[Peace-discuss] Federal cops keep us secure

[Ricky Baldwin]

Let's all turn ourselves in, vegan or not.

This "disorderly conduct" thing does remind me of a
story I inadvertently saw on the local news recently,
that emphasized how fluid the police authority can be:

A strip club or some such disreputable establishment
had been allowing its customers to bring in alcoholic
beverages.  As far as I could tell from the garbled
coverage, the municipal government had tried to stop
this practice with a law and the establishment had
found a loophole.  The courts seem to have agreed with
the club but suggested a way to plug the loophole. 
The local gov't had not yet taken this opportunity.

The sheriff, frustrated by the inaction of elected
legislators, took it upon himself to solve the
problem.  Deputies were posted outside the club. 
Anyone going in with booze was told to desist, even
tho the officer has no legal authority to stop them. 
Those who disobey are then arrested and jailed for
disobeying a law enforcement official.

Damn those civil libertarians!  They'll probably have
a problem with that, too!  Next they'll say the cops
can't fine someobody $75 for passing out leaflets in a
perfectly legal way!  (That was in Champaign at
Prospect for Peace, by the way, in case you missed
that one.)

Ricky  

--- Linda Evans <veganlinda at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Should I just turn myself over now?  I guess it is
> good for the group going to DC that we won't be able
> to make it on the bus tomorrow.  The kids have come
> down with the crud that is going around (maybe a
> germ
> spread by the government???) and I don't want all
> the
> people on the bus to come back from DC sick because
> of
> us.  Your chances of getting arrested will go down
> with four less vegans in your midst.
> 
> Linda (who is really, really, really bummed not to
> be
> going to DC, but maybe I can find a Honey Baked Ham
> place to protest)
> 
> --- "C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at uiuc.edu> wrote:
> 
> > [AWAREists might be aware that we are harboring
> > within our
> > group people who hold the views that attracted the
> > attention
> > of the police in this case.  --CGE]
> > 
> >   ACLU sues Homeland Security for arresting, 
> >   spying on vegans who protested ham
> >   09/22/2005 @ 10:53 am
> > 
> > The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a
> > federal
> > lawsuit in Atlanta on behalf of two vegan
> protesters
> > who were
> > subjected to imprisonment, arrest and harassment
> by
> > Homeland
> > Security officials, RAW STORY has learned.
> > 
> > The lawsuit stems from a Dec. 2003 incident, when
> > vegans
> > Caitlin Childs and Christopher Freeman were
> > protesting on
> > public property outside a Honey Baked Ham store in
> > Georgia's
> > DeKalb County.
> > 
> > After the protest, the duo noticed they were being
> > watched and
> > photographed by a man in an unmarked car. They
> > approached the
> > car and wrote down the make, model, color and
> > license plate
> > number on a piece of paper. They then noticed the
> > unmarked car
> > was following them.
> > 
> > According to the ACLU suit, the car contained both
> a
> > uniformed
> > police officer and an undercover detective, later
> > identified
> > as Homeland Security Detective D.A. Gorman. The
> two
> > pulled in
> > behind Childs and Freeman and ordered them to exit
> > their car.
> > 
> > Gorman then demanded that she turn over the piece
> of
> > paper on
> > which she had copied his license tag number.
> Childs
> > refused to
> > hand the paper over, and was handcuffed.
> > 
> > She was searched a male officer, despite her
> request
> > to be
> > searched only by a female officer, the ACLU says.
> > 
> > Both Childs and Freeman were arrested and charged
> > with
> > disorderly conduct. Police confiscated the piece
> of
> > paper and
> > Childs' house keys. Both were released from
> custody,
> > but
> > neither the piece of paper nor the keys were
> > returned. The
> > county has not pursued a criminal case.
> > 
> > To view the surveillance photos taken by Homeland
> > Security, go
> > to http://www.aclu.org/spyfiles/honeyham/1.html.
> > 
> > More from the ACLU's release:
> > 
> > "All across the country, the ACLU is uncovering
> > information
> > about Americans engaged in peaceful protest being
> > spied on by
> > Homeland Security, the FBI and local police," said
> > Debbie
> > Seagraves, Executive Director of the ACLU of
> > Georgia. "It is
> > deeply disturbing that the government would use
> > resources
> > intended to protect national security to instead
> spy
> > on
> > innocent Americans who do nothing more than
> express
> > their
> > opinions on social and political issues."
> > 
> > The ACLU argues that by stopping and detaining
> > Childs and
> > Freeman for no legal reason and then refusing to
> > tell them why
> > they had been pulled over, Detective Gorman and
> the
> > DeKalb
> > County Police Department deprived them of their
> > right to be
> > secure in their person and to be free from
> > unreasonable search
> > and seizure. The officials' actions violated the
> > First, Fourth
> > and Fourteenth Amendments of the federal and state
> > constitutions, charged the ACLU.
> > 
> > "People of this country need to realize that our
> > basic human
> > rights are being whittled away on a daily basis,"
> > Freeman
> > said. "I hope this case brings to light the fact
> > that anyone
> > can come under government security and pay the
> > price."
> > 
> > In addition to the lawsuit, the ACLU has filed
> > Freedom of
> > Information Act (FOIA) requests on behalf of
> Childs
> > and
> > Freeman to uncover any surveillance files kept on
> > the
> > activists by Homeland Security or other law
> > enforcement
> > agencies. ACLU affiliates in 15 other states have
> > filed
> > similar requests with the FBI on behalf of more
> than
> > 100
> > groups and individuals, as part of a nationwide
> > effort to
> > expose unlawful domestic spying.
> > 
> > Last month, the ACLU of Michigan obtained an FBI
> > report
> > summarizing a meeting that was intended to keep
> > local, state
> > and federal law enforcement agencies apprised of
> > planned
> > protests and activities by various groups and
> > individuals.
> > Among the groups discussed at the meeting were an
> > affirmative
> > action advocacy group and a peace and justice
> group.
> > 
> > The ACLU launched its national "Spy Files" effort
> > last year in
> > response to widespread complaints from students
> and
> > political
> > activists who said they were questioned by FBI
> > agents in the
> > months leading up to the political conventions.
> The
> > FOIA
> > requests seek two kinds of information: 1) the
> > actual FBI
> > files of groups and individuals targeted for
> > speaking out or
> > practicing their faith; and, 2) information about
> > how the
> > practices and funding structure of joint task
> forces
> > between
> > the FBI and local police may be encouraging
> rampant
> > and
> > unwarranted spying...
> > 
> >
>
<http://rawstory.com/news/2005/ACLU_sues_Homeland_Security_
> >
>
for_arresting_spying_on_vegans_who_protested_0922.html>
> > _______________________________________________
> > Peace-discuss mailing list
> > Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
> >
>
http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss
> > 
> _______________________________________________
> Peace-discuss mailing list
> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
>
http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss
> 


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com