vol. 42, no. 2 (mislabled No. 10)

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.