[Peace] URGENT appeal for witnesses at Monday UPTV Commission meeting

[Randall Cotton]

Please forward this to "friendly" folks.

There is NEW obstruction of "Democracy Now!" broadcasts on UPTV by the
Urbana City Administration.

The UPTV Commission meeting agenda item for addressing "Democracy Now!" was
*REMOVED* at the last minute by some mysterious mechanism, against the
wishes of at least some of the UPTV Commissioners. It appears the City
Attorney, Steve Holz, was involved somehow. The text of the excised agenda
item was:

"Consider broadcasting Free Speech Television and Democracy Now on UPTV"

The current REVISED agenda is on the web at:

http://www.ci.urbana.il.us/urbana/mayor/boards/uptv_commission/agendas/uptv_agenda_09-13-04.pdf

and it contains no reference to FSTV or DN!

I don't yet know the details of how this happened, but it doesn't matter -
just the event itself is enough to prove there are still forces working
against this effort (despite the fact that the number of petition supporters
has now grown to over 1200).

Now, while this is a setback, it doesn't mean the battle is lost. Far from
it. In fact, there are still several possibilities for a favorable outcome.
However, given the empirical evidence of continuing opposition, it is more
CRUCIAL than ever that folks TURN OUT for the MONDAY, NOON meeting of the
UPTV Commission to WITNESS the proceedings (at City Council Chambers,
largest room on the ground floor, 400 S. Vine St., Urbana). A MASSIVE public
showing is needed to both dissuade the mayor and his staff (including the
City Attorney, Steve Holz, who will definitely be present) from further
opposition and obstruction and to give support to sympathetic UPTV
commissioners (and in my estimation, at least 5 of the 7 commissioners are
genuinely sympathetic).

IMPORTANT:

We do NOT need speakers. I'm appealing for WITNESSES, not speakers. Speakers
will actually work AGAINST a favorable outcome. This is because, unlike City
Council meetings, this meeting CANNOT be automatically extended. It is
scheduled for only ONE HOUR. The time taken up by audience participation is
time the Commission will NOT have to actually get something done. And the
commission (as a whole, anyway) is on our side.

I do plan on making a very short (1 or 2 minute) statement to at least
introduce the new petition signatures. And there may be a short statement
from Martel Miller/Patrick Thompson supporters (that issue will definitely
come up during the meeting - so folks interested in this issue have an added
incentive to attend). But beyond that, additional input from the public will
only IMPEDE progress.

Hope to see you on Monday at Noon =8-)
Thanks
R