Open House Draws Residents To Milwaukee Police District 2 Station

(L-R) Zonia López, Alderman James Witkowiak and Captain Rebecca L. Pixley.

Photos: HNG

A teenager sat on a Harley-Davidson police motorcycle and turned on the red and blue lights during Open House.

Captain Pixley welcomed members from the local community to Milwaukee Police District 2.

By H. Nelson Goodson
October 1, 2011

Milwaukee - On Saturday, the Milwaukee Police District 2 command officials held an Open House for the local residents. The event provided residents with a unique opportunity to participate and experience the work environment that officers go through everyday to keep the locals safe and secure. District 2 is the only police station in the City of Milwaukee that has opened its doors to area residents for a second year in a row.
This year, residents had a chance to personally meet the newly appointed Captain of Police Rebecca L. Pixley. Captain Pixley during the event welcomed the visitors that toured the station from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The station has a capacity to hold more than 18 people during processing (booking), investigations, digital fingerprinting and criminal background checks.
At the event, popular crowd attractions included, a stationary full gear Major Incident Response Team (M.I.R.T.) officer that stood motionless and at first glance seemed to be made of wax. But the M.I.R.T. officer turned out to be a real person and drew plenty of photo shots from visitors. Other special attractions for visitors at the event were the Mounted Horse Patrol, Command Post, Tactical Enforcement Unit, Motorcycle Unit, Dive Team, Cadillac Police Truck, the Milwaukee Fire Department, Bell Ambulance, especially the "Police Rhino" known as the surveillance unit.
People were allowed inside the mobile Command Post, which seemed very confined with limited space to move around. Visitors were prohibited from taking photos inside the Command Post and its state-of-the-art communications technology.
Captain Pixley recently replaced former Captain Donald J. Gaglione from the Second District station. She was appointed by Police Chief Edward A. Flynn on August 23 to fill the Captain's vacant position, which became available on September 18. Pixley was a Police Lieutenant in Police District 5 and a member of the Tactical Enforcement Unit, before being promoted by Flynn.
James Witkowiak, 12th District Alderman took time from his busy schedule to meet Captain Pixley and to greet residents at the one day event. James Harpole, Assistant Chief of Police was also at the open house.
Police District 2 serves more than 87,000 residents.

M.I.R.T. officer stands motionless and on guard for a photo with open house visitors at Milwaukee District 2 Station. M.I.R.T. officers are assigned for crowd control and other major incidents.

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Chicago Mexican Consul Arnal Palomera Established 24 Hour Toll Free Emergency Number For Nationals

(L-R) Gilberto Gonzalez, Mexican Consul Eduardo Arnal Palomera, Zonia Lopez and H. Nelson Goodson.

Photo: Juan Carlos Ruiz

Consul Arnal Palomera granted interview with Nfoque Latino Spanish Radio at WJTI 1460 AM.

By H. Nelson Goodson
June 17, 2011

Milwaukee - On Friday in an exclusive interview, the newly designated Mexican Consul Eduardo Arnal Palomera for the Mexican Consulate in Chicago visited the City of Milwaukee. Arnal Palomera during a pre-recorded Nfoque Latino Spanish Radio program at WJTI 1460 AM said, that his mission was to visit every County in the tri-state area within the jurisdiction of the Consulate. Milwaukee County became the fifth County that he has visited.
Consul Arnal Palomera began his five day tour on June 14 and ended on Friday. In the last five days, he has stopped in Rockford, Illinois, and in Wisconsin, which included the cities of Pewaukee, Madison, Waukesha and Milwaukee. He met with local officials that included mayors, police chiefs, judges and businessmen to open channels of communication between them.
Arnal Palomera plans to visit 128 Counties the Consulate is assigned to service where Mexican nationals reside in the tri-state area inorder to get firsthand information about their needs and how the Consulate can provide services.
Arnal Palomera will become the first youngest Mexican Consul in history to visit each County the Chicago Mexican Consulate provides service too. He assured, that he will remain accessible to Mexican nationals and will work with Mexican community organizations and groups. Arnal Palomera considers himself as a friendly people's Consul.
He will make sure Consulate services will be provided accordingly and with respect because the staff at the Consulate works for the people they're providing services too. The Mexican Consulate operations and expenses totalled at least $5 million annually and generate more than $6 million in services to nationals, Arnal Palomera explained. There are about 1.5 million Mexican and Mexican-Americans residing in Chicago and more than 3.8 million within the Consulate's service area.
Mexico has invested in the U.S. more than $152 billion by buying American goods and part of his job in Chicago is to help increase the economic growth between both countries, says Arnal Palomera.
If Consulate workers fail to comply with his policies to provide better services that are expected from them, they should start looking for another job, Arnal Palomera said. He has been assigned to the Consulate for the next six years.
Each Consulate employee will be required to wear name tags to make it easier to locate and identify a worker when a complaint is registered by a person. All staff workers will dress casual to provide a welcoming setting for those seeking services. Arnal Palomera said, he will personally answer any suggestions or complaints put into a suggestion box at the Consulate. People have been really surprised to hear from him when he calls them about an issue, according to Arnal Palomera.
Consul Arnal Palomera was straight forward about his ability to provide transparency, better services, and becoming accessible to the community and nationals seeking services in Chicago, Illinois, including Northern Illinois, Southern Wisconsin and Northern Indiana. The Consulate also provides mobil services in the region.
One of the first programs that was implemented when Consul Arnal Palomera took over the Chicago Mexican Consulate a month ago was to established a 24 hour Emergency Hotline in both English and Spanish. The toll free Hotline number is 1-888-755-5511 and it will be answered by bilingual staff workers. The service is for Mexican nationals seeking help from the Consulate for legal advice, about their rights and for the Consulate to provide assistance to family members needing advice while being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), local Sheriff's and police.
After the Nfoque Latino interview, Arnal Palomera in his last tour stop met with Mexican community members at South Division High School for several hours and informed them about his willingness to work with the community at large.
The full interview with Consul Arnal Palomera will be aired on Monday, June 20, at 11:00 a.m. to noon at WJTI 1460 AM Nfoque Latino Spanish Radio program with Zonia Lopez, Gilberto Gonzalez and H. Nelson Goodson.

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Milwaukee's Nfoque Latino Spanish Radio Program Aired Segment In Support Of The DREAM Act

(Front row: L-R) H. Nelson Goodson, Christine Neumann-Ortiz, Eddiza Valadez and Zonia Lopez
(Back row: L-R) Joel Ramirez and Angel Cartegena

Photo by Fernanda Paniagua

DREAM Act student advocates and executive director of Voces de la Frontera push for passage of the bill

December 5, 2010

Milwaukee, WI (HNNUSA) - On Saturday, the popular Nfoque Latino radio Spanish talk show on WJTI 1460 AM aired the first special program to generate calls to both Republican Congressmen Paul Ryan and Tom Petri to push for their swing vote to approve the DREAM Act. The Democrat majority House of Representatives are expected to revive a vote on the DREAM Act by the middle of next week before the Republican control House takes office in January.
The Nfoque Latino program was hosted by H. Nelson Goodson and Zonia Lopez. Lopez says the show can be viewed live in Ustream and previous recorded talk shows concerning important issues affecting the Wisconsin Hispanic community. Lopez is the business owner of Flylda Travel Agency in Milwaukee giving her an opportunity to be involved with community issues such as immigration rights, education, economic and the spiritual growth of the Hispanic community.
Nationally, Goodson is one of the foremost respected immigration rights and reform journalist. Goodson made the following statement on the radio, "With the billions of tax dollars that have been collected by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from undocumented workers throughout the last 20 years and the billions of dollars contributed into the Social Security (SS) account, which undocumented taxpayers don't even file for refunds or for Social Security when they retire, only adds to one colossal amount of money in both the IRS and SS accounts. Undocument parents tax contributions have already paid for their childrens education and Congress should pass the DREAM Act. I only ask one question, why hasn't Congress or the CBO provided a report on the total amount undocumented taxpayers have contributed to the IRS and SS accounts? The Latino community should demand accountability of the total, which would only prove that undocumented taxpayers have actually paid for the DREAM Act."
Christine Neumann-Ortiz, the founding Executive Director of Voces de la Frontera (VDLF) made a guest presentation informing and advocating for the DREAM Act to the predominately Hispanic South side community and surrounding metropolitan vacinity. Three students from various educational backgrounds also accompanied Neumann-Ortiz in the show. The students, Eddiza Valadez, Joel Ramirez and Angel Cartegena who are members of Youth Empowered in the Struggle (YES) are also part of Voces action group promoting the passage of the DREAM Act.
YES is a multiracial group dedicated to promoting social justice in Southeastern Wisconsin through youth led action. YES currently has chapters or affiliates at 7 Wisconsin high schools and one University, according to VDLF.
Valadez became involved in the movement to help create awareness for the need to provide educational opportunities for undocumented students in Wisconsin and nationally. She gave testimony about her experience with a close family member who is bright and could succeed in college, but her undocumented status has prevented her from working to support her way through college.
Ramirez was at Nfoque Latino to help encourage other youths to stand up for their rights and to join in the struggle to help pass the DREAM Act. He recited a powerful Rap style poem motivating everyone in the production studio and radio listeners at the end of the show.
Cartegena told listeners that he became involved in the struggle to pass the DREAM Act when he began to see friends trying to seek a higher education, but were kept from achieving their dreams just for having an undocumented status.
The DREAM Act would provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented students who were brought to the U.S. at a young age of 16, and complete at least two years of college or military service, according to Neumann-Ortiz. The DREAM Act would actually effect more than 2 million undocumented teenagers.
Valadez told the Nfoque Latino radio listeners to call both Congressmen Tom Petri at 202-225-2476 and Paul Ryan at 202-225-3031 and urge them to support the dreams of the students of their districts.
On Thursday, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report indicated that the approval of the DREAM Act would help cut the federal deficit by $1.4 billion, and generate $2.3 billion in corporate and social insurance taxes within the next ten years. http://bit.ly/fk6B3N
The CBO report contradicted Congressman Steve King's (R-Iowa) notion that the DREAM Act would actually cost $20 billion to fund. The CBO report also contradicted an estimated study made by the Center for Immigration Studies that reported The DREAM Act would cost at least $6 billion per year.
The Center for American Progress reported that it would cost the federal government more than $48.6 billion to deport 2 million undocumented teenagers (students).
On Friday, the White House posted 10 Reasons We Need The DREAM Act, Internet link. http://bit.ly/gWFjGy
Next week Saturday, Nfoque Latino will focus on Comprehensive Immigration Reform and Wisconsin's Republican intend to introduce an anti-immigrant bill legalizing local authorities to detain for 48 hours suspected undocumented immigrants in order for them to prove their legal status in Wisconsin or in the country. The bill could lead to racial profiling and discrimination in the state.
Neumann-Ortiz, Valadez, Ramirez and Cartagena have been invited once again to discuss the issues.
Nfoque Latino Spanish radio talk show can be heard on Saturdays, 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., at WJTI 14.60 AM radio, La Nueva Ritmo (live on Ustream http://bit.ly/c1VwGx) in the Milwaukee and surrounding area.

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