PeoriaStory

Cindy Sheehan: street heat is worth more than a vote in today's USA

PEORIA -- Peace activist Cindy Sheehan rolled into Peoria on May 30 as part of a three month bicycle trip from California to Washington D.C. called tour de peace.

Why the bicycle?  It's part of her radical political message to reject fossil fuels, fuels that have generated wars, including the Iraq war that left her son dead.

In a witty and empassioned speech, Sheehan spoke to two dozen activists about her trip and her mission. She and her colleagues are under no illusions about changing the national political scene from the top down. 

"Community building is the most important thing we can do.  We have each other and that's all we've got," said her colleague Malcolm Chaddock who introduced her. 

Along the way they stopped to protest the new George W. Bush 'lie-bury' in Dallas, Sheehan said. The purpose is to 'bury the lies, she added.

She complained about the cost of $12 to tour the Lincoln Library in Springfield. "Libraries and museums should be free," she said.

She talked about the disillusionment people are feeling about the Obama administration. "A lot of people who thought Obama was going to be a change over George W. Bush are disappointed." 

She continued, "I hated Bush.  They did too. (But) I realized it's about the system. The disease in the US is militarism, poverty and racism, so every four years we get another boil" from the diseased system that doesn't change, she said.

"What's the use of voting?" she asked. "Our activism should be commuity gardens," and individual movements to stop GMO foods and Monsanto, she said, a cause that interests people today.

"Obama just signed the Monsanto Protection Act," so there's no accountability for the damage GMOs and pesticides do. "How facist is that!"

We must free outselves "from the slavery of partisan politics," she said. "If it's wrong when Bush did it, it's still wrong when Obama does it."

She read a list of demands that included stopping the persecution of Wikkileaker Bradley Manning and the attorney Lynn Stewart, a radical leftist lawyer now jailed after she issued a news release for a terrorist client.

Sheehan's goal is to break through "apathy and inaction," she said. "Street heat is worth more than a vote"

"I sat down in a ditch in Crawford, Texas and people were energized.  That's what we need now.  We need to break free from apathy," she said.

"Voting or not voting is a personal choice. I vote against the system, the status quo," she said. "We should be evolving away from the propaganda and marketing of the elections."

The Occupy movement revealed "the class divide in this country.  The 1 pecent is protecting their wealth" using all the government's institutions.  "Our solution is to be local.  Where you put your dollars is more important than where you put your vote."

If the government would stop subsidizing fossil fuels, "the industry that is killing our planet,"  and instead put the money into a sustainable, clean economy, with bicycle and pedestrian lanes instead of highways, there would be jobs for all, and youths like her son would not be forced into the military to earn a living, she said.

"When the only jobs you have are minimum wage or weapons of mass destruction, like Caterpillar, it's very hard because we don't have a healthy economy," she said.

"It's not impossible to retool into a green economy," she said, but "it won't happen overnight." It can happen, as it happened in Venezuela, she said.

She attacked the worker exploitation of capitalism. "If workers own the means of production, they will want to produce something clean and sustainable.  We have to start at the local level doing these things."

Sheehan isn't totally rejecting politics.  She said she's running for governor of California in the next election, and will campaign on her bicycle everywhere.

Meanwhile, her job is to be an activist, she said. She passed a basket for donations to keep the tour on the road.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

Peoria District 150 ditching ROTC at Peoria High School

PEORIA -- In one of the shortest meetings in several years, the Peoria District 150 School Board whized through an agenda and the public comments, and adjourned after only 30 minutes.

For once there were no long presentations from students and teachers.  There also was no discussion, as almost everything on the agenda was on the consent agenda, and voted on in a block vote. You wonder -- were these items illegally discussed in closed session? Just asking...

The public comments which at this 'committee of the whole' meeting were limited to two minutes, revealed that the ROTC program in Peoria is on its deathbed.  It's been ditched at Peoria High School, so any student there who wants it must transfer to Manual High School.  Activist Terry Knapp revealed that in his comments. He disapproves.

"This is important for kids.  It's free education, a pathway into a career," he said.

Superintendent Grenita Lathan said "enrollment drives the courses and programs. It's based on enrollment." 

But is it?  What is the enrollment?  No board member asked. Is this just a scheme to shift students to Manual High School?

Many progressive schools want to end ROTC because it promotes militarism, but Knapp is correct that for a school district with many low income students who can't afford college or technical training, the military is a career pathway.  So it's a dilemna worth discussing.

Either the board is derelict in its duties in not asking questions about this issue, or it was discussed illegally in closed session.

Knapp also said that a school security officer was banned from working the board meetings after an incident at the previous board meeting, where Lathan didn't like his response to a citizen complaining that his son had been bullied by an older student at Manual. Knapp, who witnessed what happened, said there was no problem, and the ban was unwarranted. 

Former Illinois Federation of Teachers staff member Dan Walther also spoke, saying that a contract for these security officers downgrades them from being police officers.  "You are disarming cops," he said, when security at schools is a nationwide issue.

The contract also moves too many people out of the bargaining unit, he said. That means less security.  Citizens might be able to walk into a school armed, given the legislation over concealed carry now being debated in the Illinois General Assembly.

Afterward he speculated that the district likely wants to get rid of the officers, and that once they are gone, they cannot be reinstated, according to state law.

Here is the Peoria Journal Star story on the meeting, which focuses on the security contract. 

Lathan replied that concealed carry will be banned at schools. A lame response.  Again no board discussion took place.

Here are the recorded public comments.

D150 5.28.13

 

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 

 

Caterpillar prospers while workers languish, and its CEO gets an F in economics

PEORIA -- Here's a very interesting May 26 story about Caterpillar, Inc. that the Peoria Journal Star didn't run, though business reporter Steve Tarter does sort of discuss it in his column.

Read the original column, then ask yourself, which came first, the chicken or the egg!

Check out this quote from its CEO, Doug Oberhelman. whose current pay is $22 million per year, while some of Cat's workers are eligible for food stamps:

 

"Then comes the difficult question: Why is Caterpillar fighting its workers over wages?

 "Oberhelman nods briskly, eager to put the issue to rest.

“We have to be competitive if we’re gonna win. And frankly, if we’re not competitive ... we’re not gonna be here in the next 30 years. That’s a simple message, but” — he starts to hammer his hand against the table — “it’s very ... very ... tough.” After a pause, he lets his hand lay flat. “I always try to communicate to our people that we can never make enough money,” Oberhelman continues. “We can never make enough profit.”

"When will workers’ wages rise? “The answer to that is: when we start to see economic growth through GDP,” he said. “Part of the reason we’re seeing no inflation is because there’s no growth. Inflation was driven by higher labor costs, not higher goods costs. Frankly, I’d love to see a little bit of that. Because I’d love to pay people more. I’d love to see rising wages for everybody.”

Oberhelman's answer indicates he must be smoking something.

What makes the GDP grow? Answer:  higher wages.  His statement makes no sense. 

There will be no growth if wages don't increase. 

How many people do you know who would buy a new car or home if only they made more money?

Who does he think pays for Cat's equipment -- the tooth fairy?  No, it's government, based on taxes, which depend on the economy and wages. And corporations building things, based on sales, based on wages.

If profitable corporations fight their workers on wages, there will be no growth, and the economy likely will collapse again or stagnate.  It's the old chicken and egg situation. Give Oberhelman an 'F' in logic and economics.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 

 UPDATE 5/29/13 - Here's a story and photo of a Caterpillar bulldozer destroying a historic Mayan temple.  It's not Caterpillar Inc.'s fault but....it is symbolic of the greed destroying the planet, of which Cat is a part.

 -- E.H.

Cindy Sheehan in Peoria on May 30

PEORIA -- Here's a not-to-be-missed event.  From a news release: 

 

Peoria to Be a Stop on Coast-to-Coast Bike Ride for Peace Led by Cindy Sheehan

Online: http://tourdepeace.org

 

WHAT: Gold Star Mother and "peace mom" Cindy Sheehan is leading a Tour de Peace bike ride across the United States from the grave of her son Casey in Vacaville, Calif., to Washington, D.C., following the mother road, historic Route 66 to Chicago, and other roads from there on to D.C.  Bicyclers will join in for all or part of the tour, which will include public events organized by local groups along the way.  

Complete route: http://tourdepeace.org/the-route.html

 

Local Peoria area residents plan to join Cindy for a portion of her tour from Springfield to Peoria on Thursday, May 30.  

Cindy Sheehan will be speaking at 6:00 pm at the Landmark Recreation Center, 3225 N. Dries Lane in Peoria, Illinois, in the West Gate room on Thursday, May 30. Open to the public. Vegan potluck - please bring a vegan dish to share.

WHEN: The tour began on April 4, 2013, nine years after Casey Sheehan was killed in Iraq, and 45 years after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was killed in Memphis.  It will conclude on July 3, 2013, with a ride from Arlington National Cemetery to the White House.

 

WHY: This August will mark 8 years since Cindy Sheehan began a widely reported protest at then-President George W. Bush's "ranch" in Crawford, Texas, demanding to know what the "noble cause" was for which Bush claimed Americans were dying in Iraq.  Neither Bush nor President Obama has yet offered a justification for a global war now in its 12^th year.  The Tour de Peace will carry with it these demands:

To end wars, 
To end immunity for U.S. war crimes,
To end suppression of our civil rights, 
To end the use of fossil fuels,
To end persecution of whistleblowers,
To end partisan apathy and inaction.

 

This event is being sponsored by The Peoria Area Peace Network.  

 

Watch the trailer: http://youtu.be/2uBctq4dzss

Fracking action

PEORIA -- From a news release (see fracking story below):

 

What:  "People First; Don't Frack Illinois" Action on Governor Quinn

When:  NOON, Friday, May 24, 2013

Where:  Governor's Office, 2nd floor Capitol, Springfield; Contact IPA for carpooling information from B/N, Peoria and Decatur.

Why: Governor Quinn says he will pass the fracking regulations

Big energy corporate money and influence is rushing to frack our neighborhoods.  They say it will be safe.  They say it's about jobs.  But you and I both know it's about profits.  We need to have our voices heard directly and we need to do it NOW.  

SB1715 passed out of the Executive Committee yesterday by unanimous vote. It will be voted on by the full House tomorrow, where it already has enough support to win.  While our side continues to lobby members of the Senate, the oil and gas industry is licking it's chops in anticipation of passage.  Governor Quinn has publicly stated that he will sign the bill.

IPA says, "It's not over til the fracked lady sings."  It's our resonsibility to tell the truth and have our state elected officials govern as they campaign.  We have to make it clear to Governor Quinn that he needs to choose People over corporate profits.  

Come and join us!  Wear your IPA t-shirt if you have one.

Please RSVP if you can attend and contact us if you need a ride.  Please share on Facebook and with others you know.

NOTE:  There are grassroots sit-ins beginning tomorrow (Thursday) outside the Governor's office.  If you're free, please join us.

Illinois is caving...the game is rigged on fracking and Democrats are leading the cave-in

PEORIA -- Here's a report from Tracy Fox on what's taking place in environmental policy on fracking:

It’s a sad week for Illinois. Despite a valiant organizing effort by Illinois People’s Action (IPA) and its allies Southern Illinoisans Against Fracturing Our Environment (SAFE) and the Illinois Coalition for a Moratorium on Fracking (ICMF), a Senate shell bill with fracking regulations stuffed in as an amendment passed the House Executive Committee unanimously.

The shell bill, purportedly a change to an obscure Weights and Measures law, was co-sponsored by Illinois state Senator Dave Koehler, D-Peoria, and has already passed the Senate unanimously.

The May 20 premiere of Gasland Part II was amazing. The documentary is a long two-hour recap of what has happened across America since the original Gasland movie was released. It was so stuffed with details about harms to local communities, good science gone bad, evil industry tactics and the failures of democracy, it’s hard to summarize. A few key things struck me.

Almost every regulatory study I know of … from the EPA study in Colorado to the Dimmick PA water study to the air emissions analysis in Dallas … has been released with conclusions suggesting fracking is harmful and then re-evaluated following heavy industry pressure and reissued with a “no substantive conclusion” finding.

Promises to connect impacted villages to nearby municipal water supplies have been brushed aside. Individuals working to make the truth about fracking known, including Cornell engineering professor Anthony Ingraffea who challenged the stability of well casings and suggested fracking’s global warming footprint to be greater than coal and Josh Fox himself, have been defamed and harassed by the oil and gas industry.

Chilling recaps of insider conferences reveal an industry using tactics from military PSYOPS (psychological ops) to treat local communities in fracking’s path like insurgents in a war zone. Double speak by regulatory officials, governors and President Obama is called out.

 The facts are interwoven with individual stories ranging from dirt poor backwoods multi-generation homesteads to the middle class mayor of Dish TX forced from his family home by the air pollution endangering his two sons to a wealthy Dallas suburbanite whose house is uninhabitable due to excessive methane levels.

In all of these cases, no justice was served at all. And, far too many of the other stories had no real ending because financial hardships forced landowners to settle with the oil and gas companies and sign gag orders.

The film ends with a look at what lies ahead and it’s frightening to contemplate. The second of eighteen liquefied natural gas terminals was recently given a green light by the Obama administration. It seems fracking won’t even bring us energy independence or lower prices … instead the gas will be shipped overseas … ensuring that record oil and gas company profits continue to flow away from the nexus of harm.

After the film, Gasland II director Josh Fox and Dr. Sandra Steingraber (PhD biologist, author, cancer survivor and founder of Americans Against Fracking) took questions from the audience.

There was a significant amount of frustration and anger about the coalition of Illinois green groups that are supporting the regulatory bill with Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Illinois Sierra Club and the Illinois Environmental Council (IEC) taking most of the heat. There was lots of discussion about the need to build a large, broad-based citizen movement and heavy pressure to join in on the action in Springfield the next day.

The film will continue touring this summer and should air in late summer/early fall on HBO.

On May 21, the Executive Committee hearing on the regulatory bill was packed. The organizing call the night before worked and left most of the staffers and lobbyists scrambling for a place along the wall when the hearing started.

Rep. John Bradley, (D, Marion) who headed the committee that drafted the regulations, gave an impassioned account of the bill and its history. He claimed that protecting water was his first and foremost objective.

His speech was followed by supportive remarks from representatives of Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Governor Pat Quinn. Then Jenn Walling from the Illinois Environmental Council gave a conciliatory endorsement suggesting fracking was already happening and, even though none of the green groups supporting the regulatory bill wanted to see fracking move forward, it was essential to update the paltry regulations in place today.

Mark Denzler of the Illinois Manufacturer’s (or Moneygrubbers as IPA calls it) Association talked about the broad coalition supporting the bill … environmentalists, labor, farmers, chamber of commerce, etc.

Next the opposition was given an opportunity. Sandra Steingraber spoke from her New York experiences and her scientific training asking for a moratorium so that the science can be settled.

She asked those who had come to the hearing to oppose the bill to stand and 80-100 people rose. She challenged the notion that fracking was already happening likening Jenn Walling’s remarks to a red scare suggesting that there was a drilling rig under every bed in Southern Illinois.

Dr. Steingraber closed with a plea that Illinois value itself more and say no to fracking.

Josh Fox spoke next and asked how many on the committee had actually visited a fracking site. I am pretty cynical, but even I was a bit taken aback that not one person on the committee raised a hand. He shared a number of human stories he had recorded in his journeys across America.

Carolyn Raffensperger, attorney and former head of the Illinois Environmental Council, also spoke, pointing out that without enforcement the regulations would mean nothing. She then cited a March 2013 conference where the Illinois Attorney General’s office lamented just this issue with regard to both IEPA and IDNR.

She, along with Dr. Bill Rau from IPA and Tabitha Tripp of SAFE, urged a moratorium due to the number of unknowns, the concerns about air and water supply and the lack of local community participation in the “closed door” meetings where the regulations were hammered out.

Each opposition speaker was given less and less time and finally things came to an end. The vote quickly proceeded with no questions of any witness and the bill was unanimously approved.

When Jen Walling first spoke, I disagreed with her but remembered that people of good conscience can disagree. Then as I watched her trade nudges and whispers with Rep. Bradley during the opposition testimony I felt a little less charitable.

The reality of the situation began to sink in.

Those closed door meetings included no doctors, no engineers, no public health professions and no local community representatives. Instead, the environment was represented by three attorneys (NRDC, IEC and Environmental Law & Policy Center) and a registered lobbyist/MBA (Faith in Place).

Sierra Club, an organization that misguidedly supports the regulations on similar grounds, was part of the endorsing coalition but not included in the actual closed door meetings.

There have been no public hearings, there has been no health study, no evaluation of IDNR/IEPA capacity to regulate, no guidebook created to help local communities manage the impact, etc. This is not democracy to me.

The after-the-fact press conference was well-attended and covered in the Tribune, Crain’s Chicago Business and a few other places. Most papers just picked up the Trib story in part.

At the press conference the witnesses reiterated their remarks and Dr. Lora Chamberlain of ICMF began laying the groundwork for next steps … find a sponsor to introduce an unfriendly moratorium amendment on the house floor, find a sponsor for a senate shell bill to put a moratorium in play on the senate side, and appeal to Governor Quinn.

A portion of the group then went to Quinn’s office in the Capitol demanding a meeting and three people staged a sit in resulting in one arrest. These are pretty much last ditch efforts, but in my opinion all worth pursuing because even if they don’t proceed they may provide momentum to clean up the front end (property rights, forced pooling, etc.) and back end (injection well disposal) of the horrid fracking process.

Next, the fracking regulations will reportedly go before the full Illinois house. It seems the game’s been rigged but I’m hoping for a miracle, and signing off  to send a few more faxes and make some phone calls.

 -- Tracy Fox

 

My take:  What do the Dems get out of this?  Union support?  Campaign contributions?  Sad.  Koehler used to be a friend of the environment. Now he's willing to sell it out for money?  As for the Sierra Club and others, who knows what they expect to get.  Guess they've joined the Obama/teachers union  strategy to turn on their base and give in to the opposition without a fight. Good luck with that. (Not.)  Or maybe they're hoping for a big contribution from the oil and gas industry and their allies in this fracking fight.  Will they accept it?  Finally, the lesson here is that democracy seems to be dead in Illinois, as polticians don't care if people don't want what they're pushing. They think we'll forget when the next election comes along. We wont.

 -- Elaine Hopkins 

West Side Story: good but...

PEORIA -- The musical classic West Side Story played May 20 at the Peoria Civic Center and plays again on May 21.  It's worth seeing, but not wonderful.  This production deserves a B plus.

The familiar music is great, of course.  Geniuses of the 20th century composed it, Leonard Bernstein with Stephen Sondheim, who wrote the brilliant lyrics. Jerome Robbins did the original choreography.

The orchestra sounded terrific, and the dancing was the high point of the show - beautifully done. 

But this non-Actors Equity company proved better at dancing than singing and acting.  Their dialogue, some in Spanish, was weak. They talked too fast, didn't enunciate, and often didn't speak loudly enough to be heard clearly. Sad.

Was that partly the fault of the sound system?  Who knows!

The actors were OK as singers but not great, and again didn't enunciate the lyrics clearly at times.  They also lacked the charisma of experienced, polished performers who know how to sell a song.

One of the cleverest numbers in musical theater, "Officer Krupke," wasn't handled as well as it has been done in other productions, and the lyrics of another favorite song, "America," were mostly muddled.

The sets were good enough but ordinary, not spectacular.

As I watched the show, my mind began to play with it, and I realized that West Side Story is somewhat dated.  What is a 'zip gun?'  And when is the last time you heard the term 'Daddy-O' or 'stool pigeon?' or even 'rumble,' e.g. a fight.

True, these terms were in general use when it was first written in 1957.  But after seeing the Metropolitan Opera's production of Rigoletto on PBS last week, brilliantly set in Las Vegas of the 1960s, I began to wonder whether West Side Story also could be updated.

The Puerto Rican gang the Sharks could become a gang of undocumented or illegal immigrants.  The street toughs called the Jets (Italians?), could be African Americans or Africans or people from the Middle East or Asia. (Maria in a burka?). When the lyric 'Stick to Your Own Kind' comes along, it would have real meaning to a contemporary audience.

Of course, West Side Story is just a modern version of Romeo and Juliet, so why stop with a setting of more than a half century ago? 

If a classic like West Side Story can't be touched, and/or much of the music likely wouldn't work in a re-do, there's another solution. The HBO series The Wire could be adapted for musical theater for a more contemporary look at today's youth culture and its problems. 

It would take new geniuses to create the music and lyrics. But it's all there:  the rival gangs, the police, the lovers. What's not to like?

 -- Elaine Hopkins 

PHA tables newly revised Trespass List policy, for now

PEORIA -- The Peoria Housing Authority on May 20 tabled a revised but flawed Trespass List policy.  "I'm not comfortable we have an appropriate appeals process," board member Carl Cannon said. "We can revisit" the policy later, he added.

The policy is an imrprovement over the current policy (see stories listed under the civil liberties category)  but lacks an appeals process, as Hedy Elliott Gardner and I have requested numerous times at the board meetings.

We spoke again at the meeting before the board tabled the policy.

The meeting was held at Sterling Towers, the high rise residence for elderly and disabled people. The board got an earful at the public comments section. Residents complained about lack of building security, open doors, a buzzer system that has not worked in months, delayed construction, even lack of heat and water pressure.

In addition, a woman complained about an incident at Taft Homes on May 16, when many police with rifles  showed up during an event where residents were mourning a death.  "We were treated like animals," she said. Police used "unnecessary force, I was devastated."  Women and children were treated badly, she said. "It's not right."

She urged the board to contact police about the incident.

A former resident board member, Regina Morgan, said residents should elect her replacement, rather than allowing the person to be appointed.  The board is looking for her replacement, and asking people to send letters and nominations.

She also complained about the police "swat team" at the Taft Homes incident, saying she "felt like we're in a third world country.  You're dealing with real, live people here."

 -- Elaine Hopkins

Protest Schock

PEORIA --  The Alliance for Retired Americans plans a protest on June 3 to highlight Cong. Aaron Schocks horrible record on Social Security and Medicare.

From a news release:

Rep. Schock received a score of 0 on the Alliance for Retired American’s Congressional Voting Scorecard, which details his votes on key legislation affecting current and future retirees. Click here to see the scorecard.

It's time for Rep. Schock to improve his score and protect Social Security and Medicare. Join the Alliance to call on Rep. Schock to take pro-retiree votes, including opposing the current proposal in Congress to use chained CPI to calculate the COLA for Social Security benefits.

Monday, June 3rd
11:00am
U.S. Representative Aaron Schock’s Office
100 N.E. Monroe St
Peoria, IL 61602

We will hear from speakers about the latest attacks on retirement security in Congress and deliver petitions that ask him to oppose the chained CPI proposal. For more information about chained CPI, please see the attached fact sheet.

I hope you see you at the event!

Sincerely,

Emily Stuart

Alliance for Retired Americans

(312) 427-2114 ext. 207

Anti-fracking event

PEORIA -- From a news release:

Illinois People's Action GASLAND II
510 E. Washington Street, Suite 309, Bloomington, IL 61701
Tel. (309) 827-9627 | [email protected] | illinoispeoplesaction.org

Dear IPA Supporter,

I want to invite you to a very cool fundraising event to benefit our work against natural gas fracking in Illinois.

This coming Monday, May 20th IPA is hosting Oscar nominated Director of GASLAND II, Josh Fox, and Sandra Steingraber (Illinoisan and founder of NY’ers Against Fracking) in our IPA regional office to help financially support our organizing.

The event will be this Monday at 4pm in our office located at 510 E. Washington Street, Suite 309, Bloomington IL 61701.

Josh and Sandra are helping us in our grassroots fundraising efforts as we campaign to keep our water and land safe from big energy corporations. Bloomington is the first stop on Josh’s national tour of GASLAND II, premiering at the Normal theatre, in uptown Normal IL at 7pm that same evening – plan to attend!

Since our new environmental organizing campaign began just a few months ago, we’ve organized over 1,000 citizens across Illinois on having our voices heard both in the Legislature and corporate offices. We’ve engaged in six direct actions, ranging from the Governor’s office to the Illinois Petroleum Council and other big energy lobbyists.

But we’re funding the campaign directly through our grassroots fundraising efforts, through contributions from people like you!

It takes money to fight money, and we need to ask you for your help again. Many of our major donors contribute at least $100, and we respectfully ask you consider an amount that’s significant to you. If you can’t make the fundraiser please consider making a donation directly through our website.

We look forward to seeing you for this fundraiser this coming Monday, May 20 at 4pm in our offices. Please RSVP to 309-827-9627 or [email protected].

Thanks!

Don Carlson Barbara Heyl
Executive Director host

PS: Parking is available behind the building (old Bloomington Jr. High) and along McLean streets. Building is accessible off McLean St with an elevator near the back entrance.