PROTESTS, MAYORS TO KEEP POLICE BUSY IN MADISON

City Says It's Ready For Weekend

Just about every police officer will work 12-hour shifts this weekend in
Madison, the state Capitol will close, and protesters will march as 350 of
the nation's mayors come to town.

Madison says it's ready.

Hoping to avoid the debacle that marred the World Trade Organization
meeting three years ago in Seattle, authorities say they aren't taking any
chances of planned protests getting out of hand during the U.S. Conference
of Mayors gathering, which starts Friday.

Activists pushing for legalization of marijuana, protesting post-Sept. 11
civil liberties issues, and calling for an end to the privatization of
public services say they plan to show up for rallies, workshops and speeches.

In addition to protesters who live in the Madison area, organizers say
busloads of activists are expected to arrive from Milwaukee, Chicago and
the Twin Cities.

Unlike other cities that have hosted the mayors' conference, Madison - a
hotbed of activism - might be uniquely qualified to handle what could be
hundreds or, possibly, thousands of protesters.

"Certainly in Madison, we have a long tradition of demonstrating and
protesting and getting our voices heard in various ways," Mayor Sue Bauman
says.

On Wednesday, officials canceled a procession from the Capitol to the
convention center, because the route would have taken the mayors through an
area where demonstrations are planned. A reception in the Capitol Rotunda
was also dropped.

Police decided Tuesday to close the Capitol on Saturday and Sunday. But the
popular Dane County Farmers' Market, held every Saturday morning on Capitol
Square, will be open to folks buying strawberries and onions.

Bauman was disappointed to hear that the Capitol would be closed, the first
time it has been closed for a demonstration since the Vietnam War, she
says. Like other government buildings, the Capitol shut down on Sept. 11.

"I think we are prepared," Bauman says. "We have lots of different people
working together cooperatively, looking at ways not to get into
confrontation mode, but to work collaboratively to make sure everything
goes smoothly in Madison."

Police plan to close three blocks near the Monona Terrace Convention and
Community Center to keep protesters separated from the mayors.

As many as 15 law enforcement agencies will help Madison police provide
security, says Police Department spokesman Larry Kamholz. Every officer who
didn't already have vacation approved a long time ago will work this
weekend, he adds.

Groups have been given space to protest. Marijuana activist Ben Masel plans
to erect a stage for protesters at one end of Martin Luther King Jr. St.,
which leads to the convention center walkway.

A member of a Madison group formed a few months ago to protest the mayors'
conference says that only peaceful demonstrations are planned.

"Violence? That's up to the police, because we're not planning any," says
Dawn Fancher, a member of Creative Peoples Resistance.

"In fact, non-violence is one of our points of unity. We just wanted to
have a creative, non-violent direct action weekend. So we'll probably be
loud, and we'll definitely be around."

Meanwhile, mayors from across the nation will talk about issues ranging
from funding for AIDS programs to the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste
repository in Nevada.

A key topic of the meeting, which ends Tuesday morning, will be homeland
security, with the group supporting a proposed $3.5 billion block grant
program for bolstering security in cities.

Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge is scheduled to address the group
Monday. Among other speakers are Tommy G. Thompson, U.S. health and human
services secretary and former Wisconsin governor; Mel Martinez, U.S.
secretary of housing and urban development; and Joe Allbaugh, head of the
Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Also on the agenda: affordable housing, new jobs through public-private
partnerships, voting rights for the District of Columbia, and diplomatic
and economic relations with Cuba.

Membership in the group is limited to mayors whose cities have populations
of 30,000 or more.

Bauman and the mayors of Brookfield, Green Bay, Greenfield, Kenosha, New
Berlin and Wauwatosa are all expected to attend the conference.

Milwaukee Mayor John O. Norquist is not a member of the group. He dropped
out in the mid-1990s, citing the dues, which are based on a city's
population, and which were costing about $12,000 a year.

For security reasons, Kamholz declined to say how many officers will be
needed for the conference. The security cost won't be known until after the
event, he says.

"There is some criticism already that we've exaggerated, and that our
planning is too large and we spent too much money," Kamholz says. "We'd
rather have that criticism and plan too much, (and) then when it's over
(have) nothing happen."

Neither police nor protest groups know exactly how many people will show up
to demonstrate. Fancher says it could be "high hundreds to low thousands."

And Fancher says, "As far as having the mayors hear us, I don't think
they'll be able to miss us if they leave their hotel rooms."

Greg Borowski of the Journal Sentinel staff and The Associated Press
contributed to this report.