Page 1 of Oct 15 1995 Issue of Cedar Rapids Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Cedar Rapids Gazette October 15, 1995 Page 1 old newspaper archives

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Gazette (Newspaper) - October 15, 1995, Cedar Rapids, Iowa Fry ponders wallpaper like a pro next move late pick lets Hawks escape Indiana 22-13 sports expert s tips smooth hang Home real estate a Celebration of czech and slovak culture special Section wite sunday oct. 15, 1995 food and finances convenience is key at supermarket Banks Money forecast today monday mostly sunny and warmer High 62 Low 37 mostly sunny and Windy ,. High 69 Low 50 weather details 18a final / vol 113 no. 279 the newspaper of Eastern Iowa Cedar rapids Iowa $1.75 from drugs to clothes former . Gang member finds new Legal occupation by Rick Smith Gazette staff writer in a Small suite on the Edge of the czech Village retail strip just up the Street from the new museum president Clinton will dedicate saturday a newly opened clothing store is taking a Chance on a one time gangster disciple gang member who says he s gone legitimate. For Chris cungtion the up scale boutique is his attempt at entrepreneurial transition. From crack cocaine to clothes says the Chicago area native who arrived in Cedar rapids in 1991. Cungtion came Here in a Stream of other african american chicagoan outfitted with a big City gang affiliation and a desire to profit from an emerging Market in crack cocaine. Cedar rapids was a dry Cornfield and we were going to be irrigation explains cungtion now 23. For smart drug dealers in midwestern cities away from remember laying in my cell thinking Damn drugs Damn gangs Damn everything 9 Chris cungtion Chicago making up to $10,000 a week was not out of the question he says. I made a Little Money he admits. And i spent a lot of Money. I spent More Money getting out of trouble than i did getting into cungtion has endured a Brief prison stint and Long months in a Halfway facility on a drug charge. Ticket to staying free he now sees helping run a retail store a t he4icket la " staying free settling into a new marriage and raising a son. However four years after his drug conviction he s still involved in a skirmish with the correctional system. Going legit is tougher than it sounds. It just so happens that the past haunts you he says. Cungtion is an articulate firsthand chronicler of the five year Story of crack cocaine and the arrival of Chicago area gang members in Cedar rapids. He knows because he was a player. Beyond that the admitted one time gangster disciple s attempted transformation begs a turn to 6a turnaround Gazette photo by. Lisa Powell Chris cungtion has gone from being a Cedar rapids gang member and crack cocaine dealer to manager of the up scale boutique. An insider s View of crack gang scene in . By Rick Smith Chris cungtion had fallen out with the . Marines after a year and was attending a Chicago area Junior College in the fall of 1991 when a High school Friend asked him if he wanted to make some easy Money. Cedar rapids was the place to go. Before the 19-year-old cungtion knew it he had put up $100 for cocaine and was pulling into Cedar rapids with Richard Bailey. Bailey now serving a seven year Federal prison sentence for crack cocaine dealing had made a drug connection Here. Cungtion s $100 became $1,000 just like that. And without intending it cungtion became perfectly placed to record the evolving Story of crack cocaine and the Chicago gang presence in Cedar rapids. He now says it did t matter in 19&l in what was the Pristine crack cocaine turf of Cedar rapids that his gang Pedigree and Bailey s conflicted. Cungtion had grown up a gangster disciple while Bailey a vice lord had come from the rival Side of the nation of gangs. No matter. The two were Here to make Money dealing crack. Cungtion returned to Chicago reinvested his $1,000 in drug proceeds and returned to Cedar rapids with Bailey. He sold More crack and Hung out with a new Girlfriend. Busted in Cedar county on the next trip from Chicago speeding on interstate 80 in Cedar county he was pulled Over by state troopers. There was crack and powdered cocaine in the Glove Box after 75 Days in the Cedar county jail in Tipton he pleaded guilty to a drug charge had a 10-year prison sentence suspended and was placed on probation. He moved to Cedar rapids. At the time in 1992, an Effort was speeding ahead to establish a gangster disciple a turn to 6a gangs czech & slovak museum & Library connections helped land 3 presidents Clinton Havel Kovac coming to . Saturday by Dale Kueter Gazette staff writer it never crossed Ann Bergren s mind that the president of the United states would say no. Fixed in her mind was this equation it would be Good for him to come and it would be Good for Cedar rapids and the new museum. Last november As the National czech & slovak museum & Library took shape along the Banks of the Cedar River in czech Village so did dedication planning. Bergren then development director at the museum was thinking big. Would t it be great the conversation went if the presidents of the czech and slovak republics came for the dedication and would t it be fantastic if president Clinton came too Clinton is coming for Sarn Day s. Jestis is. Specific details will be decided by the White House Advance team Early this week. A.,prop$sed schedule would have him and other dignitaries tour the new museum. Then the president would go to the five seasons Center to deliver his main address. Clinton will be joined by czech preside Vaclav Havel and slovak president Michael k vac. Maybe it sounds silly says Bergren recalling her formula for How to invite a president Burl just figured nothing ventured nothing she did have a significant advantage. She worked on Clinton s 1992 Campaign. She had friends in the White House. She was among those at the Clinton first White House Christmas party in late 1993. Still you just Don t Barge into the Oval room with an invitation card. Bergren took the cautious route. What do you think she asked her Friend Mike Lux special assistant to the president. She was encouraged. So the formal invitation was written and a nor de to White House aide Marcia Scott. Contact with Scott was maintained and eventually William Webster the president s scheduler responded " Well consider it he said. It was t a Flat no Bergren says. Armed with new enthusiasm Bergren s next step was to solicit Cedar rapids business and labor leaders More than two dozen of them -4 to add their personal invitations to the president those letters were sent in late summer. Bergren so turn to 4a presidents Ann Bergren nothing ventured nothing gained support for tree sculpture splinters Gazette photo by Chris Stewart by Patricia Harris Gazette news intern what started As a simple plan to put a 60-foot stainless steel tree in downtown Cedar rapids has grown into a conflict Between supporters of the tree of five seasons sculpture and those concerned about where it will go who s going to take care of it and what it s going to look like. The tree was the brainchild of Gary Anderson the Man who in 1975 designed the logo to illustrate the City s motto City of five while the logo enjoys wide usage the idea of turning it into a three dimensional six Story High sculpture Gary Anderson designer of the controversial tree of five seasons responds to his critics by describing himself As a doer who did t wait for a contest to put his vision in motion. A the tree was the brainchild of Gary Anderson the Man who in 1975 designed the logo to illustrate the City s motto City of five has generated opposition most of it concerning the proposal s aesthetics and the process by which it was approved and is being funded. Mel Andringa chairman of the City s visual arts commission a panel appointed last year by mayor Larry Serbousek thinks the tree is a piece of Art and should abide by the two main tenets of the commission s plan for Art around the City. Art on City property should be chosen through a Competition Andringa said. Also the Public should be part of the Andringa contends neither was used by the tree of five seasons committee. But the tree is not meant to be Art said members of the tree committee. It is first and Foremost a marketing tool for the City. Bill Munsell co chairman of the tree committee describes the sculpture As a three dimensional Extension of a 20-year-old he said people complaining about the tree make up a Small group trying to deep six the project. As for those who complain about the proposed sculpture s aesthetics Munsell said everybody s entitled to their opinion. Whenever you do something like this there Are people who Are going to say they Don t like Anderson a senior vice president of com a designed the tree to represent the City s logo and motto. He defends the sculpture and his role in its creation. People act like if we do this it s the end of Public landmarks for the City. This does t have to be the Only thing that s built in the City he said. I a turn to 5a sculpture Index automotive. F births.13a bondy.2c books.4d City briefs. 17a Cit line. 19a classified. E crisscross.2d crossword.21f deaths. 12a deupree.2a editorial. 7-9a family.3d farm. 10c health.7d Home. E Horoscope 10f, Iowa today 11a life Leisure. D 13a milestones. M Money.". C . 5d older. 6d people.2a pol. Notes.9a real estate e sports. B travel."100 to list. 5d weather. 18a puzzles. 2d today s chuckle the West was won by men on horseback and lost by men on Bulldozer

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