City Set to Amend "Son of Patriot Act"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 30, 2004


Media Contacts:
Heidi McLean (916) 456-9435
Craig Tucker (916) 995-1794

Local Activists Encouraged by Council's Cooperation
City set to Amend "Son of Patriot Act"

Sacramento, CA- Since hosting the heavily protested USDA Ministerial on
Biotech and Agriculture last year, area activists and city officials have
been at odds. However, at yesterday's city council meeting the tension
began to ease.

At issue is the city's parade ordinance, dubbed "Son of Patriot Act" by
area activists. The current ordinance places broad restrictions on props
and signs used by protestors. In addition activists claim the emergency
ordinance was passed secretively just days prior to when demonstrations
began. The ordinance was used to make at least 15 arrests during last
year's biotech protests. Charges were later dropped against the
protestors.

Last September, locals filled the council chamber to voice their
frustrations with how the city managed the protests and the passed the
ordinance. The line of speakers was passionate and sometimes angry as they
recounted stories of police harassment, maltreatment in the city jail, and
police brutality. A documentary video showed images of peaceful protestors
rallying against genetically engineered and chemically laden food products
who were time and again manhandled, shot with stun guns, and herded
through town by law enforcement officers. The video's climax was the
beating of Beverly Dove in Capital Park. This left local citizens outraged
by what they termed an over reaction by local officials.

The tone was different yesterday. The staff presented a draft of a new
ordinance to replace "Son of Patriot Act" to the Council. Although the
new proposed
ordinance has not been thoroughly reviewed, at first glance it appears to
be an improvement.

The focus of the activists who spoke before the council yesterday was on
the "process" for rewriting the ordinance. According to local civil rights
activist Heidi McLean, "We're cautiously optimistic about the council's
proposed changes, but we have some issues with the process the council has
set in motion." Although McLean cited some progress on resolving the civil
liberty issues addressed by the ordinance, she noted that last fall
council members gave the impression that citizens would be involved in
drafting a new ordinance. However, it is unclear as to who was consulted
as the rewrite was drafted.


Nevertheless, local civil rights activists felt encouraged. Pat Driscol,
Green Party candidate for Congress and civil rights activist said, "I look
forward to working with city officials in hopes that we can arrive at an
ordinance that allows for adequate security without violating
Sacramentans' civil liberties."

Others shared similar thoughts. "The city's management of the biotech
protests was nothing short of a civil rights disaster," stated Craig
Tucker. "I hope that now we can work together to make sure these sorts of
abuses never happen in Sacramento again."

The Deputy City Manager Ramirez, agreed to hold a public meeting/ to
solicit public input before the ordinance comes to the Council again on
August 5th. At yesterday's City Council meeting he was unable to tell
members when or where the meeting would be held.

Attached are a few quotes from the Sept. 16, 2003 City Council meeting for
reference.

Quotes from city council meeting on September 16, 2003.
(emphasis added. All available on video)

Fargo - 12:18 a.m. (Sept 17, 2003):

“Hopefully we (with organizers and city) heard each other and can move forward together…This will not be the last time we discuss this and decide how to move forward.”

Fargo - 11:48 pm:

“We’re gonna have to spend some more time listening and thinking about what we heard tonight.”

Hammond - 11:40 pm:

“I will tell you this though. It is more important that we have better communication. I said that about the traffic study, that we need better communication between the community and our police department. And I hope that that’s one of the reasons that we had this presentation tonight. And that’s, I hope, one of the reasons we had this presentation tonight. And I hope that you won’t lose faith and continue to be a part of that. Thank you.”

Cohn - 11:55 pm:

“And I think more dialogue is needed. And not just like this, at a council meeting. I would suggest maybe that the chief and some of the folks in our department and maybe some of the other law enforcement agencies involved maybe have a workshop to educate people about why we do certain things, to the extent we can do that without jeopardizing security. And likewise the folks from the coalition can share in a little more detail some of the concerns.

“I’d like to see a follow up - there’d be some dialogue. A workshop would be a better format frankly than the hearing…I think people are interested in a dialogue and that’s something we need to continue on.

“As far as the parade ordinance goes, I would like to think about getting some advice from some scholars…I don’t want to do this in a vacuum.”

Sheedy - 12:00 am:

“I do know that there’s more room for dialogue, I’m sure we’re gonna be doing that. Your views can be looked at, at the same way the other side can be looked at. And somewhere down the middle is where we have to go.”

City Manager Bob Thomas - 12:15 am:

“First of all, we look forward to working with the “law and leg” committee and council on reviewing the ordinance."

“…We’re gonna have more opportunity for more demonstrations and freedom of speech. We need to start that dialogue (that we talk to the community about what do we do in the future) to talk about what we learned on both sides. So that when the next demonstration occurs of this magnitude we’ve had that dialogue. Cause there wasn’t a lot of time for doing that.”