News and Events

2001 - The Year in Review
by Steve Fabian, Co-Chair

Much has changed since we last met in February 2001. Over a thousand people are being detained in this country while the government refuses to disclose their names or locations. Secret evidence and secret trials are being held in our immigration courts. Profiling by law enforcement is on the rise. Government eavesdropping on attorney-client conversations has been announced. Wiretaps and monitoring of e-mails, internet usage and telephone conversations without court order is now the law. Broad inroads into everyone's privacy and other civil liberties have occurred under the name of national security.

Yet at the same time there is much good news. Support for the death penalty keeps eroding as more and more people are being freed from long prison terms and death sentences after later being found to have been innocent. Illinois has placed a moratorium on executions and the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to reconsider a previous ruling that said the execution of the mentally retarded was not cruel & unusual punishment.

Locally, the chapter has been active. Members of the Board have continued the practice of going to classrooms in Sonoma schools to talk about student rights, distribute information and talk about civil liberties. We have distributed thousands of Your Rights & the Police cards in the past year in both English & Spanish. We have spoken local service clubs about civil liberties issues and held a series of meetings with our members at the Petaluma, Sebastopol and Santa Rosa libraries. We presented a forum America's Response to Terrorism: The War On Our Civil Liberties to explain the effects of the passage of the USA-Patriot Act and other regulations on our civil liberties. Our tabling included being at the Progressive's Festival in Petaluma and Martin Luther King Jr. celebration.

Board member Marvin Pederson and Irv Sutley spent most of the past year in negotiations with the City of Rohnert Park which resulted in the city stopping the practice of starting the first city council meeting of the year with a prayer and adopting a new city seal that dropped the religious symbols contained in the old one.

Over the summer the chapter sponsored three scholarships to the Labor and Social Action Summer School to help train future activists.

Judith Volkart and Steve Fabian met with members of the Sonoma County Grand Jury to discuss how complaints against law enforcement officers are being handled by local agencies.

David Grabill and Susan Williamson represented a homeless man arrested at a parking garage for violating a Santa Rosa law outlawing sleeping in public. After getting the charges dismissed, a claim was filed against the city for arresting people when there was no shelter space available. Negotiations lead to the city agreeing to provide and fund a new homeless shelter.

The chapter interceded when the Santa Rosa schools threatened to eliminate or move to non-school hours the annual Day of Dialog. This event brought into the schools speakers on a wide variety of subjects. The schools received some complaints from parents about gay and lesbian issues. After some dialog, the board has agreed not to change it.

In a new effort to reach students to get them interested and more knowledgeable about-- civil liberties and to help them understand their rights, the chapter has begun placing youth outreach ads in all local high school newspapers letting them know that we have free pamphlets on students rights for them.

On a sad note we lost several friends and supporters this past year. Former board member Florence Juvinall passed. She and her husband Don Chase (also deceased) were active for many years with the chapter. Elaine Handy, a long time civil liberties activist, also passed away. A union activist in the south during the late 30's, she was later blacklisted from her job In the federal government during the McCarthy era. She moved to Sonoma in the 70's. She left a generous gift to the chapter to help with our work. Finally, Dick Day who was a long-term member and supporter. All will be missed.

We are making a difference. And we still have lots to do. If you are interested in helping call us at (707) 765-5005.

Past Newsletters:
Winter of 2002
Summer of 2001
Spring of 2001
Winter of 2001
Fall of 2000

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