more students on city buses will save the district money.

The strike, if it does last as long as predicted, could affect thousands of middle and high school students who use city buses this year.

Students of Unified high school have used the Belle Urban System to get to school in previous years, but this year students may face difficulties getting to school.

police officer injured during car crash caused by drunken driver

A Racine police officer suffered minor injuries in a four-vehicle crash Sunday afternoon when hit by an alleged drunken driver.

Officer Jorge Garcia was traveling west on the 1100 block of Goold Street in response to a call at about 5:30 p.m. when an SUV turned into his car, according to Sgt. Rick Toeller. The vehicle had failed to yield to the first squad car that had passed by, and then turned in front of Garcia, hitting his car.

Garcia’s squad car then ran into a utility pole and crashed into two parked cars. Garcia was taken to the hospital for treatment of minor injuries, Toeller said.

The driver was arrested for operating while on a suspended license, two charges of failing to yield to an emergency vehicle and an OWI causing injury, according to Toeller.

Jim Tomes of 1118 Goold St. was sitting on his porch at the time of the crash. When it happened, he watched as a man standing between the two parked cars jumped out of the way.

“I thought he was going to get killed,” Tomes said. “He’s in one piece and no one seems to be hurt badly, thank God.”

Andrew Martinez of Geneva Street was in the alley when he heard the sirens of the two squad cars passing by. He was waiting for the second squad car when he heard the crash.

“(There was) a very little screech from the brakes and then the impacts,” Martinez said. “It was hard.”

After the crash, Martinez spoke to the man who had been standing between the parked cars. Martinez said the man was in a state of shock.

“He hasn’t been able to sit down,” Martinez said. “He’s just happy that nothing really happened.”

Wood from the utility pole was wedged in the door of the squad car at the scene of the accident, and broken glass was scattered over the street and sidewalks. The rears of both parked cars were crumpled.

“The trunk of my car is in the front of my car now,” said Randy Ostergaard of 1110 Goold St., owner of one of the parked cars.

Ostergaard was sitting in the front window of his home when he heard the sirens and then the blast of metal and glass cracking. He went outside to see his car in the road.

“I was like, ‘Man, that car is really messed up,’ ” Ostergaard said. “I didn’t even recognize it.”

Tomes, who saw the man jumping out of the way of the crash, said Garcia’s driving prevented the accident from being worse than it was.

“It all happened so fast,” Tomes said. “The police officer looked OK; he might be scared out of his wits, but he did a good job.”

City of Racine’s voice mail system error

If you call the City of Racine and leave a message, you may not be leaving it just for the person you called.

Due to a glitch in the city’s voice mail system, some callers’ messages are recorded onto the voice mail greeting, and anyone who calls the number can clearly hear the entire message, said Assistant Commissioner of Public Works Tom Eeg.

Eeg said he has been aware of the voice mail glitch for a while, but he couldn’t do anything about it with the city’s current system.

Eeg said messages are not recorded to the city’s voice mail greeting very often, and said the only way to fix the problem is to get a new voice mail system.

On Tuesday, the Public Works and Services Committee approved a $9,000 contract with Maron Structure Technology to evaluate the city’s phone and voice mail system. The City Council will vote on the contract at its next meeting.

The company would also set up the bidding process for maintenance of the phone system. The city has been contracted with Avaya for the last 10 years, Eeg said. But since the company no longer manufacturers parts for the phone system, the city may need to buy a new phone and voice mail system to avoid problems in the future.

It would also avoid glitches like the one Dorothy Peyton, 77, experienced earlier this summer when she called the Public Works Department.

In her message, she said she was concerned about a barrier at the intersection of West Boulevard and 21st Street, which made it difficult to turn. She left her name, address and phone number and said on the message, “I would appreciate a call back.” She never received a call, she said.

But anyone else who called the same number could hear her message at least for part of the day, which could be found in a separate call to the city.

Because Peyton’s comment was so general, she said she wasn’t too concerned about the public hearing her message. But if she had left a more personal message about her health or taxes, she said she may have been more concerned.

Some of the city’s voice mails are set up so that people can’t leave messages, Eeg said. If someone internally forwards a message to one of those numbers accidentally, then it becomes a part of the greeting, he said.

Former Racine police officer drown in Lake

The body of a former Racine police officer was pulled from Lake Michigan at about 6 a.m. Sunday.

The Racine Police Department received a 911 call at about 3:19 a.m. about a possible drowning in the North Beach area, according to a release from the department.

The victim, identified in published reports as Marco Rodriguez, 42, had been one of six people on a boat which was offshore near North Beach. He was found about 120 feet from where he was believed to have gone into the lake.

“The victim had jumped into the water to swim, and shortly after entering the water, began to struggle,” the release said.

“One of the other occupants of the boat jumped into the water in an effort to keep the victim above water, but was unable to and was being pulled under by the victim’s struggles.”

The boat’s occupants pulled the rescuer back onto the boat, but could not find Rodriguez, who slipped under the water.

They then called 911, the release said.

Police officers and deputies from the Sheriff’s Department responded to the scene and requested assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard and the Racine County Dive Team.

When it became apparent early in the investigation that the boat is owned by a Racine County sheriff’s deputy, the Sheriff’s Department requested the assistance of the Racine Police Department in the initial investigation and interviews.

At least one other Racine County employee was on board the boat.

An autopsy has been scheduled. No foul play is suspected in the incident.

Adrial White seeks appeal

Adrial White wants a new trial, and he’s filed the paperwork that could get him one.

White’s trial and conviction captured the public’s attention in 2006. Tired of petty crime in Racine, many local residents became fascinated with the case of the man who walked out of his home, saw men rifling through his fiancée’s car, raised a pistol and fired. One of the would-be thieves was killed.

Today, White, 31, is serving a life sentence for first-degree intentional homicide and attempted first-degree intentional homicide. A jury convicted him of the charges in November 2006.

Now, White is claiming that Robert D’Arruda’s legal assistance was ineffective, to the point that it prevented him from being able to have a fair trial.

Trial issues

In January 2006, White’s fiancée woke him up, saying someone was breaking into her car. He grabbed a gun from inside and went out the side door, several feet away from the car. He saw three people trying to get a speaker box out of the trunk.

He fired several shots. One bullet struck Enrico Serra in the back, traveled through his neck and lodged in his jaw. Another hit Christopher “Eric” Carbajal in the back, killing him. Other bullets passed through Phillip Jardina’s clothing, but missed his body.

White’s initial attorney, D’Arruda, re-enacted scenes from the event in his defense and, at one point, fell on the ground in front of the jury. After the trial was over, D’Arruda was banned from speaking to the media about the trial because of statements he made about the way it was conducted.

Through new counsel Mark Richards and Christy Hall, White has filed a post-conviction relief motion requesting a new trial with Judge Charles Constantine, who oversaw the jury trial. They expect to receive a date Monday for a hearing on the matter.

Both Richards and Hall say that D’Arruda did not adequately represent White in the case. According to the motion, relying on jail records, D’Arruda spent less than eight hours with his client before the trial began.

Richards said there are no set guidelines on how much time an attorney should spend with a client preparing for trial.

“Every case is different,” he said. “If your client takes the stand and tells his side of the story, it’s a lot longer than if he’s not. He needs to know the law. He’s testifying. Every case is different. There are drunk drivings that are more complicated than a simple homicide.”

D’Arruda also reportedly ordered, but did not pick up, copies of photographs and audio and videotapes that were part of the evidence the state was using to build its case. Hall said she picked up some of those items after she began working on the case.

Possibly most serious, D’Arruda did not hire an independent medical examiner to refute testimony from the woman who performed the autopsy on Carbajal’s body.

“There was reliance on expert testimony and nothing to rebut it,” Richards said. “It’s our opinion, if he had checked with a competent (medical examiner), or any medical examiner, they would have given the same opinion as (the medical examiner Richards hired).”

No rebuttal

White claimed he fired in self-defense when he saw the three people breaking into the car react to his presence. One had a tire iron, and another appeared to be reaching for something.

The state’s expert testified that Carbajal was face-down on the ground when he was shot in the back.

“To argue self-defense is very difficult where the state expert says he was shot execution-style, down on the ground,” Hall said.

Because D’Arruda had no expert to refute that, the jury had no other option to consider during deliberations. But the expert Richards and Hall have on board now says the wound shows something different: That the bullet hit Carbajal’s spine and started to tumble, causing the irregular exit wound.

D’Arruda said he hopes the appeal is successful.

“I hope he gets a new trial,” D’Arruda said. “I think he’s innocent. If I made mistakes and they warrant a new trial, then good.”

He said he does not believe he was ineffective, and that he did not attempt to neglect his duties.

“We were trying to win,” he said. “I was hoping we’d win the case. The jury found otherwise. I still believe it was self-defense.”

He acknowledged that he did not hire any experts, though he did hire an investigator to look into the case. D’Arruda declined to answer questions about that decision, saying “There are a lot of reasons. These are questions I’ll be asked under oath in court. I’d prefer to answer under oath. Those answers will come.”

There are no official records of any discipline against D’Arruda by the Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation. Complaints made to that organization are confidential, unless they result in an investigation and disciplinary action.

Man sentenced in Antonio Strong murder

More than a dozen deputies and police officers stood outside the Law Enforcement Center Friday afternoon, after family members of a convicted murderer and his victim clashed after the sentencing hearing.

Sheriff’s deputies followed the parties from a conflict in the basement, outside the courtroom, to the lobby and ultimately outside, where they were assisted by other deputies and Racine police. After several minutes, everyone moved away from the area. No one was arrested.

Andre Hansbrough, 21, was convicted of felony murder, burglary and false imprisonment in June. He was one of six charged with breaking into Antonio Strong’s home Aug. 15, 2007, holding his girlfriend in the bathroom, robbing the couple of several thousand dollars in cash, and then shooting Strong.

On Friday, a year after the crime, Judge Charles Constantine sentenced Hansbrough to 30 years in prison and 16 years of extended supervision. Strong’s family asked the judge to give him the maximum penalty possible.

Hansbrough maintains his innocence of the crime, and says the real culprits have falsely included him in their scheme. Five others — Ryan R. King, Chevele Lyons, Jonathan Bogan, Xavier Johnson and Jarrod Alston — were also charged. King and Bogan have already been sentenced.

“This has been a very long year for me,” Hansbrough said. “It’s been hard for me as well as my family, for me to be blamed for a crime I had no knowledge of or part in.”

He said he was “on the right track” when he was arrested, working and enrolled in college.

“It’s really amounting to nothing, me being in jail for a crime I did not commit,” he said. ‘I’m asking I be showed a lot of mercy. I didn’t do it.”

Strong’s family asked the judge to give Hansbrough the maximum possible sentence for the crime.

Assistant District Attorney Robert Repischak asked the judge to sentence Hansbrough to 53 years in prison and 18 on extended supervision.

“He’s a young man,” Repischak said. “He might consider this a life sentence. Quite honestly, he probably deserves a life sentence or something close to that.”

But Mark Richards, Hansbrough’s attorney, asked the judge to give his client a sentence more in line with the one he gave to King and Bogan, who have both accepted plea deals in the case. Bogan is serving a 10-year prison sentence and King a 30-year one. The two entered pleas to the same charge — felony murder — of which Hansbrough was convicted.

“I didn’t hear why my client should be treated any different from other individuals in this case,” Richards said. “We don’t punish people for going to trial. It seems like that’s what’s happening here.”

Constantine said it has been difficult for him to get a sense of who Hansbrough is, given the disparity between what his family and friends have said about him and the circumstances of this case.

“The offense itself is aggravated in a number of matters,” he said. “The participants were masked and Mr. Hansbrough was armed with a shotgun. Mr. Hansbrough is as culpable as the other people in this crime. … He has not in this particular case shown remorse, but he is insisting he is not guilty.”

Constantine said the sentence is in line with King’s, and in no way a reflection of the fact that Hansbrough took the case to trial.