vol. 52, no. 2
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aclu news
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Permit No. 4424
San Francisco, CA
Volume LIl
March 1987
No. 2
Democratic Convention Suits
~Demonstrators Win
`Damages from City
Three demonstrators who sued for
injuries suffered at the hands of the police
during protests at the 1984 Democratic
National Convention in San Francisco
received monetary settlements as a result
of negotiations finalized in February
between the ACLU-NC and the City of San
Francisco. In addition, the Police Depart-
ment has agreed to change its regulations
regarding the use of motorcycle police and
horses during demonstrations.
The demonstrators, two of whom were
teenage girls, were represented by
ACLU-NC cooperating attorneys Robert A.
Mittelstaedt, Edward V. Anderson, and
James D. Petruzzi of the San Francisco law
firm of Pillsbury, Madison and Sutro and
ACLU-NC staff attorneys Edward Chen,
Amitai Schwartz, and John Crew.
Attorney Mittelstaedt said, "The message
of these lawsuits and the City's agreement
to pay substantial sums to settle them is
that the San Francisco police must permit
peaceful demonstrators to exercise First
Amendment rights without fear of being
falsely arrested or injured by the police."
The civil rights lawsuits filed in 1985
charged that the three plaintiffs, Jorin
Hawley, Lucretia Bermudez, and Ella
Tideman, were victims of unwarranted
brutality by the police who used horses and
motorcycles to disperse demonstrators
during the DNC protests.
Fractured Skull
Hawley, an art student who was 16 at
the time of the demonstration, suffered a
fractured skull when police horses trampled
her and kicked her in the head at a
demonstration in front of the Hall of Justice.
Ironically, the demonstration had been
called to protest police misconduct during
Convention week.
Bermudez was handcuffed and arrested
while trying to help a friend who had been
hit by a police motorcycle during the anti-
Moral Majority protest near Union Square.
Tideman, who was 14, was pinned to the
wall by a mounted policeman's horse
following the "Rock Against Reagan"
concert.
Mittelstaedt noted, "This litigation forced
the City to review its crowd control
procedures, specifically the dangers involved
in using horses and motorcycles.
"There was no excuse for the indiscrim-
inate way the police used horses to disperse
demonstrators or the way motorcycles were
used to herd demonstrators," he added.
The new city policy states: "The Honda
unit of the Tactical Division will no longer
San Francisco police attacks
on demonstrators at the 1984
Democratic National Con-
vention generated several
successful lawsuits and new
regulations for police motor-
make physical contact with people with their
motorcycles in an effort to move them in
directions where the police want them to
go.
"The mounted unit of the Tactical
Division is being trained not to ride their
horses over passive demonstrators who are
sitting or lying down. They are trained to
stop their horses in front of the subject and
allow foot officers to make the arrest."
Charges Dropped
Nearly 450 demonstrators were arrested
by the SFPD during the 1984 Convention
week. Virtually all of the charges, including
those against Hawley, Bermudez, and
Tideman, were dropped in the weeks
following the Convention.
cycle and mounted squads.
(Photos by Paul Winternitz)
A related lawsuit filed by National
Lawyers Guild Demonstrations Committee
attorney Mark Coby also resulted in a
monetary settlement. The suit involved the
clubbing on the head of Naomi Shapiro
by an officer who had ridden his horse onto
a crowded sidewalk during the anti-Moral
Majority demonstration. Shapiro, a Peoples'
Medic identified by a yellow T-shirt with
ared cross, was trying to help demonstrators
off the street and away from baton-swinging
officers.
The monetary damages paid to the
demonstrators totaled $125,000.
Crew, who coordinated that ACLU-NC
Democratic Convention Project in 1984,
spoke of the effect this settlement will have
on police forces in other cities where national
political conventions are held: "Now, New
Orleans and Atlanta, the sites for the 1988
party conventions, must also realize that
they are legally obligated to respect the First
Amendment rights of demonstrators who
wish to use the occasion of the conventions
to express and publicize their views."
Police Must
Release Tape
In another victory in a separate case
stemming from the Democratic National
Convention, the state Court of Appeal
ruled on February 13 that the San
Francisco Police Department must turn
over to the ACLU a videotape related
to the police refusal to allow a Ku Klux
Klan demonstration during the 1984
Convention.
According to ACLU-NC staff attorney
Ed Chen, "We feel the public has a right
to know whether the police surveillance
in this instance was typical treatment of
controversial groups.
"We hope to learn from the documen-
tation whether the police were conduct-
ing political surveillance or intelligence
gathering of the Klan, and whether this
is in accordance with department
guidelines," Chen added.
Public Records Act
The ACLU filed suit under the
California Public Records Act seeking
information pertaining to an incident in
which members of the Klan were
escorted by the police across the Bay
Bridge, arrested, and taken to the Hall
of Justice where they were told by the
Chief of Police that they could not
demonstrate in San Francisco.
The ACLU-NC sought the videotape
of the meeting, police department
guidelines on intelligence gathering and
memos prepared about the planned Klan
demonstration, materials which the
police department refused to disclose.
When the documents were refused by
San Francisco Superior Court, the
ACLU-NC appealed the decision in
November 1986.
The appellate court determined that
the police must turn over the videotape
and an index of the other contested
records. The superior court will decide
whether the other records must be
disclosed.
aclu news
2 march 1987
Supervisors Hearing
OCC "F ailing at Watchdog Role"
"The Office of Citizen Complaints, under
its current leadership, has failed miserably
in pursuing the `watchdog' role assigned to
it by the voters of San Francisco," testified
ACLU-NC Police Practices Project attorney
John Crew at a highly charged hearing of
the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
Human Services Commiittee on February
26.
The hearing, spurred by the outrage over
the OCC's Annual Report from numerous
community and civil rights organizations,
was chaired by Supervisor Willie Kennedy.
In addition to testimony from almost a
dozen organizations including the ACLU,
the San Francisco Bar Association, the
NAACP, the Asian Law Caucus and the
Harvey Milk Lesbian and Gay Democratic
Club, publicity around the hearing drew a
number of irate citizens-who had been
stymied in their attempts to get a response
from the OCC about their complaints of
police misconduct.
It also drew OCC Director Frank
Schober and a full complement of OCC
staff members who attempted to defend the
agency which recently has come ae
intense criticism.
Three Missions -
Crew's testimony noted that in the
November 1982 election, San Francisco
voters resoundingly endorsed the need for
independent civilian oversight of their police
- department. The City Charter assigned
- three basic missions for the OCC:
(c) to "promptly, fairly and impartially"
investigate
misconduct;
cent to prepare statistical "summaries" of
complaints received; and
ACLUN_1981.MODS ACLUN_1981.batch ACLUN_1982 ACLUN_1982.MODS ACLUN_1982.batch ACLUN_1983 ACLUN_1983.MODS ACLUN_1984 ACLUN_1984.MODS ACLUN_1984.batch ACLUN_1985 ACLUN_1985.MODS ACLUN_1985.batch ACLUN_1986 ACLUN_1986.MODS ACLUN_1986.batch ACLUN_1987 ACLUN_1987.MODS ACLUN_1987.batch ACLUN_1988 ACLUN_1988.MODS ACLUN_1989 ACLUN_1989.MODS ACLUN_1990 ACLUN_1990.MODS ACLUN_1991 ACLUN_1991.MODS ACLUN_1992 ACLUN_1992.MODS ACLUN_1993 ACLUN_1993.MODS ACLUN_1994 ACLUN_1994.MODS ACLUN_1995 ACLUN_1995.MODS ACLUN_1996 ACLUN_1996.MODS ACLUN_1997 ACLUN_1997.MODS ACLUN_1998 ACLUN_1998.MODS ACLUN_1999 ACLUN_1999.MODS ACLUN_ladd ACLUN_ladd.MODS add-tei.sh create-bags.sh create-manuscript-bags.sh create-manuscript-batch.sh fits.log to prepare policy and practice recommen-
dations based on these complaints.
complaints of police
In its 1986 Annual Report, released on
February 5, the OCC revealed that out of
1,267 complaints filed against police
officers, only 162 were fully investigated,
only 19 were sustained and only 8 resulted
in any disciplinary measure being applied
to the officer(s) involved.
"In other words," Crew said, "if you filed
a complaint with the OCC in 1986, you
~had less than a 2% chance that your
allegation would be sustained and less than
a 1% chance that the officers involved would
be disciplined!
Appalling Statistics
"These appalling statistics, when coupled
with the rare use of the investigative hearing
process, betray a stubborn unwillingness on
the part of the OCC to pursue aggressively
allegations of misconduct. The public is left
without a credible avenue for pursuing
complaints while potentially hundreds of
legitimate allegations of police misconduct
go unexposed and unredressed," Crew said.
Crew also reminded the Supervisors that
the OCC had promised bold hearings on
six "high public interest" complaint inci-
dents, including allegations of brutality
during police crowd control of Democratic
Convention demonstrations, the vice squad
raid of Lord Jim's, and illegal street sweeps
of the homeless. Holding up a copy of a
January 1985 San Francisco Examiner with
a banner headline proclaiming "POLICE
WATCHDOG HEARINGS," Crew stated
ANNUAL REPORT
1986
OFFICE OF
Citizen COMPLAINTS
THE POLICE COMMISSION FOR THE CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO
Ne Z
that "to our knowledge, none of these
hearings have been held."
Fatal Shooting
Finally, Crew briefly addressed the
lingering doubts over the OCC investiga-
tions of the fatal shooting of Larry
Fundraising Campaigns Set Record High
by Martha Kegel
ACLU-NC Associate Director
ACLU-NC volunteers raised a record
$417,000 for civil liberties in 1986-an
achievement which Development Commit-
tee Chair Davis Riemer called "almost
heroic, given the obstacles we had to
overcome."
The additional funds helped the
ACLU-NC mount massive court challenges
to drug testing, prepare for the hiring of
a fourth staff attorney in 1987, computerize
all of its programs, and renovate its offices
to accommodate an expanded staff. The
annual campaign also supports the
ACLU-NC's ongoing work on hundreds of
civil liberties issues and the work of
underfunded ACLU affiliates in the South
and around the country.
The 1986 campaign faced unusual
obstacles, ranging from the departure of
associate director Michael Miller to Board
leaders being struck with an array of
personal calamities from a broken hip to
bouts of pneumonia, to enormously high
goals being set for the campaigns due to
expansion in the civil liberties program.
"We prevailed because of the sheer
commitment of our volunteers to meeting
the needs of the ACLU," Riemer said. He
also commended Executive Director
Dorothy Ehrlich and the ACLU-NC staff |
for their hard work. =
A major accomplishment in 1986 was the
creation of the Founders Circle, an organ-
ization for individuals making a special
financial commitment to the ACLU-NC.
One hundred and twenty-two people
became charter members in 1986-each
making an unrestricted annual gift of $1,000
or more.
"The Founders Circle is bringing together
people who are alarmed by attacks on civil
liberties and who see the critical need for
an even stronger ACLU," said Julius Young,
co-chair with Leonard Karpman of its
Steering Committee, which secured
$116,000 in contributions.
Committee members soliciting the gifts
were William Gerber, Andrew Grimstad,
Bonnie Grossman, Michael Herz, Anne
Jennings, Jack Londen, John Rutherford,
Dan Siegel, Sarah Stewart and Fran
Strauss.
The Strategic Gifts Committee, which
solicited the largest Founders -Circle gifts,
raised $214,000. Davis Riemer chaired the
committee; members are Barbara Brenner,
Milton Estes, Nancy Pemberton, Fran
Strauss and William Tamayo.
The Bill of Rights Campaign, chaired by
Richard Grosboll, organized 100 volunteers
from eight ACLU-NC chapters to partic-
ipate in fifteen "Phone Nights." The
campaign, which culminates in the Bill of
Rights Day Celebration in December raised
$87,000. Committee members were Rose
Bonhag, Kathy Cramer, Marlene deLancie,
Suzanne Donovan, Lisa Honig, Bob O'Neil,
Tom Reilly Tom Sarbaugh. Field Represen-
tative Marcia Gallo and Membership
Coordinator Sandy Holmes staffed the
Campaign.
"It was a great committee effort,
Grosboll said. "We reached more people and
raised more money than ever before."
Grosboll cited the Monterey and North
Peninsula chapters for their special efforts,
and gave special thanks to the law firms
and other groups that donated their offices
and phones for the Phone Nights.
399
Lumpkin, including questions as to why the
OCC's report on the shooting of a Black
man by two white officers was suddenly
and inexplicably delayed.
Members of Larry Lumpkin's family also
addressed these questions in their testimony.
One sister asked, "How could they bring
the audio tape to my mother's house, have
us positively identify Larry's voice, and then
bury it?"
Another sister said tearfully, "When they
brought the tape, we really had hopes that
the OCC would help us."
Lumpkin's uncle, Reverend Eugene
Lumpkin, after hearing testimony from
many groups, a woman cab driver, an
elderly man, and an engineer who had been -
physically abused during a peaceful dem-
onstration, asked, "Is there anybody in this
city who is satisfied with the OCC?"
Drucilla Ramey, executive director of the
San Francisco Bar Association, said, "We're ~
concerned that the OCC increasingly has
the appearance-as well as the reality-of
being a public relations arm of the San
Francisco Police Department.
"The OCC appears to be more and more
a captive of the Police Department and less
and less the type of agency that was
proposed by the voters in 1982," Ramey
added.
i|
Members
WHY YOU RECEIVE INVITATIONS
TO JOIN THE ACLU WHEN YOU'RE
ALREADY A MEMBER...
In our efforts to strengthen and enlarge
the membership of the ACLU of Northern
California, we use the mailing lists of
organizations and publications whose
subscribers are most likely to join our efforts
to preserve the Bill of Rights.
Members of the ACLU, as committed
supporters of civil liberties, are frequently
on more than one of these lists. To prevent
errors, we maintain a computer system to
delete the names of our members, but
sometimes names and addresses are spelled
slightly differently, or some individuals join
or renew their memberships after the list
has been mailed.
We regret the inconvenience you may
experience as a result of this system but .
we hope you will understand that we do
all we can to avoid duplications. And,
should you receive a membership invitation
in the future, please pass it on to a friend...
Elaine Elinson, Editor
aclu news
8 issues a year, monthly except bi-monthly in January- February, June-July,
August-September and November-December
Published by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California
Nancy Pemberton, Chairperson Dorothy Ehrlich, Executive Director cas
Marcia Gallo,
1663 Mission St., 4th floor, San Francisco, California 94103. (415) 621-2488
Membership $20 and up, of which 50 cents is for a subscription to the aclu news
and SO cents is for the national ACLU-bi-monthly publication, Civil Liberties.
Chapter Page
aclu news
march 1987 3
Kegel Brings Rich Experience
to ACLU-NC Post
The ACLU-NC's new Associate Director
is no stranger to civil liberties emergencies.
In her last post as executive director of the
Louisiana ACLU, she presided over an
affiliate in what the national ACL.U long
had designated a civil liberties "crisis area."
Although the national ACLU no longer
uses that category, Martha Kegel's descrip-
tion. of her former affiliate is still chilling.
"In 1965, the president of our affiliate Board
had his car bombed, the church in which
the Board met was bombed, and the home
of the pastor of that church was bombed.
Twenty years later, hate calls and hate mail
are still routine.
"In fact, for many years," Kegel says
calmly, "the Red Squad of the New Orleans
Police Department had a permanent tail
on the ACLU director.
With only 1000 ACLU members in the
whole state, in an area where few organ-
izations deal with the intractable problems
of racism and poverty, and where the ACLU
is commonly considered a "communist
organization," Kegel honed her leadership
ability, her organizational skills and her
fighting spirit.
Kegel reactivated the affiliate, recruited
new members, hired new staff, and through
- ambitious fundraising campaigns tripled the
annual budget.
Oakdale Immigration Jail (c)
Because of the political situation in the
state, the work of the small Louisiana
affiliate, including efforts against the death
penalty and creationism, often had national
proportion. One such effort was the lawsuit
to stop the construction of the Oakdale
federal immigration jail-targeted to hold
Central American refugees awaiting depor-
tation-in the middle of rural Louisiana.
"The ACLU is the only civil rights
litigator in the state," explained Kegel, "so
we hooked up with the national ACLU and
the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights
to challenge the Oakdale center. We argued
that the facility would violate the refugees'
right to counsel-as this jail was completely
isolated from any legal or support services.
"Because we wanted to add an environ-
mental impact claim to make the suit
stronger, we needed to find a local taxpayer
plaintiff. I spent 3 to 4 months looking for
an Oakdale resident who would stand up
Tracy Brown
a Kegel
a
to the local officials-an almost impossible
task because Oakdale's Mayor had lauded
the project as a cure to the incredibly high
unemployment rate. In addition, Oakdale
is famous for violence against organized
labor and Blacks-with a notorious history
of cross burnings and attacks on union
organizers.
"We did find a plaintiff, with the help
of the state NAACP, an elderly Black man
-who was sympathetic to the plight of the
refugees. But the day after the suit was filed,
several city officials came to this man's
house, where he lived alone, and threatened
him if he did not withdraw from the suit,"
said Kegel.
Fearing for his safety, the man withdrew;
the suit was dismissed by the courts a year
later.
Will the ACLU of Northern California
A Call to Maintain Abortion Funding
For nine years the California Legislature
has approved a state budget barring Medi-
Cal funds from being spent on abortion
except in cases of rape and incest. In 1981,
the California Supreme Court ruled that
such a bar is in clear violation of the state
Constitution. Today, with the ouster of three
pro-choice members of the Supreme Court
and the appointment of three new justices,
the future of abortion funding is uncertain.
Right now, abortion activists face a
tremendously difficult challenge: we must
ensure that the Legislature approve full
funding-without restriction-for abortion.
Our efforts will include: postcard,
mailgram and phone campaigns, and
meetings with our representatives in
Sacramento and their district offices. We
must also write letters to our local news-
papers expressing our support for full
funding of abortion and our opposition to
any measure which limits access to abortion.
New legislation has been introduced in _
Sacramento which would require young
women to obtain parental consent before
they could have an abortion. One measure
would make it a misdemeanor for a medical
practitioner to provide an abortion without
such consent. A second measure, considered
the "liberal" alternative, would also erect
serious barriers to minors' access to abortion
services.
The time to act is now. We urge you
to come to a meeting on March 25 at the
PRO-CHOICE TASK FORCE
ORGANIZING MEETING:
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Wednesday, March 25, 1987 7
6:00 pm |
ACLU-NC office, 1663 Mission, Suite 460 |
San Francisco |
7 : !
Guest Speakers: l
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MARGARET CROSBY
ACLU-NC Staff Attorney
DAPHNE MACKLIN
ACLU Legislative Advocate
RSVP by March 20 to Marcia Gallo, 415-621-2494
ACLU-NC office (see box), sponsored by
the ACLU-NC Pro-Choice Task Force. The
agenda will include a legal overview of the
current funding situation and a discussion
of strategies for the pro-choice movement.
From San Francisco to Sacramento-
from Sonoma to Monterey-we need your
help. Of particular concern is the involve-
ment of ACLU members in those districts
beyond the Bay Area.
Work with us now to save reproductive
rights for poor women, for young women,
for women of color, for all of us.
For further information, please contact
Marcia Gallo at 415-621-2494.
i will act now
to maintain reproductive freedom, for all women.
seem tame after five years in the crisis zone?
"It was a difficult decision to leave the
Louisiana affiliate," explained Kegel, "and
there was probably no where else I would
have gone except the ACLU of Northern
California, an affiliate whose staff and
Board I have admired for many years.
"The ACLU-NC is one of the strongest.
and boldest affiliates in the country. Now,
with the departure of three progressive
justices from the California Supreme Court,
its work becomes even more crucial."
Sets a Standard
"The rights that have been won here set
a standard for the whole country-the
specter of losing them has tragic propor-
- tions. This is what is at stake," Kegel added.
As Associate Director, Kegel is respon-
sible for the fundraising campaigns which
support the ACLU-NC's legal, legislative
and program work, and will help conduct
public education campaigns. "My goal is
to make the ACLU as strong and effective
as possible to cope with the crisis precip-
itated by Governor Deukmejian's packing
of the California Supreme Court-some-
thing which puts all our rights in jeopardy.
"As I help build the ACLU-NC, I feel
Tam still part of the work I left in Louisiana:
not only does California have an impact
on civil liberties work around the country,
but, more specifically, the funds we raise
here also directly benefit the small, Southern
`crisis area' affiliates through the sharing
program," Kegel said.
Kegel, a former Iowa journalist who
changed careers in 1980 because "I panicked
at the ascendency of Moral Majority forces,"
also plans to institute a planned giving
program and to continue working on
issues-like the death penalty, race discrim-
ination, and lesbian and gay rights-on
which she left her mark in Louisiana.
ACLU-NC Executive Director Dorothy
Ehrlich, in welcoming Kegel to the affiliate
staff, expressed deep appreciation not only
for Kegel's fundraising skills but also for
her rich experience in broader civil liberties
battles. "Martha was on the frontlines of
_ the struggle in Louisiana and we want to
keep her on the frontlines here. Given the
dangers we face in the coming years with
a hostile state administration and an
uncertain Supreme Court, we couldn't have
asked for a better-or tougher-Associate
Director," Ehrlich said.
| can help with:
L] phone campaign CL] Speakers' Bureau
O1 letter writing O postcards U1 mailgrams
CX lobbying (11 Sacramento District offices
Name
Address
Zip
Telephone (day) (eve)
Please return to: Pro-Choice Task Force, ACLU of Northern California,
1663 Mission Street, Suite 460,
San Francisco, CA 94103,
415-621-2488.
aclu news
4 march 1987
Gay Rights Chapter
Celebrates First Decade
San Francisco.
The Gay Rights. Chapter of the
ACLU-NC, founded ten years ago this year,
is celebrating its first decade of existence
with an ambitious recruitment campaign
and a highly visible presence in the gay
community on major civil liberties issues.
According to Chapter chair Doug
Warner, "We of the Gay Rights Chapter
are proud of the ACLU's efforts to protect
our civil liberties. The ACLU has success-
fully challenged police abuses, censorship,
discrimination, and other violations
directed against lesbians, gay men, and gay
rights organizations. The ACLU's commit-
ment to individual liberty, personal privacy
and equal treatment for all makes the
organization our natural ally."
The Chapter's successful recruitment
effort began last May when the Chapter
board launched an aggressive "Turn in a
Friend," campaign to attract new members.
"Because we wanted to promote awareness
around the importance of protecting civil
liberties, we started by asking current
Chapter members to encourage friends and
neighbors to join the ACLU," Warner
explained.
After sending out nearly 500 letters,
chapter members took their message to the
streets, leafleting the Castro and Folsom
Street Fairs with a specially printed
recruitment brochure. The Chapter's
information booth during Gay Freedom
Day also heightened the visibility of the
recruitment campaign. By mid-October the
results were overwhelming. Over 100 people
joined the Gay Rights Chapter as new
members of the ACLU and another 75
current ACLU members transfered into the
Gay Rights Chapter members meet monthly at the ACLU-NC offices in
Chapter, swelling their ranks to more than
double the previous membership.
The Gay Rights Chapter maintains an
active and highly visible presence within the
legal community. In November, they
distributed a special alert urging members
to give their strong and united support to
the No on 64 Stop La Rouche Initiative.
Simultaneously, they worked in coalition
with Bay Area Lawyers for Individual
Freedom and the National Lawyers Guild
to monitor other proposed AIDS legislation
which would jeopardize the rights of people
with AIDS.
Last year, with the assistance of Gay
Rights Chapter attorneys and physicians,
the ACLU of Northern California gained
national attention by compiling the first
comprehensive policy on AIDS and Civil
Liberties.
"From our founding ten years ago, the
Gay Rights Chapter continues in its vitality
and dedication to preserving the rights of
the community we represent," said Warner.
Gay Rights Chapter members receive the
"Bulletin," a Chapter publication that lists
on-going ACLU activities and other events
of particular interest to the gay community;
monthly Chapter board meetings (listed in
the ACLU News Chapter Calendar) are
open to all Chapter members. Through local
organizing, public education, and lobbying
members are encouraged to engage in
activism for a wide variety of civil liberties
issues.
Anyone wishing to join the Gay Rights
Chapter should call or write to the ACLU
office, 1663 Mission Street, San Francisco,
CA 94103 (415) 621-2493.
Field Committee Sets Priorities
Over 40 ACLU-NC activists attended the
annual Field Committee Priority Setting
session on January 31 to select issue areas
for concerted membership action this year.
"The activists represented 11 of our 16
chapters, members of five issue committees, '
Board members, and other members
showing the wide range and depth of interest
in the work of the Field Committee," said
Committee chair Anne Jennings.
The three priority issues selected were
reproductive rights, the right to know/right
to dissent, and immigrant and refugee
rights.
"Designation of `issue priority status'
means that the time, energy and resources
of the Field Department would be assigned
accordingly," explained Jennings, "but that
chapters are certainly free to take on local
issues of importance as well."
Some of the other issues that chapters
will work on include the death penalty,
privacy (like drug testing), and economic
justice issues.
The Field Committee also addressed
public education around the Bicentennial
of the U.S. Constitution. The Field and
Public Information Departments are
currently developing resources for chapters
to use for local activities.
If you are interested in joining the Field
Committee activities, please check the
meeting schedule under Chapter Calendar
on page 4 or call Field Representative
Marcia Gallo at 415-621-2494.
Tracy Brown
Chapter Calendar
Board Meetings
B.A.R.K. BOARD MEETING: (Usually
fourth Thursday) Volunteers are needed to
staff hotline. Contact Florence Piliavin,
415-848-4752 or 415-848-5195.
EARL WARREN BOARD MEETING:
(Third Wednesday) March 18 and April 15,
7:30 pm prompt, Sumitomo Bank, 20th and
Franklin Streets, Oakland. Contact Rose
Bonhag, 415-658-7977.
FRESNO BOARD MEETING: (Usually
third Wednesday) Contact Mindy Rose for
details: 209-486-7735.
GAY RIGHTS BOARD MEETING: (Usu-
ally first Tuesday) April 7 and May 5, 7:00
pm, ACLU-NC, 1663 Mission Street, Suite
460, San Francisco. Contact Doug Warner
for more information: 415-621-3900.
MARIN COUNTY BOARD MEETING:
(Third Monday) 7:30 pm. Citicorp Bank, 130
Throckmorton Avenue, Mill Valley. Contact
Jack Butler, 415-453-0972 or June Festler,
415-479-7317.
MID-PENINSULA BOARD MEETING:
(Usually fourth Wednesday) All Saints
Episcopal Church, 555 Waverly, Room 15,
Palo Alto. Contact Harry Anisgard,
415-856-9186.
MONTEREY BOARD MEETING: (Usu-
ally fourth Tuesday) March 24 and April 28,
7:30 pm. Monterey Library, Pacific and
Jefferson Streets, Monterey. Contact Richard
Criley, 408-624-7562.
MT. DIABLO BOARD MEETING: (Usu-
ally third Wednesday or third Thursday)
Schedule for 1987 is March 19, April 15, May
21, June 17, and July 16. Contact Andrew
Rudiak, 415-932-5580.
NORTH PENINSULA BOARD MEET-
ING: (Second Monday) March 9, April 13,
and May 11, 8:00 pm. Bank of America, 3rd
and El Camino, San Mateo. Contact Bob
Delzell, 415-343-7339.
THIRD ANNUAL CIVIL LIBER-
TIES AWARD CHAMPAGNE
BRUNCH: Sunday, May 3, | pm. Villa
Hotel, 4000 S. El Camino Real, San
Mateo. Honoree: Marlene DeLancie.
Keynote Speaker: James Brosnahan on
"Civil Liberties in 1987: Foreign and
Domestic." Tickets (including cham-
pagne brunch): $25; limited income: $15.
For more information, contact Juanita
Clark, 415-593-1260. oo
SACRAMENTO VALLEY BOARD
MEETING: (Usually second Wednesday)
7:30 pm. County Administration Building,
7th and I Streets, Main Floor Conference
Room, Sacramento. Contact Joe Gunter-
man, 916-447-8053.
SAN FRANCISCO BOARD MEETING:
(Usually fourth Tuesday) March 24 and April
28, 6:00 pm, ACLU-NC, 1663 Mission Street,
Suite 460, San Francisco. Contact Marion
Standish, 415-863-3520.
SANTA CLARA BOARD MEETING:
(Usually first Tuesday) Contact Michael
Chatsky 408-379-4611.
SANTA CRUZ BOARD MEETING:
(Second Wednesday) Contact Bob Taren,
408-429-9880.
SONOMA BOARD MEETING: (Usually
third Thursday) Chapter meets at the
Roseland Law Center, 1611 Sebastopol Road,
Santa Rosa. Contact Colleen O'Neal
707-575-1156.
STOCKTON BOARD MEETING: (Third
Wednesday) Contact Eric Ratner,
209-948-4040 (evenings).
YOLO COUNTY BOARD MEETING:
(Usually Third Wednesday) Contact Dan
Abramson, 916-446-7701.
Field
Committee Meetings
PRO-CHOICE TASK FORCE: Special
Meeting, March 25, 6:00 pm; and Wednesday,
April 1, 6:00 pm. ACLU-NC, 1663 Mission
Street, Suite 460, San Francisco. Contact
Marcia Gallo, 415-621-2494.
RIGHT TO KNOW/RIGHT TO DIS-
SENT: Reorganization meeting, Thursday,
March 26, 6:00 pm. ACLU-NC, 1663 Mission
Street, Suite 460, San Francisco. Contact
Marcia Gallo, 415-621-2494.
CDIRR (COMMITTEE TO DEFEND
IMMIGRANT AND REFUGEE
RIGHTS): General Meeting, "Update on
Proposed Immigration Regulations," Thurs-
_ day, March 5, 7:00 pm. ACLU-NC, 1663
| Mission Street, Suite 460, San Francisco.
- Blanche Greenberg
ACLU activist Blanche Greenberg, a
stalwart of the Santa Cruz Chapter, died
on February 18 at the age of 74.
Greenberg's involvement in the ACLU.
spanned several decades, and included
Board membership in the ACLU affil-
iates of Northern and Southern Califor-
nia and in the Santa Cruz chapter. In
1983, Greenberg was awarded the Civil
Liberties Award by the Santa Cruz
chapter for her deep concern about civil
liberties and her energetic efforts in.
fundraising and recruitment for the
chapter.
"It was Blanche who made our chapter
work," said Santa Cruz chapter chair Bob
Taren. "In fact, if we weren't working
at our greatest capacity, she let us know
about it.
"Because of her concern and activism,
her death is deeply felt in the ACLU
community in Santa Cruz," Taren added.
_A native of England who came to the
United States as a child, Greenberg was
always concerned about national, state
and local civil liberties issues. She was
particularly sensitive to government
withchhunting, and was incensed at the
idea that the government could label
people subversive and cause them to lose
their jobs, the right to travel or other
liberties.
A Soquel resident active in the
Womens International League for Peace
and Freedom and the Womens Demo-
cratic Club of Santa Cruz County,
Greenberg was also a talented jewelry
designer and artisan who enrolled in the
art department of Cabrillo College for
the last 14 years. Last year, she and her
husband Len Greenberg established a
perpetual scholarship at Cabrillo, to
make funds available to promising
students in art fields. On her death, the
scholarship was renamed in her honor.
A memorial service was held on
March 8 at Cabrillo College. Donations
may be made to the Blanche Gootkin
Greenberg Memorial Arts Scholarship,
Cabrillo College, 6500 Soquel Drive,
Aptos, California 95003.