[Peace] WITNESSES NEEDED MONDAY ("Democracy Now!"/UPTV)

[Randall Cotton]

Please forward this to "friendly" lists and individuals...

Thanks to all who attended the UPTV Commission meeting on Monday! Because of
the overwhelming public turnout, the UPTV Commission is now unanimously on
our side! But all indications are that the mayor of Urbana and those that
work for him (such as Urbana city attorney Steve Holz) are STILL committed
to opposing "Democracy Now!" on UPTV.

Witnesses are *once again* needed at the next meeting of the UPTV Commission
(this coming Monday at noon) as the next step in this effort. More on this
below. First, though, here's a short description of the last meeting for
those of you that missed it:

The standing-room-only crowd jamming the city council chambers turned out to
be of crucial importance. The Urbana city administration (specifically, city
attorney Steve Holz, with the mayor looking over his shoulder) continued
attempts to obstruct, delay and pressure the UPTV Commission. But the strong
showing of public support for "Democracy Now!" gave the Commission the
backing they needed to stand up to the administration's interference and
bullying. Indeed, they voted *unanimously* in favor of new policy changes
that would clear the way for live, regular "Democracy Now!" broadcasts, just
as over 1200 local residents have asked for by petition.

But this battle may be *far* from over. Though the UPTV Commission's
recommendations have traditionally carried great weight, they are not
binding. And every indication is that the administration is *not* backing
down. Comments from the mayor to news outlets demonstrate continuing
opposition. And as of yet, there are no signs of cooperation with or
acceptance of the Commission's policy change recommendations.

Therefore, WITNESSES ARE NEEDED once again for the follow-up UPTV Commission
meeting at NOON, THIS COMING MONDAY, OCTOBER 20th again at the Urbana City
Council chambers (largest room on ground floor, 400 S. Vine St., Urbana).

Witnesses are needed because the Urbana city administration is scheduled to
report on whether they will *accept* the policy changes proposed by the UPTV
commission. They may try to stall. They may try to modify the Commission's
policy recommendations so that "Democracy Now!" will be excluded. Indeed,
they may just reject the recommendations *entirely*. It's crucial that
another strong public showing be in attendance to discourage any ongoing
obstruction by the mayor (Tod Satterthwaite), the city attorney (Steve Holz)
or anyone else in the administration AND to give positive support and
backing to the UPTV Commission, who have joined together unanimously to act
in the public's interest (just as they should =8-)

Please consider attending, even if it's for just part of the meeting. Don't
worry if you can't make it exactly at noon, don't worry if you can't stay
for the whole meeting. All public presence, even if it's just for a little
while, counts for a lot.

Thanks
R

PS: More details on the last meeting for those interested:

The mayor was present at the meeting, but he chose to observe the
proceedings in solitude from a table near the proceedings, but away from the
overflow audience. However, the City Attorney, Steve Holz was present (with
the mayor almost literally looking over his shoulder) and successfully
injected himself into the meeting's proceedings at the earliest possible
opportunity on the agenda, immediately delaying the commission's
deliberations for 10 minutes of the one-hour fixed-length meeting. He spoke
at length in wandering, repetitive, even contradictory monologues sprinkled
with direct attacks on the UPTV Commission for not following proper
procedures and alternating that with overt pressure on the Commission to
desist from advocating for "Democracy Now!" or even mentioning it in their
policy deliberations.

But the crowd loudly voiced their objection, directly appealing for the UPTV
Commission to act in the public interest and demanding the administration
stop interfering with the UPTV commission's business.

Here is the text of my statement (after which the crowd expressed approval
with loud and sustained applause)

=========== begin statement ===============
My name is Randall Cotton. I first expressed interested in getting
"Democracy Now!" broadcast on UPTV almost half a year ago. I first proposed
the idea to the city staff that runs UPTV and after a few initially
encouraging signs, I was unfortunately met with broken promises, mysterious
delays and finally, permanent stonewall back in early June. Later, I
proposed the idea to the UPTV Commission, the body meeting here today, and
though the commission as a whole seems receptive, the City administration
and especially the mayor, has acted to obstruct and delay action on this by
the Commission, in particular at the Commission's most recent meeting on
July 12th.

As part of my efforts, I started a petition of local citizens who join me in
requesting the broadcast of "Democracy Now!" on UPTV. At the commission's
last meeting, I presented more than 550 petition signatures. Right now I'm
presenting more than 650 more, for a total of over one thousand two hundred.

I'd also like to mention that W-E-F-T, the local radio station that
broadcasts the audio portion of "Democracy Now!" has sent a statement to the
Commission also encouraging them to broadcast the full video edition of the
show.

And at this point, I'd like to ask members in the audience who are here in
support of "Democracy Now!" on UPTV to raise their hands.

I submit that there is undeniable, documented, considerable public support
for this programming and we encourage the commission to move forward with
whatever votes or policy changes might be necessary to allow for this to go
ahead. And, we appeal to the city administration to refrain from further
interference in the business of the commission.

This audience is here today as a witness to these proceedings. And we're
here to see in person that the delay and the obstruction and the censorship
stops now.
=========== end statement ===============

The new petition signatures (now totaling over 1200) and the overwhelming
personal demonstration of public support gave the Commission the explicit
backing and support they needed to resist the pressure from the
administration and they voted unanimously in favor of two key public-access
policy changes that would clear the way for regular, live broadcasts of
"Democracy Now!". One change explicitly allowed for *satellite-based*
public-access broadcasts (this is how "Democracy Now!" would be received by
UPTV for retransmission). The other change allowed public-access requests
for program "series", including daily series like "Democracy Now!", whereas
up until now, only requests for *individual* programs could be submitted.

It was a significant accomplishment, but more work lies ahead. If you
haven't already boarded this train, please join us in this community effort
to fight government censorship of our public-access cable media and insist
that the full video edition of "Democracy Now!" be regularly broadcast live
on UPTV. Hope to see you on Monday at noon =8-)

Thanks again,
R