BRIEFS

Filing your taxes

Doing taxes can be difficult for anyone, but for Spanish-speakers in mid-Missouri, it can be an even greater challenge.
Few tax professionals or groups in mid-Missouri offer assistance to Spanish-speakers. Sister Margaret Snyder, co-director of El Puente in Jefferson City, said none of the tax professionals in Jefferson City is bilingual, so most Latinos just help each other.

tax assistance Daniel Boone Regional Library, 100 W. Broadway on the second floor. Monday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. (Only in English) United Missouri Methodist Church, 204 S. Ninth St., Tuesday and Thursday from noon to 4 p.m. (Only in English) H&R Block in Marshall and Columbia have interpreters. Marshall: 779 S. Odell Ave., (660) 831-1040. Columbia: 503 E. Nifong Blvd. # C, (573)-256-2903. Internal Revenue Service tax specialists who speak Spanish can answer tax questions. 1-800-829-1040. www.adelanteonline.com

In Columbia, Daniel Boone Regional Library and the Missouri United Methodist Church provide tax help; however, tax filers must bring a translator. The American Association of Retired People gathers tax information and prints it on forms, but the group does not file the taxes.
H&R Block in Columbia and Marshall provide interpreters for customers who use their services.
The University of Missouri can help non-resident, Spanish-speaking students, professors or researchers file their taxes, said Judy Todd, Non-resident Alien Taxation Specialist at MU.
Spanish-speakers can also call the Internal Revenue Service’s toll-free phone system, which provides help and answers to tax questions in Spanish.

— Jane Di Leo

Monsanto target of colombia protest

Hundreds of activists across the Midwest are expected to mobilize in protest at Monsanto in Creve Coeur on March 24. The protest is part of a number of regional actions at corporate headquarters across the country by members of the National Mobilization on Colombia.
Organizers’ concerns are for the well-being of the Colombia farmers and civilians who live near the Round-Up herbicide-fumigated coca crops, which are usually located in rebel-occupied areas.
The United States fumigates the coca plants to combat drugs, but activists with the National Mobilization say the Pentagon buys Round-Up from Monsanto to use the herbicide in part of chemical warfare against farmers in rebel-held areas. They see Round-Up as a “dual-use chemical,” one that serves both a civilian and military purpose.
Steve Jacobs, co-founder of the St. Francis House and Colombia Mobilization’s Midwest Regional Organizer for the Monsanto action, said the government is using the drug war as a smoke screen to justify chemical warfare.
Human rights groups like Witness for Peace say the Pentagon bought $500 million of Round-Up from Monsanto and used it to attack crops with aerial fumigations in Colombia that led to sicknesses among the children and livestock, polluted water and destruction of food crops in environmentally sensitive areas. Starving out civilians to influence combatants is considered a terrorist war crime, Jacobs said.
“We want people to realize that there is terrorism sponsored by the U.S.,” Jacobs said.
Monsanto did not wish to comment on the protest.
Activists from 11 states and from various organizations affiliated with the National Mobilization on Colombia will first take part in teach-ins and nonviolence training at Grace United Methodist Church in St. Louis on March 23, and then go to Monsanto for a civil disobedience action. Activists will attempt to send citizen weapons inspection teams to search Monsanto for “dual-use agents” records and present Monsanto with a new sign announcing “Monsanto’s Chemical Warfare Division.”
Mobilization activists in Hartford, Conn., Atlanta and in Los Angeles will protest at other corporate headquarters as part of the “End Corporate Terror in Colombia” actions. More than 100 organizations make up the National Mobilization on Colombia and work to challenge and change United States and corporate policies.

— Melissa Ebberts

Bilingual poets in the making

Young poets across Columbia tried their hand at a new art form last month in a bilingual poetry contest sponsored by HLAFSA.

The Hispanic and Latin American Faculty and Staff Association sponsored the contest in Columbia Public Schools with two categories: one for junior high students and one for high schoolers. The theme was “Colores/Colors,” and students were asked to submit one poem in English and one poem in Spanish.

“I think the idea of the contest is to appreciate cultures from one side to the other,” said Joe Polacco, a local scientist, poet and HLAFSA member who helped organize the contest. “The best way to understand a culture is to understand the language. It’s interesting to see that often when people speak their native language, they become different people.”

Nancy Malugani, a Spanish teacher at West Junior High School in Columbia, said she hoped the contest would help work toward creating a bicultural community in Columbia, and was pleased by the excellent submissions from Latino students as well as non-Latino students.

A bilingual group of judges with poetry expertise will narrow down the 54 submissions to a small list. MU English professor Sherod Santos, whose poetry has been featured in publications such as the New Yorker, will select the winning entries.

The winning poems will be published in the May edition of Adelante.
Last year, Adelante sponsored a bilingual short story contest and offered prizes donated by area businesses. This year, thanks to a private donation, first place winners in both categories will receive $150, while second place winners will receive $100.

Winners will be announced at the end April, and there will be a ceremony for the winning poems at Ragtag Cinemacafé on Thursday, May 15, at 5:30 p.m. – Leslie Ruth