A good, enlightening time was had by all at the 9th annual Civil Liberties Monitoring Project (CLMP) public forum, held Saturday September 25 in Redway. KMUD radio personality FredintheHills, after announcing his impressive educational credentials, was a delightful moderator and commentator. CLMP board member Marie Mills was given the Bonnie Blackberry Civil Liberties award in recognition of her service and guidance to CLMP.

HSU Professor Barbara Goldberg, one of the founders of the Humboldt Committee for Conscientious Objectors (HCCO) spoke about the draft. Professor Goldberg said although Congressional bills to reinstate the draft (SB89 and HR163), introduced in January 2003, seem to be going nowhere, the "poverty draft" is well underway and military recruitment in the schools is rampant. The "No Child Left Behind" Act requires all schools to provide military recruiters with name, address and phone number of all children over the age of 15, unless their parents opt out by signing a form yearly. (Such a form is available at http://www.civilliberties.org/Ad_Parents_.pdf). However, signing a form does not totally protect children, Ms. Goldberg said. High school ring companies have been selling their data to military recruiters and vocational testing done in schools is sometimes administered by the military. Vocational test results provided to the military allow them to tailor their pitches to students, highlighting career interests like aviation. Goldberg estimated it costs $15,000 yearly per recruit for recruiting programs.

Selective Service registration is a requirement--and every young man who fails to register is guaranteed to be ineligible for federally funded student loans, job training and federal jobs. But Goldberg stressed that signing up for "delayed entry" into the military does not obligate young people to enlist, and recruiters don't always let people know about this. In fact, she said, recruiters sometimes falsely tell delayed entry students they must enlist or face going AWOL or having a permanent black mark on their records that will preclude them from employment or college. The website www.girights.org has a sample letter students may use to de-enlist from delayed entry programs. The GI Rights hotline has served 9700 callers in two years and Goldberg asked for volunteers to answer the hotline at 800-394-9544.

Goldberg said that 40% of our forces in Iraq are National Guard troops, some of whom are at the end of their service contract but are held beyond this time by "Stop-Loss," put in place by Bush to keep active duty National Guard and reservists who are deployed or about to be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan beyond their contract obligations.

Christina Allbright of North Coast ACLU brought information in support of the SAFE Act (S. 1709) which would roll back some of the worst PATRIOT Act provisions, protecting library records and limiting "sneak and peek" searches. Legislation known at the CLEAR Act (HR 2671) and the Homeland Security Enhancement Act (S. 1906) would require state and local law enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration laws without providing additional resources to local agencies. The ACLU and the California Police Chiefs' Association oppose these bills. More information can be found at www.aclunc.org.

Allbright said in Humboldt county the ACLU and the Human Rights Commission worked to get an ordinance limiting the Patriot Act passed, although at the last minute Supervisor Rodoni changed the word "persons" to "citizens." ACLU and HRC are working to reinstate rights for all in the language. She told of the history of the effort to establish a citizens' review board for police in Humboldt county. As a compromise, liaisons to each law enforcement agency were established instead of a review board, but Allbright said this system has disintegrated. She encouraged citizens to continue to take complaints to the Grand Jury and to liaisons, as well as to advocate for a bone fide citizens' review board (but she predicted it will be a long haul before we get one.)

The Forest Peace Alliance, formed after the death of activist David Gypsy Chain, has been another frustrating process; however Allbright said a panel including Chain's mother Cindy Allsbrooks and forest defender Remedy plans to speak at a series of upcoming town hall meetings. She put out a call for more observers in Freshwater and the Mattole, acknowledging that since observers may be trespassing they would be less effective. She is looking to seek an injunction against arresting independent observers and asked for volunteer help in researching the issue. Allbright ended her speech by calling this an exciting but challenging time, saying that although many are angry or cynical, optimistic voices will be heard if they are loud enough.

Dale Gieringer of California NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) said he expects a watershed year in cannabis reform, largely due to the anxiously awaited Supreme Court decision in Raich v. Ashcroft. A ninth circuit appeals court ruling in that case says the federal government does not have the power to outlaw medical marijuana under the commerce clause. Gieringer is hopeful the so-called "drug exception" to the constitution so often seen at the Supreme Court level will not apply to this case, which is based on strong states-rights arguments drawn from decisions by the Court's conservative majority. If the Court rules positively in Raich, Geiringer said it will be "monumental" and would require a re-writing of the federal Controlled Substances Act.

Gieringer called SB420, the state law on medical marijuana which went into effect at the first of the year, "confusing, dubious, and of questionable constitutionality" especially regarding the acts so-called limits or guidelines on cultivation and possession. He noted that although Humboldt county's BOS's enacted more generous guidelines, cities within the county (Eureka, Fortuna, and Trinidad) are enacting their own limits instead. He said the California Highway Patrol, which is independent of the Attorney General's office, has been unique among law enforcement in ignoring the medical marijuana law and recognized audience member Jason Fishbain who he called resourceful enough to get the written policy from CHP and is working on obtaining an injunction against CHP for arresting patients (see www.stophippieprofiling.org). CHP has announced it will follow SB420, which allows for transportation by patients, once state ID cards are issued, which Gieringer predicted will be sometime between February and April 2005.

Gieringer said he met with Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry a year ago, and called him the most positive candidate on the drug issue since Jimmy Carter. Kerry pledged to set up a commission to study the medical marijuana issue, and unprompted expressed his opinion that far too many low-level drug offenders are in prison due to mandatory minimum sentences. Kerry repeatedly voted against mandatory minimum sentences and the death penalty for drug "kingpins" while in the Senate, and he also voted against mandatory drug testing for transportation workers. However, he believes in forfeiture and voted to end welfare benefits for drug offenders. For those who wish to make a protest vote in the upcoming election, Gieringer suggested voting for Judge James Gray, a libertarian who is running against Senator Barbara Boxer on a platform to end the drug war. Boxer has done nothing to help medical marijuana patients for eight years and is unlikely to be unseated by her Republican challenger Rep. Bill Jones. Jones is author of "Three Strikes You're Out" legislation, which is up for reform with Prop. 66 on the ballot, a measure supported by CA NORML.

Measure Z, a measure in favor of taxing and regulating cannabis use by adults (in other words legalizing it) qualified for the ballot in Oakland this November. There is strong support for the measure, said Gieringer, with 70% of Oakland voters polled in favor of legalizing marijuana outright. The California Nurses' Association endorsed the measure, and Alameda County Democratic Party gave unanimous support. The measure would be advisory until state law is changed, and would de-prioritize cannabis offenses in the meantime. "We want Amsterdam in Oakland ASAP," said Gieringer, to the audience's delighted applause. If successful, the measure will be taken to other sympathetic locales, in the same manner that won statewide support for medical marijuana.

Spring Lundberg, fresh from a second trial in the seven-year pepper spray lawsuit, began her talk with an amusing song, "I Really Like the Cops," which she said clarified her opinion of the people who daubed pepper stray into her eyes when she was 17 years old. The jury deadlocked 6-2 in favor of the plaintiffs, and Lundberg read a letter one of the jurors sent to www.nopepperspray.org saying she was "greatly troubled and disappointed" as well as "appalled" by the jury's failure to denounce the "excessive force" used by law enforcement. Defense attorneys refused to accept a non-unanimous jury verdict, and offered no settlement that included an end to the practice of direct application of pepper spray. Nonetheless, Lundberg noted, the lawsuit has had the effect of ending the practice, calling it a "working injunction... protecting the eyeballs of those engaged in forest defense." Lundberg said that her legal team, the same one that won a $4.4 million verdict in the Judi Bari/Darryl Cherney lawsuit, told her that the defense will regret making the trial a dress rehearsal for the next one. She ended with a song she wrote urging citizen action called, "It's Up to Us."

Forest activist Remedy spoke next and thanked Lundberg for protecting her eyeballs, noting that that day had seen Pacific Lumber/MAXXAM forcibly removing treesitters on Gypsy Mountain. "We need to be more diligent in filing complaints instead of just complaining," she said, and backed up her words by announcing that she has filed a lawsuit against Pacific Lumber and the contractor who removed her from the tree where she was sitting in March 2003. Remedy has also been served with a SLAPP suit and invited participants to come to court and witness the proceedings in Eureka.

The evening's end saw the drawing of the annual Win-A-Trip to Maui fundraising raffle. The winning ticket, picked by Remedy, belonged to Marilyn Haber. Congratulations, Marilyn and thanks to all who sold raffle tickets and made the evening possible. Special thanks to the Hockett family and Marie for the delicious food and drink.