vol. 42, no. 2 (mislabled No. 10)
Primary tabs
March-April 1977
No. 10
Fenedorm of association comes under attack
By David M. Fishlow
Executive Director
Reader's Digest magazine promises
the following article in a forthcoming
issue:
"How a father `kidnapped' his son
from the `Moonies' - and brought him
back to life.'"' The article isn't yet
available, but the phenomenon it
apparently hails has become common, ~
and the civil liberties implications are
awesome.
In California, probate judges in
superior courts around the State have
signed at least a score of con-
servatorship orders, allowing parents to
remove their children (by force when
necessary) from the ranks of a number
of new and unorthodox religious
organizations, to hold them in-
communicado, and turn them over to
commercial services which promise to
The five church-members whose competency was at issue in the pioweck hearin
gathered in front of the City and County Building. (L to R) Jacqueline Katz, 21;
Janice L. Kaplan, 24; John F. Hovard, Jr.; Barbara Lael Underwood, 25; and Peale
Brown, 23.
"bring them back to life," as the Digest
puts it.
More often than not, the "children"
Capit ol crimes
By Brent Barnhart
Legislative Representative
_. the defeat. of death penalty
legislation once again headlines ACLU
lobbying efforts in Sacramento.
Though civil liberties encompass widely
varying areas of legislation from privacy |
through education, to rights of persons
civilly committed and concerns for
equal protection, the current near-
hysteria regarding the presence and
pervasiveness of crime and violence in
our society overshadows all other
legislative activities in which the ACLU
is involved. _
In the politics of anti-crime, the
_ death penalty, like the atom bomb,
becomes the ultimate means for those
who devoutly wish for an end-all
solution. Getting Tough with the
Criminal Element promises peace and
security, say the death penalty ad-
vocates.
Though no evidence has proven that
the death penalty has any deterrent
effect, thousands of Californians cling
to the belief that it poses the easy, final
solution. In the cacaphony produced by
the Chief Davis, Senator Richardson,
Attorney General Younger easy-
- solution hucksters, ACLU lawyers and
lobbysits face an enormous task. The
death penalty provides its proponents
- with considerable political capital, and
intimidates humane lawmakers who
wish to vote their consciences, and who
doubt the effectiveness of the end-all
solution.
In that setting the presence of an
effective lobby, promoting the con-
stitutional rights of all persons, and the
right of all persons to life as against the
power of organized society to end it, is
critical. The voices of humanity and
reason need to be heard by the
`Legislature as well as those of the
simplistic, the panic-stricken, and the
vengeful. Making those voices heard in
the midst of the frenzy is what ACLU
lobbying in the `77-78 Legislative
Session is about.
In 1977, the ACLU has a reunified
lobbying office. In the last
two-year session, ACLU/NC and
ACLU/SC operated separate offices
following the departure of Southern's
lobbyist from the joint office in late
1974. ACLU/NC's two-person staff has
been joined by Southern California's
new lobbyist, Mark Waldman, and by
staff-person Anne Walker Thomas.
Issues that the joint office must deal
with other than the death penalty in-
clude attempts by the Brown Ad-
ministration and law enforcement
interests to amend the new determinate
continued on page 3
are adults, whose only transgression is
to have endorsed one of several groups
considered by the parents or the courts
to be illegitimate users of the title
"religion."
The three groups most frequently
listed are as like each other as the
elephant and the porcupine. What they
have in common, however, is that all
have attracted substantial numbers of
young adults in recent years, and all
seem to create in their followers a kind
of zealous devotion uncommon to the
more traditional American religious
groups.
They all rely, further, on-
solicitation in the streets as a first
contact point for potential converts.
It is the Unification Church and its
San Francisco' affiliate, New
Educational Development Systems,
which are at the center of protracted
litigation involving the ACLU of
Northern California as amicus curiae.
Five persons - all of them over 21 years
of age - were declared incompetent by
Superior Court Judge S. Lee Vavuris
after a two-week hearing, placed in the
custody of their parents under the
conservatorship law, and turned over to
the Freedom of Thought Foundation,
an Arizona-based commercial outfit
which does the "`de-programming."'
That there was a hearing at all was in -
part the work of ACLU Attorney
Margaret C. Crosby, who had consulted
earlier with attorneys for the church in
the case of Jerome Feldman. Feldman,
according to the church, had disap-
peared one night on the way to the bus
stop. It was subsequently revealed that,
as has generally been the case, he had -
been declared incompetent by Judge
Vavuris without so much as an ap-
pearance in court and turned over to
the ``de-programmers'"' under a secret
- court order.
Yielding to insistent requests from
church lawyers Paul Goorjian and
continued on page 3
Friday, April 29 to Sunday, May I.
frontier civil liberties issues.
Bay Area.
Chapter-board conference planned
_ Greenwood Lodge, located in the Santa Cruz mountains will again be the site for
the ACLU's Annual Board-Chapter Conference scheduled to take place from
The Conference, which is the fifth annual - eaten of ACLU's northern
California activists, will explore ACLU's Chapter activities, and will consider
An exciting weekend has been planned by the ACLU Chapter Committee, which
| will begin Friday evening, April 29 at 6:30 pm. with a buffet supper. The Con-
ference site, located in Soquel is about a two hour drive from most places in the
continued on page 4
Members to vote in May
Recent changes in the By-laws which govern the election of the ACLU's Board of
Directors call for Board members to be elected by the ACLU's membership. The next
issue of the ACLU News will include a ballot listing all persons nominated to serve on
the Board of Directors.
Members may make nominations to the Board of Directors by submitting a petition (c)
including the signatures of 15 current ACLU members. Petitions which list the
nominee and their qualifications must be submitted to the Board of Directors by May
1, 1977.
Current ACLU members, those members who are entitled to vote and submit
nominations to the Board, are ACLU members who have renewed their ACLU
membership during the last twelve months.
ACLU members in good standing will elect Board members fam a slate of can-
didates including those nominated by petitions from the general membership and
those selected by the Board of Director's nominating committee. Ballots must be
filled out and sent back to the ACLU office by June 6, 1977.
Ledislative conference called for May 9 and 10-see page a
March-April 1977
aclu news
_LEGAL
Harris case to
Supreme Court
The rights of defendants Emily and
Bill Harris to be represented by counsel
of their own choice will be argued
before the California Supreme Court by -
_ staff attorneys from both ACLU of
Northern and Southern California.
The Harrises are now facing criminal
_ charges in Alameda County for the
kidnapping of Patricia Hearst. Since
the public defender claimed a conflict,
. Berkeley Municipal Court Judge
Sweeney appointed private counsel for
the Harrises at their arraignment,
namely Susan. Jordan and Leonard
Weinglass.
Over the express opposition of the
_ Harrises, Superior Court Judge Lindsay
later dismissed the appointments of -
Jordan and Weinglass and appointed
attorneys Michael Ballachey and
Lincoln Mintz to represent them. No
reasons were given by the Judge for this
decision. .
ACLU charges that the Superior
court's action, in dismissing Jordan and
Weinglass, was arbitrary, and violates
the defendants' right to effective
counsel, as guaranteed by the sixth
amendment.
_ The Harrises' trial has been put off
pending the Supreme Court's decision.
ACLU of Southern California staff
counsel Mark Rosenbaum, and ACLU
of Northern California staff counsel
"Alan Schlosser have been granted an
opportunity to bring this. matter before
the Supreme Court in a _ hearing
scheduled for the first week in May.
At stake in this hearing is whether
the guaranteed right to counsel en-
compasses a defendant's right to not
only have competent defense attorneys,
but to have representation by lawyers
whom they choose.
_ The sensitive relationship between
attorneys and their clients, particularly
in a _ controversial criminal trial,
demand attorneys whom the defendants
feel can honestly represent their
viewpoint. Such a relationship cannot
be based solely on an _ attorney's
competence.
The San Francisco Bar Association,
and the court-appointed attorneys
Ballachey and Mintz, will present
friend of the court briefs in a of the
Harrises' position.
Franklin case
before court
H. Bruce Franklin, fired from his
teaching position at Stanford University
in January, 1972, has asked the Santa
Clara Superior Court to finally decide
whether he should be reinstated as a
faculty member and receive back pay.
Franklin's suit, filed by the ACLU in
1972, charges that he was terminated
solely for exercising his First Amend- |
- ment rights.
A motion for summary judgment,
cutrently before the Court, is the
culmination of five years.of voluminous
proceedings born out of a disruption at
the Stanford Computation Center
during the height of campus unrest over
Ail patients gain protection
Confinement in a Hienial institution " Frederick Bradshaw Turner, III
against an individual's will requires a
unanimous jury verdict on whether the
subject of the proceeding is gravely
disabled, and proof of the disablement
beyond a reasonable doubt, according
to a decision by the First District Court .
of Appeal.
The ruling was handed down in a
case brought by ACLU volunteer at- -
torney Morton P. Cohen on behalf of
Krys Kleer
claiming that the trial court had
violated Turner's rights of due process
and equal protection of the law.
Contrary to Turner's request at the
time of his hearing, Turner was con-
fined in a mental institution for one
year based on less than a unanimous
jury's finding that he was, on a
"preponderance of the evidence,"
an disabled.
Technically Turner's appeal was
moot since his one year conservatorship -
had expired and he therefore had: been
released from confinement in the state
hospital. However, the Court held that
the appeal presented ``recurrent
questions of broad public interest"
which required resolution.
The due process rights of mental
patients are substantially increased by -
this decision, which affects people in
every county in California.
Recognizing that potential con-
servatees may be subject to involuntary
confinement in a mental institution for
an extended period, the Court of
Appeal, relying on a recent California
Supreme Court case, held that
proceedings were eee
characterized as civil actions.
A civil proceeding does not require a
unanimous verdict based upon proof
beyond a reasonable doubt as is
required in criminal trials.
2nd annual FOIA conference May 5 and 6
the Privacy Act and attorneys' fees.
`files - anyone who `might' want government reports,
regulations, records, policy decisions, and other documents.
second annual conference.
The conference faculty includes: Morton H. Halperin,
In conjunction with the Project on National Security and
`Civil Liberties, the ACLU will hold its second annual
Freedom of Information Act Conference in San Francisco
on May 5 and 6. The two-day conference will include
workshops and discussions on exemptions, trial strategy,
In addition to being a valuable tool for all attorneys, the
Freedom of Information Act serves anyone dealing with the
federal government. Business, labor, journalists, scholars,
environmentalists, consumer groups seeking their personal
New amendments to the FOIA, which narrow the
exemption for information which can be withheld under the
authority of other statutes, and the fast growing develop-
ment of case law, have prompted the formation of the
Halperin currently is Director of the Project on National
Security and Civil Liberties. Mark Lynch, who was the
principal lobbyist on behalf of the 1974 FOIA amendments
and is currently Counsel for the Project on National Security
and Civil Liberties. Jack D. Novik, National Staff Counsel
for the ACLU and chief counsel for the project on Privacy
and Data Collection. Novik is involved in numerous FOIA
actions, including litigation regarding the Hiss and
Rosenberg documents. John H.F. Shattuck, Director of the
Washington D.C. Office of the ACLU and author of the
forthcoming casebook, Rights of Privacy. :
An invaluable reference manual, Litigation Under' the'
Amended Freedom of Information Act, will be distributed
at the conference. The 281 page handbook, edited by
Christine M. Marwick, will save practitioners many hours of
research. Whether or not you're able to attend the con-
ference, this manual will prove to be excellent resource and
can be ordered through the ACLU office.
former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense and Senior
Staff Member of the National Security Council. Mr.
Anyone interested should contact Deborah Boyce, 814
Mission Street, Suite 301, S.F. 94103
- with "inciting to riot,"
the war in Southeast Asia. _
University officials charged Franklin
based upon a
speech he gave in the winter of 1971 at
an anti-war organizing meeting on the
Stanford campus.
After the meeting, anti-war groups,
claiming that war-related research was
taking place at Stanford's Computation
Center, began an illegal occupation of
the facilities.
Stanford claimed that it was
Franklin's speech to the group, earlier
that evening, which incited the illegal
occupation of the Center. -
In the Court proceedings, Stanford
has relied on the lengthy record of
Franklin's administrative hearing,
comprising over one million words, and
covering 33 days of hearings, which
resulted in the University's decision to
terminate the tenured _ English
professor. |
The ACLU has claimed cashad
the litigation, and Stanford University
has admitted, that Franklin was
punished for the purest of speech and
on the basis of the content of that
speech.
Arguments on the motion for
summary judgment will take place early
this. summer. Charles C. Marson,
ACLU Legal Director, is pene
Franklin.
_ suspects'
- informer,
without obtaining a search warrant,
Electronic surveillance violates
defendant's 4th Amendment rights
Entering a rented airplane to install a
concealed tracking device constitutes
an illegal search and violates the
Fourth Amendment rights,
according to a recent decision by the
California Court of Appeal in an ACLU
of Northern California case.
Two defendants in the case were
arrested and convicted on marijuana
smuggling charges, based on evidence
obtained through the use of an electric
device, called a transponder, which
allows law enforcement agents to keep
an airplane under constant surveillance
by broadcasting a signal indicating its
whereabouts.
Acting on a tip from an unknown
San Jose Police officers,
entered the private airplane rented by
defendants Stuart Smith and Patrick
O'Neil. The police then hid the tran-
sponder in the plane. Defendants'
airplane journey was traced, and they
were arrested at their final destination
holding a cache of marijuana.
The ACLU, in a friend of the court
brief, argued that the evidence used to
convict Smith and O'Neill had been
unlawfully obtained.
Reversing the convictions, the Court
of Appeal found that there were no
exigent (or emergency) circumstances,
which law enforcement officers claimed
had prevented them from obtaining a
warrant.
The Court further held that the
defendants' "reasonable expectation of
privacy"' had been violated by the police
while they were engaged in activities
"designed to gather evidence and in-
strumentalities of crime.'"
Agreeing with the ACLU's argument
the Court concluded that, "the Fourth
Amendment comes into play not only
when the police authorities are looking
for something concealed, but also when
the police, in order to facilitate the
discovery and gathering of evidence,
impermissibly enter private property to
install electronic surveillance equip-
ment in a location which most persons
would have no reason to suspect is
being used for such a purpose even
though other unobjectionable methods
are available for discovering and
_ gathering the same evidence."
2 SRR 2
LEGISLATIVE
March-April 1977 3
aclu news
Freedom
continued from page I
-Ralph: Baker, and advice from the
"ACLU, Judge Vavuris announced there
would be a hearing several days later in
the case of five more Unification
Church members. It lasted two weeks, -
saw charges and counter-charges by
parents, psychologists, church believers
and skeptics, including several in-
dividuals who declared they had, in
recent years, gone from successful or
unsuccessful college and graduate
school careers to zealous support of
Moon's organization and, in their latest
conversion, to new careers in the
nascent "de-programming"' industry.
When Judge Vavuris , ultimately
delivered his decision, he enunciated
two principles: first, that a parent is a
parent whether the child is 16 or 60;
and, second, that the family is the basis
of civilization. Consolidating the mental
competency cases of five separate in-
dividuals, whose only common
_ characteristic was that they belonged to
the Unification Church, he turned them
over to their parents and announced
that
forthwith. It was, in some cases, suc-
cessful, and. several soon renounced
church membership.
Four days later, the District Court of
Appeals had ruled that the con-
servatorships could continue tem-
porarily until there was a hearing on
their constitutionality, but that the
services of no `person or organization"
could be used by the parents in an
attempt to alter the religious: beliefs of (c)
the conservatees "`in any way.'
Nevertheless, parents and ``de-
programmers' had gone ahead, and
contempt charges were filed in the court
of appeals by attorneys for the con-
servatees against the parents, the ``de-
programmers,' and Marin County
attorney Carl Shapiro, their local
counsel.
The constitutional issue, raised by
Ms. Crosby in her amicus brief, sub-
de-programming could begin
sequently incorporated in the petition
to the Court of Appeal, was whether or
not membership in an unorthodox or
even eccentric organization, whether
religious or political, could be the basis
of a declaration of incompetence and
the use of force in an attempt to alter
those beliefs.
Admitting that Unification Church
~ officials could conceivably have used
fraudulent or otherwise illegal
techniques to convert or hold its
members, the ACLU argued that the -
way to counter such potentially criminal
acts was with criminal prosecutions, not
with conservatorships and forced ``de-
brainwashing" designed to overcome
the alleged `"`brainwashing'' practiced
by the church itself.
As national ACLU Executive
Director Aryeh Neier said in a recent
national conference on the subject, ``the
line between religious de- -programming
and political de-programming is a thin
99
one."' The potential for abuse is
enormous. Actual abuses have been
numerous and frightening. Unfor-
tunately, the issues are a long way from
final resolution. We believe they
represent a fundamental civil liberties
question: to what extent may the courts
allow intrusion by force into the per-
sonal beliefs of adult citizens? One
wonders, indeed, whether a Hare
Krishna parent would be likely to
obtain letters of conservatorship for an
adult child who had decided to become
a Methodist or a Baptist? And one
wonders whether courts would oblige
`such an individual to undergo ``de-
_ programming'"' to force re-conversion to
the Hindu sect.
We think the answer is obvious, and
are. deeply disturbed: by `the
phenomenon of courts and commercial,
non-medical, non-psychiatric, non-
professional mind alteration services
combining in an attempt to stop the
growth of the new religious groups.
There is, one might say, in the United
States a right to be wrong. It ought to
be protected.
Death penalty action
ACLU members are urged to take action to prevent a new
California death penalty law from being enacted.
e Immediately write to your assemblymember and
senator urging them to vote against death penalty
legislation. A postcard is enough, but do it today.
-@ Get involved with the current formation of a California
Coalition Against the Death Penalty. Contact ACLU, 814
Mission Street Suite 301, San Francisco 94103, 777-4545.
re: Coalition Against the Death Penalty.
aclu news
Bi. issues a year, monthly except bi-monthly in January-February, March-April,
July-August and November-December
__ Second Class Mail privileges authorized at San Francisco, California
Published by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California
- Richard De Lancie, Chairperson David M. Fishlow, Executive Director
-- Dorothy Ehrlich, Editor
814 Mission St. - Ste. 301, San Francisco, California 94103 - 777-4545
Membership $20 and up, of which 50 cents is for a subscription to the aclu news
and 50 cents is for the national ACLU bi-monthly publication, Civil Liberties.
Capitol crimes ion ne:
sentencing law, SB 42, which doesn't go
into effect until July, 1977. All
preliminary indications promise a more
heavily law-enforcement oriented
sentencing system if the Brown
proposals are adopted. As with the
death penalty, crime and violence, and
the fear of them, pretty well define the
political scene, and provide the setting
for a grim battle.
Administration people dismiss off-
handedly as ``concessions to one
legislator' some of the most important
provisions or omissions negotiated into
or out of SB 42. Now that the deter-
minate sentencing system has been
enacted, in spite of protests about many
aspects of it from the ACLU, the
Friends, Prisoners Union and others,
the Administration's prime focus is on
the '78 election and being certain it
cannot be out-reactionaried by even the
law enforcement politics of Evelle
Younger and L.A. Police Chief Ed
Davis.
The prime issue in the amending of
SB 42 this session is the "retroactivity"
question: how is the determinate
sentencing system to be applied to
current inmates sentenced under the
indeterminate system. Prisoners groups
were promised equitable treatment for
current prisoners in the package which
was enacted. Now it appears clear that
the thrust of Administration effort is to
wipe out the certainty of the deter-
minate system as it applies to those
currently imprisoned.
-Other aspects of the Brown: 0x00B0Ad-
ministration's package indicate a
capitulation of the Governor's office to
the Department of Corrections and the
Adult Authority (soon to be the
Community Release Board under SB
42). Such agencies have relied on in-
determinacy, and tools such as parole
and good time, for psychological
leverage to impose their bureaucratic
will on inmates. True determinacy
undercuts that leverage by providing an
inmate with the certainty of release. SB
42 as enacted narrowly defines both
parole and good time, effectively
regulating the amount and degree of
discretion employed by the ad-
ministrative agencies. The Brown
Administration's proposed `technical
amendments" return bureaucratic
discretion to the CDC, the AA/CRB
and other affected agencies.
The Brown Administration, having
brokered SB 42 into existence, is now -
intent on transmogrifying its deter-
minate fetus before its July 1977 birth.
Unless Administration efforts can be
thwarted, California can anticipate the
birth of a werewolf.
Privacy
Other civil liberties issues facing the
ACLU lobby this session must also be
dealt with effectively. Among
those issues are many which are already
heating up. We can anticipate privacy's
continuation as an essential issue.
Senator Roberti has indicated a desire
to reintroduce an omnibus _ privacy
package similar to the one vetoed_by
Brown last summer. And Senator Peter
Behr (R-Marin) and Assemblyman Vic
Fazio (D-Sacramento) have introduced
important measures assuring greater
confidentiality in the handling of in-
dividuals' medical records, and at-
tempting to block increasing gover-
nment and insurance industry intrusion
into such records.
Patients' Rights
In the area of patients' rights there
are new bills dealing with human
- experimentation, informed consent to -
administration of psychoactive drugs,
providing individuals with an en-
forceable right of .access to their
own medical records, prohibiting the
forced drugging of prisoners, and
creation of a Patient Advocate to
represent individuals civilly committed
under mental health provisions.
_ Equal Rights
Equal protection issues will include
overhaul of the Fair Employment
Practices Commission in an attempt to
make that agency a more effective anti-
discrimination force, attempts to curb
discrimination by insurance companies
on the basis of sex, marital status, and
life style, and reintroduction of
legislation to prevent discrimination
against the elderly in the extension of
credit.
First Amendment
The ACLU remains the prime
guardian of the First Amendment.
~ Media representatives will, of course, be
~ invaluable `allies -in' matters affecting
freedom of the press, and an expansion
of the Newsman's Shield to con-
stitutional status has already been
introduced. But in other areas such as
public campaign financing, and
political reform efforts in general, the
ACLU may be working alone to assure
the integrity of freedom of speech,
association, and political activity. In the
normal legislative session, bills are
introduced which have unanticipated
speech implications. Here, the
screening of the 8000 or so measures is
particularly important, because if the
- ACLU lobby does not catch the First
Amendment implications, it's not likely
anyone else will.
Students' Rights
In the field of education, Assem- |
blyman Gary Hart has reintroduced his
due process/suspension bill, killed in
Senate Education Committee last year
as the prime result of heavy opposition
from the conservative California
Teachers Association. A released-time
_ provision has been reintroduced by
Assemblyman McAlister (D-Fremont),
and freedom of student press remains
an issue which must be more
adequately dealt with.
This early session sampling is tar
from a complete report of ACLU
lobbying activities, but hopefully it
adequately describes the flavor and
orientation of those efforts. Members
should be apprised that the Board of
Directors' Legislative Committee is
available for direct inquiries regarding
legislation, and should be contacted
about specific legislative issues, or
about specific positions or activities
taken by the lobbying office.
March-April 1977
a news 2
CH APT S aS
M Li Penine oe
The Mid-Peninsula Chapter of the
ACLU will hold its next regular
monthly meeting on Thursday, April
28, 1977 from 8 to 10 pm at the All
Saints Episcopal Church at the corner
of Hamilton and Waverly. _
Please note that any member in-
terested in attending the ACLU con-
ference on April 29, .30, and May 1 at
Soquel should contact Len Edwards
(287-6193).
Also note that members interested in
attending the ACLU Legislative
seminar in Sacramento on May 9th and
10th should contact Len Edwards.
Berkeley-Albany-
Kensington
The Chapter is sponsoring a panel
discussion of the Bakke case - the case
which will decide whether affirmative
action plans are constitutional. The
panel will take place at Washington
School in Berkeley on Thursday, April
21, 1977 at 8:00 pm. The speakers will
be Emma Coleman Jones, Professor of
Law at U.C. Davis; Sanford J. Rosen,
former Associate Legal Director of the
ACLU; Milton Jacobs, immediate past-
president of the Anti-Defamation
League; and a fourth speaker to be
announced. Professor Jack Pemberton,
former general counsel of the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission
and law professor at the University of
San Francisco will be the moderator.
We are looking forward to a lively and
informative debate. Please plan to
attend.
In May, 1977 ike Chapter, in cqn-
junction with the Berkeley Campus
Chapter of the ACLU will present a
- discussion of the Pendleton Ku Klux
Klan case. The San Diego Chapter of
_ the ACLU is representing the Ku Klux
Klan in a civil action charging the
Marines with violating the Klan's First
Amendment Rights. At the same time
the ACLU of Southern California is
defending individual black marines
who are accused of assaulting alleged
Klan members. The names of the
speakers and the exact date of the
discussion will be announced.
This year the Chapter has revitalized
our newsletter. The first issue was
published in February and the second
will be out in early April. Anyone who
wishes to help should call Eileen Keech
-at 848-0089.
In January, the new chapter board
elected officers.
Gelb, Chairperson; Trudy Martin,
Vice-Chairperson; Jane Riggan,
Secretary; and Vernon Moore,
Treasurer. Our meetings are held the
fourth Thursday of every month at 8:00
pm. at the Friend's Education Center (c)
on Vine near Walnut. The meetings are
open and all members are welcome to
attend and participate.
San Francisco
For the first time the San Francisco
Chapter jointly sponsored a community
meeting on SAN FRANCISCO'S
FIGHT AGAINST CRIME: WILL
CIVIL RIGHTS BE THE VICTIM?
with the American Jewish Congress and
the Jewish Community
Sunday March 20.
Because the meeting was held at the
Jewish Community Center we were
Center on
They are: Marjorie ~
able to attract a new audience of lively
senior citizens. We wish to thank all the
participants who gave thoughtful and
provocative presentations. They were:
Judith Ciani, a member of the S.F.
Police Commission who represented
Mayor George Moscone; Professor Paul
Takagi, Criminologist, U.C., Berkeley;
Amitai Schwartz, Director, Police
Practices Project; Charles R. Gain, S.F.
Police Chief; Enola Maxwell, Executive
Director, Potrero Hill Neighborhood
House, Member of the Human Rights
Commission; Elliott Currie,
Criminologist, Journalist; Arthur
`Brunwasser, Attorney, Board member
_S.F. Chapter ACLU; Daniel Weinstein,
Chief Assistant District Attorney; Tom
Bruyneel, Chief Counsel, Community
Defender's Project, Bayview-Hunter's
Point Foundation; John Irwin,
Sociologist, S.F. State University;
David Fishlow, Executive Director,
ACLU-NC; Henry Izumizaki, Director,
Project SAFE; and Ruth Jacobs,
President of the Chapter who chaired
the meeting. We received wide coverage
by the newspapers and television.
Another public meeting is being
planned for the near future and we
hope once again to attract groups of
people who have not participated in our
meetings in the past.
Please remember that any chapter
member is welcome to attend the Board
of Director's meeting, which meets the
last Tuesday of each month. Please
contact the office if you plan to attend.
Mt. Diablo
The Mt. Diablo Chapter of the
American Civil Liberties Union is
sponsoring an essay contest for central
and east Contra Costa County high
school students. Students will be invited
to write on the topic "What are the
Implications for Civil Rights in the
Death Penalty?'"'. Essays submitted
_ should be between 500 and 1,000 words
in length, typed, double spaced on
white paper, and with the name of the
student and school on the top right
hand side of the first page. There will be
a prize for the best essay and honorable
mention for all meritorious entries. The
name of the winner will be announced
to the schools by May 16, 1977. Essays
should be mailed by May 1, 1977 to
_ Guyla Ponomaroff, Vice-President of
the Mt. Diablo Chapter, 1079 Via
Media, Lafayette, Ca. 94549, or to
Winona Harvey, Essay Coordinator,
2905 Plumleigh Avenue, Antioch, Ca.
94509.
A successful theatre benefit was
sponsored by the Mt. Diablo Chapter in
March. The chapter "sold out" the
house for the Dramateur play, `How -
the Other Half Lives," held in Lafayette
on March 5, 1977.
Another activity which is being
encouraged is the use of the Speakers'
Bureau which is available to schools,
_ churches, and other community groups.
Those who are interested in availing
themselves of this opportunity
should contact Zachary Stadt,
President of the Mt. Diablo Chapter,
3274 Gloria Terrace, Lafayette, Ca.
94549, or telephone 934-6912.
Stockton
The Stockton Chapter of the ACLU
held their annual membership meeting
on February 25, 1977. The featured
speaker was Dr. Price M. Cobbs, author
of Black Rage and a former ACLUNC
Board member. Dr. Cobbs spoke about
affirmative action programs and its
relationship to civil liberties. At the
February meeting the following slate of
officers was approved: Chairperson, (c)
John Schick; Vice-Chairperson, Dee
Heszler; Secretary, Ginny Stewart;
Treasurer, James Riddles; Branch
Board, Beverly Ford.
(R) x
Marin
Marin County members who want to
be active in chapter activities will have
an opportunity to participate in several
projects now being organized or
planned. ao
Those members interested in
volunteering three hours to distribute
pamphlets and other information on
civil liberties at selected Marin
supermarkets are asked to call Lola _
Hanzel, 461-5941.
Other members who would be in-
terested in speaking on civil liberties to
Marin fraternal, civic, school, or other
groups or in soliciting these groups to
include speakers on civil liberties on
their programs please call Bill Luft,
453-6546.
The Chapter is also considering
having a booth at the County Fair,
September 1-5, to distribute printed
materials and answer questions on civil
liberties issues. Any member interested
in contributing three hours at the Booth
is urged to call Fran Miller; 454-8062.
If enough members volunteer a
survey of the status of privacy rights in
Marin County will be conducted,
culminating in a feport to the com-
munity on the findings. If interested
call Fran Miller, 454-8062.
_ The Marin Chapter Board asks that
Marin ACLUers write Senator Peter
Behr to encourage him in his stand
against capital punishment. The Board
also asks that members write their -
Assemblyperson Michael Wornum to
ask if he really thinks that the State's
adding violence by killing the worst
murderers will not in the long run
increase violence generally?
All members will be receiving in-
vitations to a wine-and-refreshments
get-together in mid-May with in-
teresting discussions of questions and
conflicts on the current civil liberties
scene. Also at this meeting the annual
election of new Board members will be
held.
Legislative
conference
ACLU's legislative program's in-
creasing importance has prompted the
Legislative Committee to establish a
Conference to be held in Sacramento on
May 9 thru May 10. The Legislative
Conference will present an opportunity
for ACLU members to learn a great
deal more about civil liberties in the
legislature, and at the same time elected
representatives will be able to hear
about ACLU's concerns from their own
ACLU-constituents.
Participants will attend the Assembly
Criminal Justice Committee meeting on
Monday afternoon, May 9 and the
Senate Judiciary Committee hearings
on Tuesday morning. These two
committees hear most bills which have
an impact on civil liberties. Assembly
member Ken Maddy, (D-Fresno)
Chairperson of the Criminal Justice
Committee will join the ACLU for a
breakfast meeting on Tuesday.
On Monday evening, Senator
Nicholas Petris (D-Oakland) will
keynote ACLU's dinner which will host
legislators from both houses.
Leo McCarthy, speaker of the
Assembly will speak to ACLU Con-
ference participants at a Luncheon on
Tuesday. Assembly member McCarthy
will be followed by Arnold Sternberg,
chief of the State Housing Department,
who will discuss civil liberties in the
realm of administrative government.
ACLU members will be scheduled to
meet with their own local legislators
during the course of the two-day
conference, and will have a direct role _
in lobbying.
Decisions about the course which
civil liberties will take in California are
made in the State Capitol each day.
ACLU's Legislative Conference
represents an opportunity for ACLU
members and chapters to increase
ACLU's effectiveness in influencing
those decisions.
The Conference will cost $50.00
including one night's accommodations
at the Senator Hotel, breakfast, a
luncheon and a dinner banquet.
Members who are able to attend only a
part of the two day conference can also
make special By aDeemenis: Call 777-
4545. =
Chapter conference "continued from page 1
Expenses for the weekend, which include six meals and accommodations for
Friday and Saturday night are $50.00. Those who will not be spending the night
can purchase meals separately by making advanced reservations, or can bring their
own bag lunches or dinners.
The Conference agenda includes reports from all of the ACLU's fifteen
Chapters, training sessions on non-litigative strategies for Chapter involvement
and workshops on Chapter functions and development.
Speakers and participants will discuss emerging civil liberties issues including
exclusionary zoning, or the right to live where you want to live vs. the right to
environmental quality; crime in northern California, ``Will Civil Liberties be its
Next Victim?"; religious freedom vs. deprogrammers - ACLU's current in-
volvement with members of the Unification Church.
Other sessions are planned which will review significant U.S. and California
Supreme Court decisions and how they apply to local communities, and creative
ways of establishing better police relations.
Chapter and Board leaders will also discuss strategy for campaigning against the
death penalty, and how ACLU can best effect the legislature.
Of course the Conference won't be all business. Greenwood Lodge's facilities
include a swimming pool, mountain trails, tennis courts and clean mountain air.
Musicians are scheduled to entertain on Saturday een with songs from labor and
social movements.
Reservations must be made by Bees, April 22. Call 777-4545.