vol. 56, no. 1
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ORGANIZATION
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PAID
PERMIT NO. 4424
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Volume LVI
january/february 1992
No. 1
Anti-War Vets Sue Army for Assault,
Detention at Parade
n December 19 the ACLU-NC
filed a suit in U.S. District Court
charging that the First and Fourth
Amendment rights of a group of anti-war
veterans were violated when the veterans
were attacked, seized and searched by
Military Police as they attempted to exer-
cise their freedom of expression at a post-
Gulf War Armed Forces Day parade in
May.
" The plaintiffs, Veterans Speakers
Alliance members Paul Cox, William H.
Eisman, Marc Kiselicka, Robert Leedy,
Keith Mather, Scott Rutherford, and John
Wike are represented by ACLU-NC staff
attorney Alan Schlosser and cooperating
attorneys Tower C. Snow, Jr., Koji E.
Felton, Michelle Bryan Oroschakoff and
Pamela S. Kelly of Shearman and Sterling.
Speaking at a press conference
announcing the suit, attorney Felton said,
"Shearman and Sterling is proud to repre-
sent the Veterans Speakers Alliance as a
cooperating attorney for the ACLU of
Northern California. On this 200th anni-
versary of the Bill of Rights, it is particu-
larly disturbing that members of the U.S.
Army, who swear to protect and uphold
the Constitution, would violate the consti-
tutional rights of the Veterans Speakers
Alliance."
Invited to join
On May 18, the Bay Area Chamber of
Commerce and the Armed Forces jointly
sponsored the Armed Forces Day Parade
in San Francisco to welcome home mili-
tary troops from the war in the Persian
Gulf. The Veterans Speakers Alliance, an
organization of veterans opposed to war,
responding to a call for veterans' groups to
participate in the parade, asked to join the
parade, and was expressly invited by the
organizers to take part.
Members of the Veterans Speakers Alliance spread their anti-war message in
classrooms and in the streets.
The Alliance contingent marched in its
designated place in the parade. As its
members approached the reviewing stand
inside the Presidio Army Base where
Governor Pete Wilson, San Francisco
Mayor Art Agnos and other government
and military dignitaries were seated, they
began to unfurl banners and placards they
had brought with them. The banners and
placards complied with size limitations
and other requirements set by the march
organizers. The messages they carried
were explicitly anti-war, among them,
"Veterans Say No War," and "Study War
No More."
As soon as members of the VSA
began to display their messages, they
were attacked without warning by
Military Police. When the MP's attempted
to confiscate the banners and placards,
some of the members asserted their First
Amendment right to free expression and
refused to yield their signs. Several of the
Pro-Choice Activists Defend
Roe v. Wade
uman billboards, marches, rallies
and even a colorful pro-choice
cable car carrying its message -
through the streets of San Francisco com-
memorated the January 22 anniversary of
Roe v. Wade, the landmark U.S. Supreme _
Court decision protecting a woman's right
to choose.
This year's
actions took on added
significance because
the day before the
U.S. Supreme Court
announced that it
would hear argu-
ments in Casey vy.
Planned Parenthood,
the ACLU case chal-
lenging Pennsylva-
nia's restrictive abor-
tion law. "This law
is a frontal assault on
the right to privacy
recognized in Roe,
said ACLU attomey Kathryn Kolbert who
will argue the case before the high court
this spring. "The court is likely to use this
case to abolish fundamental constitutional
rights to choose abortion or birth control
- rights that millions of American
women have relied on for the last 18
years."
A tuling is expected in the case by
early July. "Americans must not allow
the Justices to have the last word on their
right to choose," said Kolbert. She
announced that the ACLU is launching a
nationwide campaign to secure - by fed-
eral statute or, if necessary, by constitu-
tional amendment - the fundamental
Jean Field
right of privacy - "a right the Supreme
Court is ready to eliminate. Together we
can guarantee the right of reproductive
choice for all Americans," Kolbert added.
Watch the next issue of the ACLU
News for more information on the ACLU
campaign or call ACLU-NC Field
Representative Nancy Otto at 415/621-
2493.
Courtesy Veterans Speakers Alliance
veterans were then thrown up against a
fence, handcuffed, searched and detained.
At no time throughout the incident did any
of them attempt or threaten to physically
harm the MPs. Some of the anti-war vete-
rans were surrounded and prevented from
moving freely by Military Police. They
were then forced to exit the Presidio under
guard. Subsequently, some members
received notices barring them from reenter-
ing the Presidio and other Bay Area mili-
tary installations.
Swords to plowshares
Plaintiff Paul Cox said, "We marched
in the parade to welcome our brothers and
sisters who made it back, and to moum the
dead on all sides. Our participation was
appropriate. War should never be cele-
brated, it should always be mourned.
"The parade was a lie, and we felt as
veterans we had to say so. They honor
war; but war is not honorable - how dare
we celebrate death and destruction? If ever
there was a time that we should be beating
our swords into plowshares, this is it," said
Cox.
According to attorney Schlosser, "This
parade was intended to be a demonstration
of San Francisco's patriotic support for the
Gulf War. Clearly, the actions taken by the
Military Police against the Veterans
Speakers Alliance were an attempt to erad-
icate an expression of opposition to the
war.
"Censorship based on political view-
point is plainly prohibited by the First
Amendment. We hope in this case to
establish that even military police are
bound by this basic principle of the Bill of
Rights," Schlosser added.
The suit seeks a declaratory judgment
that the MPs' actions were violations of
the plaintiffs' rights. The suit also seeks
damages and a permanent injunction from
the Court restraining the Military Police
from "prohibiting the lawful exercise of
rights guaranteed under the First
Amendment, and from searching and seiz-
ing individuals based solely on the exer-
cise of their First Amendment rights."
aclu news
jan - feb 1992
Dateline: Sacramento
1991 Legislative Review and Outlook
by Francisco Lobaco
ACLU Legislative Advocate
Civil Liberties in Review
he 1991 legislative session began
} with the expectation that Governor
Pete Wilson would be more willing
to sign civil rights and civil liberties leg-
islation than his predecessor Governor
George Deukmejian. However by the end
of the year, it was common knowledge
that Governor Wilson was no friendlier to
civil liberties than the previous governor.
Every important civil rights bill that
passed the Legislature was vetoed by
Govermor Wilson. The vetoes of AB 101
and SB 827 caused strong public outcry.
SB 827 (Bergeson) would have reauthor-
ized the Fair Employment and Housing
Commission the right to award compen-
satory and limited civil penalties in cases
of employment discrimination. AB 101
(Friedman) would have prohibited dis-
crimination in employment on the basis
of sexual orientation. In addition, SB 834
(Marks), co-sponsored by the ACLU,
was also vetoed. That bill would have
prohibited English-only workplace rules
unless justified by a business necessity.
We can expect these anti-discrimination
bills to be reintroduced next year.
For the second consecutive year, a
State budget was adopted without Meedi-
Cal abortion restrictions. The ACLU was
able to defeat restrictive abortion amend-
ments. Similarly, all anti-choice bills
were either defeated in Committee or
made into two-year bills. This included
efforts to prohibit abortions for the pur-
pose of sex selection, and legislation
imposing burdensome abortion reporting
requirements on health facilities.
Despite the state and national atten-
tion surrounding the use of excessive
force by the police resulting from the
police beating of Rodney King in Los
Angeles, police groups were busy in
Sacramento promoting legislation which
would greatly expand their rights in disci-
plinary actions and create more secrecy
around documents which are part of citi-
zens' complaints. One example was AB
2067 which, among other things, would
require 24-hour notice to any officer by
his or her superior before the officer
could be questioned about any matter
under investigation. The bill's provisions
would make it extremely difficult for
police agencies and Civilian Review
Boards to adequately investigate charges
of police misconduct. AB 2067 was made
into a two-year bill and will be heard next
year.
A major disappointment this year in
the First Amendment area was Governor
Wilson's veto of SB 341 (Lockyer). This
bill would have required plaintiffs to
establish a substantial probability of suc-
cess before proceeding with lawsuits
against persons engaged in free speech on
a public issue. Like similar bill vetoed
last year by Governor Deukmejian, this
bill was intended to provide procedural
protections from SLAPP suits. The legis-
lation will be reintroduced in 1992.
Finally, the long and heated legisla-
tive battle surrounding the rights of men-
tal patients to refuse powerful and often
dangerous psychotropic medication was
resolved. The ACLU was able to obtain
amendments to SB 665 (Petris) which
assured that mental patients could not be
forcibly drugged without a judicial or
quasi-judicial finding of incompetency or
in cases of emergency. SB 665 was
signed by the Governor.
The ACLU took a position on nearly
200 bills this Session. This report sum-
marizes the outcome of some of the most
important bills. Measures listed as two-
year bills will be heard next year.
Civil Rights
AB 101 (Friedman) would prohibit
discrimination in employment on the basis
of sexual orientation. The bill was
intensely lobbied by the ACLU, gay rights
organizations, and supported by a long list
of business, religious, and civil rights
groups, as well as the majority of
Californians. The Governor's veto sparked
widespread public outcry.
ACLU Position: SUPPORT
Status: Vetoed by the Governor
SB 827 (Bergeson) would overtum
recent Califomia Supreme Court decisions
by granting the Fair Employment Housing
Commission the specific authority to grant
actual and/or punitive damages in employ-
ment discrimination cases, including those
involving racial and sexual harassment.
ACLU Position: SUPPORT
Status: Vetoed by the Governor
SB 834 (Marks) codifies existing Fair
Employment and Housing Commission
regulations which prohibit Englist..- ly
i 1
nets
eae ae !
_ work place rules unless justified by a busi-
ness necessity. The bill ensures that
employees of diverse ethnic and cultural
backgrounds are protected from discrimi-
natory employment practices.
ACLU position: SUPPORT
Status: Vetoed by the Governor
SB 1257 (Roberti) clarifies that the
Unruh Civil Rights Act prohibits all
forms of arbitrary discrimination by busi-
ness establishments. This legislation
responds to a recent California Supreme
Court decision which overturned more
than 20 years of precedent by ruling that
the Unruh Act does not prohibit all forms
of arbitrary discrimination.
ACLU position: SUPPORT
Status: Two-year bill
AB 531 (Polanco) is intended to bring
California into compliance with the fed-
eral Fair Housing Act. The FHA author-
izes the federal enforcement agency to
award compensatory damages and assess
civil penalties to victims of housing dis-
crimination. The bill also contains the
protections provided to disabled individu-
als and families by the Fair Housing Act.
ACLU position: SUPPORT
Status: Two-year bill
AB 77 (Moore) is the parental leave
law which requires employers of 50 or
more persons to grant workers unpaid
leave of up to four months once every two
years to care for a dependent child or a
sick parent.
ACLU position: SUPPORT
Status: Signed by the Governor
AB 1286 (Vasconcellos) would
expand protection from discrimination in
employment and housing for persons with
physical and mental disabilities. The bill
would conform California's anti-
discrimination laws with the recently
enacted __ federal Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990.
ACLU position: SUPPORT
Status: Two-year bill
-
AB 28 (Klehs), AB 94 (Friedman)
are both bills which deny state support for
large private clubs which discriminate
against women, minorities and others.
AB 28 would deny tax exempt status to
those private clubs. AB 94 would deny
alcoholic beverage licenses to similar pri-
vate clubs.
ACLU position:
SUPPORT BOTH BILLS
Status: AB 28 vetoed by the Governor;
AB 94 failed passage
Criminal Justice
SB 25 (Lockyer) is the sentencing
reform legislation intended to clarify the
state's complicated sentencing structure.
The ACLU opposes the bill because it
would result in longer prison sentences
by, among other things, permitting the
imposition of full consecutive sentences.
ACLU position: OPPOSE
Status: Two-year bill
SB 26 (Lockyer), SB 187 (Presley),
AB 1871 (Burton) seek to establish a
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PaulA ta on
system of intensive probation supervision,
substance abuse treatment programs, and
other community-based options as alterna-
tives to state prison for nonviolent drug
offenders.
ACLU position: SUPPORT
Status: Two-year bills
AB 50 (Katz) would impose major sen-
tence increases to a long list of drug and
sexual offenses by reducing prison work
time credits given prisoners convicted of
these offenses for participation in work or
educational programs from 50% to 15%.
This legislation would cost the state bil-
lions of dollars in additional prison costs
over the next 10 to 15 years.
ACLU position: OPPOSE
Status: Two-year bill
SB 136 (Leonard) mandates driver's
license revocation for six months for con-
victions of any drug offense, including
possession of marijuana. In opposition, the
ACLU argued that this post conviction
penalty bears no rational relationship to the
underlying offense.
ACLU position: OPPOSE
Status: Two-year bill
AB 785 (Eaves) would permit courts to
admit expert testimony in criminal cases
concerning the effects of battered
woman's syndrome. Juries should be enti-
tled to consider evidence of this syndrome
in domestic violence situations to fully
understand how a defendant genuinely
believed she was in imminent danger of
harm.
ACLU position: SUPPORT
Status: Signed by the Governor
SB 982 (Davis) would impose a life
sentence on those who infect others with
the HIV virus by engaging in unprotected
sexual activity or by sharing a hypodermic
needle knowing that their blood is
infected. The ACLU noted that because
laws already exist which criminalize acts
which genuinely amount to attempted
homicide there is no need to construct a
specific statute to deal with AIDS. While
criminalization would not help deter the
spread of the virus it would permit the
state through the criminal justice system to
engage in significant intrusions into pri-
vate sexual activities. Such a law would
most likely be used selectively and discri-
minatorily against groups like gay men.
ACLU position: OPPOSE
Status: Two-year bill
SB 363 (Watson) provides funding for
the Department of Justice to gather data
and statistics on hate-motivated crimes.
There is growing evidence of an increase
in hate crimes and the ACLU supports this
bill in order to determine the scope of the
problem and provide information to help
devise strategies for addressing it.
ACLU position: SUPPORT
Status: Two-year bill
Death Penalty
AB 2156 (Bentley), ACA _ 10
(Bentley) were the Administration's pro-
posals to substantially modify habeas cor-
pus proceedings by, among other things,
eliminating legitimate grounds for appeals
in death penalty cases.
ACLU position: OPPOSE
Status: Failed in Assembly Public
Safety Committee
AB 96 (McClintock), AB 259
(Epple), AB 498 (Boland), AB 1759
(Knowles), AB 1958 (Knowles) were
death penalty bills which expanded the
death penalty in various ways including
situations where a child under 14 years of
age is killed, where death results from an
illegal drug transaction, or where someone
is killed as a result of gang activity. The
ACLU opposes the death penalty under all
circumstances.
ACLU position: OPPOSED ALL
BILLS
Status: All bills failed passage in
Assembly Public Safety Committee
Police Practices
AB 2221 (Floyd) would impose a
$5,000 civil penalty for release of police
records which are deemed "confidential"
under the penal code. The penalty would
impose a chilling effect on the release of
continued on page 6
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Published by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California
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Hi
aclu news
jan - feb 1992 3
Pe
Bicentennial of the Bill of
wh we we and
feted detalles
eee "
Rights
Ps
feted
AGU-NG Honors the Bicentennial of the Bill of Rights
n commemmorating the Bicentennial
of the Bill of Rights, the American
Civil Liberties Union of Northern
I
California honors more than a piece of
parchment, more even than the basic prin-
ciples outlined in that document 200 years
ago.
The ACLU celebrates the individu-
als whose struggles bring that document
to life. Many people fought and died to
define the freedoms guaranteed by these
amendments, and their example gave oth-
ers whose rights were denied the courage
to demand them. Those struggles con-
tinue today, and are waged in courtrooms,
classrooms and on the streets by people
not even envisioned by the writers of the
Constitution.
As part of its celebration of the
Bicentennial of the Bill of Rights, the
ACLU-NC honors individuals like Fred
Korematsu, who fought the internment of
Japanese Americans during World War II
all the way to the Supreme Court.
Yolanda Cortez, a hospital dietitian, who
successfully fought the "English only"
rule at her workplace. And James
Camarillo, who called on the ACLU-NC
to help stop the policy of segregating
HIV-positive inmates, which denied them
access to education and rehabilitation.
These people, and hundreds like them,
have worked to ensure that the Bill of
Rights is continually on display in our
daily life.
The projects commemorating the
Bicentennial include a photography
exhibit of people the ACLU-NC has rep-
resented in their civil rights battles. "The
Human Face of the Struggle for Civil
Liberties" will be on display at San
Francisco City Hall and San Francisco
International Airport. Videotaped Public
Service Announcements, made in conjunc-
tion with the Cinema Department of San
Francisco State University, will put the
voices of ACLU-NC clients on television
Stations around northern California.
Billboards, reminding pedestrians and
commuters that "You Have the Right Not
To Remain Silent," are posted on donated
Gannett Outdoor spaces throughout north-
em California. And interactive posters,
urging people to "Celebrate Freedom of
Speech ... Write Whatever You Want," are
being placed in classrooms, nightclubs and
other venues to encourage students and
visitors to exercise their First Amendment
rights.
These ambitious projects - from
Portraits
The portraits also
were on display in the
lobby of San Francisco
City Hall from January 13
to 24. At the opening
reception, Supervisor
Terence Hallinan, who
sponsored the City Hall
exhibit, spoke about the
from the Struggle
for Civil Liberties
hen photographer Rick Rocamora first realized 1991
was the Bicentennial of the Bill of Rights, a series of
images began to develop in his mind. He didn't think
about the piece of parchment put on tour by Philip Morris, about
court cases referenced in law
libraries, or even about the civil
liberties issues currently under
consideration by the United
States Supreme Court.
He thought about the faces
of the people represented by
those battles. "I thought I could
share images behind some of the
ACLU's cases, so others could
realize that people do make
a dillerence, -_ explains
Rocamora.
His inspiration led to
the creation of "The Human
Face of the Struggle for
Civil Liberties," an exhibit
of 11 portraits of people,
who, with the help of the
ACLU of Northern
California, fought for their
San Francisco City Hall exhibit opening
Simone LeVant Rick Rocamora
Yolanda Cortez Rick Rocamora
ACLU-NC Public Information Director Elaine Elinson,
who coordinated the ACLU-NC's multifaceted projects
to celebrate the Bicentennial of the Bill of Rights, is
pictured above with photographer Rick Rocamora at the
Laura Trent
Raul Ramirez
meaning of civil liberties
in the everyday lives of
San Franciscans. "We so
often talk about civil lib-
erties in the abstract," he
said. "We forget it is
human beings that lose
their civil liberties."
The photographs also
will be exhibited at the North
Terminal of San Francisco
International Airport during
October and November 1992,
where thousands of travelers
daily will have the opportu- Fred Korematsu
nity to see them.
billboards to videos - were coordinated
by ACLU-NC veteran Public Information
Director Elaine Elinson. Elinson's extraor-
dinary effort in pulling together the tal-
ented volunteers, graduate students, and
artists who have contributed to these pro-
jects enables us to celebrate the incredible
diversity and courage of the people who
have led the battle against forces trying to
erode our civil liberties. Her work will
also enable us to reach out to people who
otherwise might remain unaware of their
rights.
By putting a human face to our
Bicentennial project, we hope to inspire
others to stand up for their civil rights.
That next generation of activists may help
guarantee the survival of personal liberty
for another 200 years.
-Dorothy Ehrlich
ACLU-NC Executive Director
constitutional rights. The exhibit premiered at the ACLU-
NC Bill of Rights Day Celebration on December 15.
Rick Rocamora
Rocamora, whose work has appeared frequently in the
ACLU News, as well as in Image magazine and at the Oakland
Museum and the Eye Gallery, captured the diversity and spirit
of the individuals represented by the ACLU-NC. One of his
Subjects is Larry Brinkin, a gay employee of Southern Pacific
Rick Rocamora
who was denied
the company's
standard funeral
leave when _ his
lover dicd.
Brinkin now
works as a dis-
crimination repre-
sentative for the
San Francisco
Human Rights
Commission.
=f photo-
graphed _-_ Larry
Brinkin standing
with a client in
front of the
Federal Building,
under the words
`United States of America,'" says Rocamora. "It provides a
counterpoint - this man is protected by the U.S. Constitution,
but his rights were violated. Now he works to protect the rights
of others."
A portrait of Chiyuka Carlos, one of the young men
denied entrance to Great America amusement park in 1990
because security guards thought their clothes fit a so-called
"gang profile," also is part of the exhibit. Rocamora photo-
continued from page 4
4. jan - feb 1992
aclu news
continued from page 3
graphed Carlos in
his normal week-
day attire, which
includes a dress
shirt, | suspenders
and tie. "You look
at this young man,
a guy who's so
responsible he
works in the
Financial District
during the day and
as a UPS super-
visor at night, and
WL OLA Od
der case resulted in the
longest running press free-
wonder how he dom case on the ACLU-
Larry Brinkin (r.) with client Rick Clark can be stopped NC's docket.
Rick Rocamora from going into an In the future, Roca-
amusement park mora says he hopes to pho-
just because he's wearing another kind of outfit," says
Rocamora. "Anyone can buy that outfit he wore. If he were
white and wearing that outfit, he probably wouldn't be
stopped."
Rocamora used the same sensitivity and insight to por-
tray others involved in ACLU-NC cases. Among the individu-
als photographed were Fred Korematsu, who fought the World
War II internment of Japanese Americans all the way to the
Supreme Court; Yolanda Cortez, a hospital dietitian who
fought the English-Only rule at the University of California at
San Francisco; Simone LeVant, a Stanford diver who chal-
lenged NCAA drug testing of student athletes; Dick Criley, a
longtime free speech advocate; and Raul Ramirez, a reporter
whose San Francisco Examiner story about a Chinatown mur-
tograph more of the coura-
geous people involved in
significant civil rights cases
of the past few decades, and
gather their portraits in a
book that would be made
available to schools. "It
would be testimony to the
fact that one person can
change the law or the ways
laws are enforced,"
Rocamora says. "People
would see it and be inspired
to make a difference."
San Francisco Supervisior Terence Hallinan (speak-
ing) with ACLU-NC Executive Director Dorothy
Ehrlich and photographer Rick Rocamora
announces the opening of the photo exhibit at San
Francisco City Hall on January 13. Laura Trent
atmosphere of mistrust and discrimination. "I didn't know any clause
that said freedom of speech in English Only!" says Cortez, with a
broad smile.
A 30-second video featuring Bettye Davis, a Richmond resi-
rainy black-and-white images of
Gi American families,
Video Visions
forced i desol i t
x mx mx mx 6 x camps eae a Se tee a
television screen as a woman's voice describes the mass relocation of
families under the wartime Executive Order 9066. -
Fred Korematsu appears on the screen, describing why he
refused to be put in the camps. "I was stunned, and couldn't believe
what was happening. Then I realized I was an American, I was born
here. ... 1 was put in jail. I was surprised when the guard came and told
me | had a visitor. I didn't know him, but he introduced himself as Mr.
Ernest Besig of the American Civil Liberties Union."
Photos of young people of Japanese heritage, smiling, saluting
the flag. "The Bill of Rights. Celebrate It. Defend It. Use It," followed
by the ACLU logo, flashes on the screen.
This powerful 60-second video, which premiered at the
December 15 Bill of Rights Day Celebration, will soon fill in the gaps
between sit-coms and advertisements for beauty products, dish soap and
new cars. In January, video portraits of ACLU-NC clients will be sub-
mitted to television stations throughout northern California. They will
air as 15-, 30- and 60-second
dent whose home was invaded by police, has a very different
tone. Davis's description of what happened to her family that day
is punctuated by menacing shots that has the camera closing in on
suburban homes. Her final words are "The thing I'm most angry
about is that this can be done. They can just break into your home at
any time."
Film student Matt Heffelfinger, who produced the Davis video
with Andy Meade, said it was exciting to work on something that
would reach people. "It was a complicated subject to get across in 30
seconds, but I tried to convey that what happened wasn't right, and
that it happens to other people too."
Film students shot videos of a diverse group of individuals
who fought for the many personal freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of
Rights: James Camarillo, who sued for an end to the segregation of
HIV-infected prisoners at the California Medical Facility in
Vacaville; Chiyuka Carlos, one of the young men denied entrance to
Great America theme park
Public. Service Announ-
cements, celebrating the
Bicentennial of the Bill of
Rights.
The videos were made |}
by San Francisco State
University graduate film stu-
dents, guided by Steve Kovacs,
Chair of SF State's Cinema
Department and Elaine Elinson,
ACLU-NC Public Information
Director.
"It's unusual to have
such a collaboration," said
Kovacs, whose screen credits
include producing the 1988 fea-
ture film "68." "Film schools
usually work just with their
own students. For the students
to get this kind of hands-on
training is just great."
The film students bor-
because they fit a so-called
"gang - profile"; Simone
LeVant, a Stanford diver who
refused to submit to NCAA-
mandated drug tests; Larry
Brinkin, a gay employee of
Southern Pacific who was
denied the company's standard
funeral leave when his lover
died; Diane Brown, who
fought to keep prayer out of
her graduation ceremony at
Granada High School in
Livermore; longtime _ free
speech advocate Richard
Criley; and Orlando Gotay, a
gay man forced to resign by
the Navy, which then
demanded he pay back his
Naval Academy tuition.
"These personal por-
traits are real drama about the
rowed equipment from Film
and Video Service to create
high-quality video pieces. Two
professional on-line editors, Jennifer Seaman and Darrell Adams,
helped the students turn their footage into broadcast-quality videos.
Teams of students signed up to film one of the courageous peo-
ple who enlisted the support of the ACLU of Northern California to
defend their rights over the past five decades. In addition to Fred
Korematsu, who was filmed by a team led by Karen Davis, nine other
former and current clients participated in both the video and photogra-
phy projects.
Film students Lidia Szajko and Caitlin Manning produced a
lively spot entitled "Down With English Only," which featured
Yolanda Cortez, a hospital dietitian who fought the "English only" rule
at the University of California at San Francisco. Cortez gathered a few
of her co-workers, who spoke out about how the regulations created an
A hospital worker from UCSF on the "Down with English Only" video.
foundations of democracy,"
says Kovacs
"The founda
tions of democracy are based on freedom of the
individual, and here are these individuals confront-
ing it in their own lives. It's a great exercise for the
students, because they had to figure out how best to
capture what those people are going through, how ,
to show that drama in a single quote."
Daven Gee, a second-year graduate film stu- 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_1988.batch ACLUN_1989 ACLUN_1989.MODS ACLUN_1989.batch ACLUN_1990 ACLUN_1990.MODS ACLUN_1990.batch ACLUN_1991 ACLUN_1991.MODS ACLUN_1991.batch ACLUN_1992 ACLUN_1992.MODS ACLUN_1992.batch 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
dent who created the video of Orlando Gotay, said his experience
working on the project was invaluable. "It helped me identify what
I'm really interested in - dealing with real issues and real people,
and letting moving images be their voice. That's what I went to film
school to do, but sometimes you get isolated here on the campus, in
our small art-film kind of world." and
Laura Trent
aclu news
jan - feb 1992 5
Le Le
Bi lho d rl 5 of D rivers in northern California money towar.
" will get a Bill of Rights
Rights message this month. Anselm S
wy = es! le =! = = ated above roadways from San _ courts
Dx 6 mx mx 0x00A7 vx Francisco to Sacramento and from _ respons
Twenty ACLU-NC billboards, situ- The figh
Oakland to San Jose during January and February, need to
carry the message, "You Have the Right Not to
Remain Silent." ject off the drawing boards and onto the streets.
The unprecedented billboard project, combined Through the efforts of Lewis Lillian, Vice-
the talent, generosity and hard work of adiverse group _- President of Gannett Shelter Posters, and Steve
of people. Daniel Clay Russ, the project's copywriter, | Shinn, who dirccts the Public Affairs Department
is a Texan who studied to be a rabbi, has a black belt in
martial arts, and performs as a professional comedian.
Russ was named one of the top ten copywriters in the
country by Adweek magazine.
His passion for, and knowledge about, civil lib-
erties drove him to volunteer his time and energy to the
ACLU. "There is no moral decline in America that we
need fear," says Russ. "What we need to fear is the
decline in education and intelligence in American soci-
ety, because it is almost always associated with repres-
sion."
Russ enlisted Mike Bevil, a young art director
who works with him at the Austin-based advertising
firm of GSD M. They proposed a dynamic series of
billboards, print ads and an interactive poster to be
placed in schools, community centers and other public
places. Among the billboard design proposals were a
"Billboard of Rights," listing the first ten amendments
to the Constitution, and one featuring a copy of the Bill
of Rights under the words "The Protection You Don't
Need to Carry in Your Wallet."
Another of the advertising team's inspirations
was a large-size poster, which is mostly blank, except
for an eye-catching message at the bottom: "Celebrate
Freedom of Speech ... Write Whatever You Want. Pick of Gannett Outdoor Company of Northern
up this pen and express yourself. Then pick up acopy __ California, Gannett donated 20 large billboards,
of the Bill of Rights. Because you can't fight for your _illuminated_-at night, that will be on display during
rights if you don't know what they are." the early months of 1992. They will feature the
words "You Have the Right
Not to Remain Silent."
Other -_Russ/Bevil
designs will be incorporated
into print ads donated by
school and community news-
papers throughout northern
California. And the "Write
What You Want" posters will
ROSCOE
The ACLU-NC billboard, pictured here at 15th Street and South Van Ness in San
Francisco, is up at 20 sites throughout northern California. Jean Field
ae Ge be on display at venues rang-
You Hay eo TL ne Rig ht ing from classrooms to night-
rt "ny 4 : `Clubs. More than 800 high
Not 10 Remal school students had a chance
to express their thoughts on
posters at the Friedman First
Amendment. Education Pro-
ject's. first student conference
in December. The Academy of
Art College put up a dozen in
its hallways for its creative stu-
dent body and several Bay
Jean Field Area high school teachers have
posted them in classrooms.
Accompanying the poster are pens and a box labeled These efforts undoubtedly will reach peo-
"You are free to take one," containing copies of the ple who might otherwise remain unaware of the =
Bill of Rights. role the Bill of Rights plays in their lives. That,
But the costs of a billboard campaign almost say the Strausses, makes educational outreach a
curtailed the project. Despite the generosity of Russ, top priority. "It's good to be at a point in your life-
Bevil and GSD M, and the potential of donated bill- time when you can do something like this," says
board space, production costs for even one or two bill- | Fran Strauss. "The response to our idea from
boards would overwhelm the project's budget. friends and family has been incredible."
At that point, longtime ACLU-NC leader Fran
Strauss, who currently chairs the Development
Committee, came up with one of her generous inspira-
tions. "During a working lunch with Marcia Gallo
[Director of the Friedman First Amendment Education
Project], she mentioned the lack of money for the bill-
board project," says Strauss. "As I drove home, I
started thinking about the big bash I was planning in
honor of my husband Anselm's 75th birthday. It was
going to be quite costly, and I thought why not put the
aclu news
jan - feb 1992
Death Penalty Appeal to High Court: "Efficiency or Justice?"
n January 14, attorneys for Robert 0x00B0
Harris filed a petition in the U.S.
Supreme Court asking the nation's
highest court to review the Ninth Circuit's
refusal to overturn his death sentence.
Attorney Michael Laurence, Director
of the ACLU-NC Death Penalty Project
and one of Harris's defense lawyers, con-
tends that key evidence regarding Harris's
impaired mental condition was never pre-
' sented to the jury in the original trial in
San Diego Superior Court.
"Society cannot and should not close
the federal courthouse doors or permit an
unjust execution because a condemned
inmate lacked the funds to present a
defense," Laurence said.
"Despite his mental disabilities,
because of his poverty Robert Harris never
received a minimally adequate psychiatric
examination at trial," charged Laurence.
"It was not until the defense team, at its
Own expense, brought in competent psy-
chiatric examiners in 1990, that the true
extent of Harris's organic brain disorder
came to light."
Such evidence is vital to proving that
Harris was incapable of committing the
crime for which he is sentenced to death"
- premeditated murder. In 1979, Harris
was convicted of first degree murder and
sentenced to death. But because the jur-
ors did not hear evidence that Harris suf-
fered from organic brain damage and
other disorders stemming from fetal alco-
hol syndrome, traumatic birth, and sys-
tematic brutalization as a child, his
attorneys contend that the death penalty
is unjust.
According to the petition filed in the
U.S. Supreme Court, "The evidence pre-
sented to the district court overwhelm-
ingly proves that the jury was presented
with false information conceming
{Harris's] mental condition. Far from
being a `sociopath,' and someone with
`capacity' to make rational decisions
under stressful situations, under the cir-
cumstances of the crime, [Harris's] men-
tal disabilities prevented him from
harboring the mental state necessary for
death eligibility or the culpability neces-
sary for a jury to return a death sen-
tence."
Harris's petition is supported by affi-
davits from ten mental health experts.
Citing psychiatric and psychological
reports and opinions on Harris from as
early as 1969, and two recent batteries of
neuropsychological tests, | Laurence
argues that Harris was incapable of
understanding or controlling his behav-
ior, both prior to and at the time of the
1978 murders.
"The declarations of mental health
professionals and every competent men-
tal health evaluation performed on
Robert Harris since 1978 support the
petitioner's position that he did not pre-
meditate and deliberate or otherwise
have the required mental state, at the
time of the crime, for the state to obtain a
special circumstance finding or the nec-
essary culpability to persuade a jury that
the death penalty was warranted," stated
Laurence. In August 1991, the Ninth
Circuit by a 2-1 vote refused to consider
the powerful, uncontroverted psychiatric
evidence, and invoked a procedural rule
concluding that Harris should have pre-
sented the evidence earlier.
"The Supreme Court is being asked to
decide whether its newly created rules
restricting death row inmates access to
the federal courts are merely case man-
agement devices or whether they will per-
mit federal courts to ensure justice and
fairness in the application of the death
penalty," Laurence said.
In November, 1991, the full Ninth
Circuit Court of Appeals voted not to
hear Harris's appeal, according to press
reports on a tie vote.
The petition filed in the Supreme
Court argues that Harris's poverty should
not have been used by the Ninth Circuit
to deny him justice and urges the high
court to hear the case to prevent a "funda-
mental miscarriage of justice." Hl
1991 Legislative Review...
continued from page 2
any documents, including those involving
citizen complaints.
ACLU position: OPPOSE
Status: Two-year bill
AB 1417 (Friedman) as introduced,
would have allowed all disciplinary actions
involving police officers to be decided
through binding arbitration. The ACLU
argued that disciplinary actions arising out
of citizen complaints should be exempt
because such complaints should be decided
by persons who are familiar with and sen-
Sitive to the needs of the community. The
ACLU was able to obtain amendments pro-
viding an exemption in the bill for citizen
complaints and removed its opposition.
ACLU position: NEUTRAL, AS
AMENDED
Status: Two-year bill
AB 2067 (Floyd) would reinforce the
code of silence surrounding internal police
investigations of misconduct. Among other
things, the bill requires 24-hour notice to
any police officer by his or her superior
before the officer could be questioned con-
cerning any matter under investigation.
The bill's provisions would make it virtu-
ally impossible for police agencies and
Civilian Revicw Boards to adequately
investigate charges of police misconduct.
ACLU position: OPPOSE
Status: Two-year bill
AB 183 (Ferguson) would have prohib-
ited the use of pain compliance techniques
on peaceful demonstrators who are not
resisting arrest. Police groups came out in
force in opposition to the bill.
ACLU position: SUPPORT
Status: Failed in Assembly Ways and
Means Committee
Reproductive Rights
1991-1992 Budget Act/Medi-Cal
Abortion Funding For the second consec-
utive year the state budget was enacted
without any restrictions on Medi-Cal fund-
ing for abortions. Amendments inserting
restrictive language were attempted by
conservative Republicans on the Assembly
floor but were handily defeated.
SB 1232 (Deddeh), SB 858 (Leonard)
were two anti-choice bills that were
defeated. SB 1232 would have prohibited
anyone form performing an abortion for
the purpose of sex selection; SB 858 would
have placed burdensome reporting require-
ments on health care facilities to keep
records regarding abortions.
ACLU position; OPPOSED
Status: Failed in Senate Health
Committee
First Amendment
SB 341 (Lockyer) requires plaintiffs to
establish that they have a substantial prob-
ability of success before proceeding with
lawsuits against persons for acts in further-
ance of free speech on a public issues. The
bill was intended to provide procedural
protection from SLAPP suits.
ACLU position: SUPPORT
Status: Vetoed by the Governor
SB 1115 (Leonard) would specifically
extend First Amendment rights of free
expression to high school and _post-
secondary students in private as well as
public institutions. The bill also clarifies
that schools can impose discipline for acts
of harassment or intimidation that are not
constitutionally protected.
ACLU position: SUPPORT
Status: Two-year bill
AB 1934 (Wyman), AB 184
(Ferguson) were efforts to expand censor-
ship. AB 1934 would have substantially
broadened California's definition of
obscenity by applying a community stan-
dards test instead of statewide standards;
AB 184 would have prohibited the selling
of "harmful" printed matter in vending
machines.
ACLU position: OPPOSED BOTH
BILLS; Status: Failed in Assembly
Public Safety Committee
Privacy
ACA 28 (Leslie) sought to amend the
State Constitution by promoting a specific
definition of "family" and "rights" sur-
rounding the family. Sponsored by the
religious right, this bill would have unrav-
eled almost every aspect of family law
including those laws affecting child abuse,
spousal abuse and spousal rape. It would
have infringed upon privacy rights guaran-
tees by the California Constitution on
issues such as parental and spousal consent
for abortions.
ACLU position: OPPOSE
Status: Failed in Assembly Judiciary
Committee
AB 167(Burton) would provide legal
recognition of gay and lesbian marriages.
Such recognition recognizes the legal
equality of lesbians and gay men and
extends to its participants the substantial
legal and economic benefits, rights, and
responsibilities of married persons.
ACLU position: SUPPORT
Status: Failed in Assembly Judiciary
Committee
SB 937 (Watson) is a broad-ranging
effort to regulate surrogate parenting con-
tracts. The ACLU objects to those provi-
sions of the bill which would terminate
all parental rights of the surrogate mother
as a condition of payment under the sur-
rogacy agreement.
ACLU position: OPPOSE
Status: Two-year bill
SB 1154 (Bergeson) would prohibit
all local school employees from being
elected to their local governing boards
unless they resign from their jobs. This
measure deprives Californians of the
right to elect representatives of their
choice and effectively denies school
employees their constitutional right to
run for and serve on their local school
boards.
ACLU position: OPPOSE
Status: Signed by the Governor
AB 347 (Eaves) provides that employ-
ers require random drug testing for every
motor carrier driver and applicant driver.
The ACLU remains opposed to drug test-
ing as violative of the Fourth
Amendment and privacy rights.
ACLU position: OPPOSE
Status: Two-year bill
Due Process
SB 270 (Kopp) would require tenants to
deposit prospective rent in order to defend
unlawful detainer cases. The bill is
strongly opposed by the ACLU and a long
list of tenant organizations as a fundamen-
tal violation of duc process.
ACLU position: OPPOSE
Status: Two-year bill
AB 2140 (Lee) would reform current
student suspension and expulsion statutes
by providing students stronger due process
protection as well as permitting on-going
educational assignments during a suspen-
sion.
ACLU position: SUPPORT
Status: Two-year bill
SB 665 (Petris), as introduced, would
have substantially curtailed the right of
involuntarily committed mental patients to
refuse powerful psychotropic medication.
The ACLU and patients' rights advocates
were able to obtain amendments which
assured that mental patients could not be
forcibly drugged absent a judicial or quasi-
Judicial finding of incompetency or in
cases of emergency.
ACLU position: NEUTRAL, AS
AMENDED
Status: Signed by the Governor @
aclu news
jan - feb 1992 7
n February 19, 1942, President
Franklin Roosevelet issued
Executive Order 9066, an act that
former Senator Sam Ervin called "the sin-
gle most blatant violation of the
Constitution in our history." Within a
matter of weeks, 110,000 Japanese
Americans were forcibly evacuated from
their West Coast homes and sent to
remote internment centers.
One of those desolate camps was Tule
Lake, a bleak and barren volcanic plateau
Japanese American internment camp
A Meeting at Tule Lake
by Hiroshi Kashiwagi
The busride to Tule Lake
in the night over.dark highways
rain through the flatlands
and snow beyond Weed
up, up to the roof of California
was a movement back in time
back to the years 1943, 44, and 45
when | was 19, 20 and 21.
Being among you
sensing your youthfulness
hearing your strong voices
| search for reasons why
| came after 30 some years.
Tule Lake, Tule Lake - that
was a name | dared not mention
spoken warily, always with
hesitation, never voluntarily.
But you have made it
a common name again
of a small sleepy town
that it was
before we came here
before we were confined here
before it became Tule Lake
Relocation Center
before it became Tule Lake
Segregation Center
for disloyal Japanese Americans.
Yes, it's right that we're here
to see first hand where
18,000 of us lived
for three years or more
to see again
the barbed wire fence
the guard towers, the MPs
the machine guns, bayonets
Bitter Memories
SO0th Anniversary of Internment Order
Just south of the Oregon border. Eighteen
thousand Japanese Americans were
interned there in rows of tarpaper shacks.
In 1943, Tule Lake became a segregation
center: the "troublemakers" - those who
refused to serve in the military or swear
unqualified allegiance to the country
which had interned them were removed
from the other camps and sent there.
The conditions at Tule Lake were
harsher than at any other camp. This led
to strikes, violence and martial law.
and tanks, the barracks
the messhalls, the shower rooms
and latrines.
Yes, it's right to feel
the bitter cold
of the severe winters
the warmth of the pot-bellied
stoves and the dust storms
how can we forget
the sand biting into your skin
filling your eyes and nose and mouth
and ears, graying your hair
in an instant.
Yes, it's right to recall
the directives
of the War Relocation Authority
their threats and lies
the meetings, the strikes
the resistance, arrests
stockades, violence, attacks
murder, derangement
pain, grief, separation
departure, informers
recriminations, disagreements
loyalty, disloyalty
yes yes, no no, no yes
Issei, Nisei, Kibei.
These are words now
but they were lived here.
There were deaths and births
and lovemaking in the firebreak
with the warden's flashlight
shining on you.
Yes, and movies, socials,
dances sports, card games
and religion.
Sewing classes, flower
arrangement, doll making,
Former ACLU-NC Executive Director
Ernie Besig went to Tule Lake to investi-
gate and publicize the conditions of pris-
oners who were kept in isolation in the
stockade.
His visit was unwelcome by the camp
officials who ordered him off the prem-
ises. "A guard made sure we departed,"
recalls Besig. "The guards bade us fare-
well by putting two bags of salt in the gas
tank. The result was a stop and go 400
miles to San Francisco."
wood carving
beauty behind barbed wires.
Recreation was big
it was encouraged.
"Keep `em busy
keep `em occupied
keep 'em sane,
for heaven's sake!"
But a Chronicle reporter
observed: "there are
18,000 mental patients living
in confinement at Tule Lake."
So it is right that we are here
itis right that | remember
and tell it.
| wish | could share
the feeling | have now
with the Issei and Nisei
they who lived here
they who do not speak of it
who pass it off
as a good time experience.
Whatever we did here
. the commitments we made
loyal or disloyal
compliance or resistance
yes or no
it was right!
Because the young people
make it so
because they seek the history
from those of us who lived it.
So we must remember
and tell it.
we must acknowledge it
and tell it.
So we are here
the Abalone Mountain
the Castle Rock
After half a century, a belated official
apology from the U.S. government, and
monetary compensation for the internces,
pilgrimages are made to Tule Lake to
remind the younger generations of that
bleak chapter of U.S. history.
In honor of the endurance and commit-
ment of the internees, the ACLU News is
proud to publish this poem by Hiroshi
Kashiwagi, poct, actor and former Tule
Lake internee.
Courtesy JACL
the dry lake bed
where tules still grow.
But the barracks
where are the barracks?
And where Apt. 40 05 D?
home once long ago
sold? demolished? gone.
Little remains
except what's trapped
in our heads
far back somewhere.
I'm glad | made this trip.
Somehow | feel
a meeting of youths,
your youth, your energy
your enthusiasm, your
sense of justice
with the youth that | was
idealistic, intense, angry.
It's a happy meeting
it is even better
that | can stand aside
after 30 odd years
and see it, this meeting
to meet, to share, to learn
to struggle, to continue.
| sense an immense feeling
of continuity
with
you - all of you.
Yes. It's right, it's right
and I'm glad | came
back to Tule Lake
with you.
Written and read at Tule Lake,
California; April 19, 1975
aclu news
nov 1991
Obituaries
The ACLU-NC mourns the deaths of
four outstanding civil liberties activists.
Dom Sallitto
Dom Sallitto, who died in December,
was a founding member of the ACLU-NC
Santa Clara Chapter more than a quarter
century ago, but that was not his first
brush with the ACLU. When Sallitto was
arrested and jailed during the 1934
General Strike in San Francisco and
threatened with deportation to his native
Italy, the ACLU came to his defense and
remained a member of his defense com-
mittee until his case was dismissed in
1938. A dues-paying member of the
ACLU since 1940, Sallitto set up the
chapter from an office in San Jose State
University at the urging of former
Executive Director Ernie Besig who had
helped fight his deportation.
Sallitto served on the Chapter Board
for many years and chaired the Students
Rights and Church/State Committees. He
made many appearances before the Los
Gatos School Board, convincing them that
Christmas pageants and other religious
events had no place in the public school
system.
Dom and his wife Aurora were the
recipients of the Lola Hanzel Courageous
Advocacy Award, given to outstanding
ACLU-NC volunteers, in 1985.
According to former Chapter chair Vic
Ulmer, the Sallittos were the "backbone of
the chapter - from hosting ACLU events,
to mailing the chapter newsletter out from
their living room, to advocating on civil
liberties issues before government bod-
ies." a
Monterey Chapter leader Dick Criley
said of Dom, "He was one of those incred-
ible Italian anarchists - principled to the
nth degree!"
Jane Scribner
Jane Scribner, a tireless and devoted
ACLU-NC volunteer for more than a dec-
ade, died of cancer in December. "We at
the ACLU-NC are so lucky that Jane
came to volunteer with us," said ACLU-
NC Executive Director Dorothy Ehrlich.
"Not only was she incredibly bright, hard-
working and good humored - her com-
mitment inspired many others -
volunteers and staff alike - to increase
their efforts for the organization!"
Scribner was born in San Francisco
and, despite facing severe quotas on
women entering college in the 1930's,
attended Radcliffe in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. As a chemistry major, she
had to "cross the quad" and take chemis-
try courses with the illustrious professors
who taught the men at Harvard. After
graduation, she returned to the Bay Area
and worked as a lab assistant at U.C.
Berkeley. Undaunted by the many barriers
that faced women in scientific careers,
Scribner went on to eam her PhD in
microbiology at UC Berkeley.
She taught bacteriology at San
Francisco City College, but her teaching
career was interrupted when Scribner
refused to sign the McCarthy-era loyalty
oath required by the Levering Act. The
California Supreme Court later threw out
the Act as unconstitutional, but Scribner
- because she had resigned in opposition
to the oath - did not get her teaching
position back. Jobless, she went to secre-
tarial school, learned shorthand and typ-
ing, and went to work at Mt. Zion
Hospital in the pathology department and
later at UCSF in the ophthalmolog
department.
After she retired from UCSF in the
early 1970's, Scribner threw herself into
volunteer work at the ACLU-NC. A
devoted worker, Scribner worked in every
department, from the Complaint Desk to
the Public Information Department, taking
on any kind of task that came her way.
She counseled callers in need of assis-
tance, stuffed envelopes, staffed informa-
tion tables, and helped in fundraising
campaigns. "She was willing to do any-
thing for the organization she believed
in," said her longtime companion and fel-
low ACLU volunteer George Hutchins.
Scribner also helped feed the homeless
at St. Anthony's, and supported a wide
variety of peace, justice and environmen-
tal organizations ranging from the
American Friends Service Committee to
KPFA. Scribner bequeathed a generous
donation to the ACLU-NC, as well as to
the other groups she cared so deeply
about.
Jerry Berg
Gay rights leader, attorney and former
ACLU-NC officer Jerry Berg died in
September of AIDS at the age of 54. Berg
was the Vice-Chair of the Board of
Directors of the ACLU-NC in the 1970's;
he also chaired the successful 1978 cam-
paign to fight the Briggs initiative, a state "
ballot measure which would have man-
dated the firing of gay public school
feachers.
A graduate of Stanford and Stanford
Law School, Berg was the first national
co-chair of the Human Rights Campaign
Fund, a founder of the Lesbian/Gay
_ Freedom Marching Band and a leader of
the public interest legal organization Gay
Rights Advocates.
ACLU-NC volunteer James Hormel, a
longtime friend of Berg, said, "He was a
unique individual who touched enormous
numbers of people during his lifetime.
The example of his dedication to public
service is a legacy to all of us."
Milen Dempster
Veteran peace and civil liberties acti-
vist Milen Dempster died on December 12
at the age of 91 in Mill Valley. In 1955,
Dempster, along with Sali Lieberman and
Vera Schultz founded the first chapter of
the ACLU-NC - the Marin County
Chapter - with encouragement from
then-Executive Director Emie Besig.
Dempster was the first recipient of the
Chapter's Benjamin Dreyfus Civil
Liberties Award and received a public
thank-you for his efforts from
Congresswoman Barbara Boxer. He was
also made a "life member" of the Marin
Chapter board, an honor bestowed on peo-
ple who have made an outstanding contri-
bution to civil liberties as a board
member.
A leader of the peace movement,
Dempster helped found the anti-nuclear
group Marin SANE/Freeze. Dempster's
half century of activism earned him the
nickname "Mr. Peace."
A native San Franciscan, Dempster
would regale his friends with stories about
surviving the 1906 earthquake. A
Unitarian minister, and a manager of
migrant worker camps in California and
refugee camps in Europe after World War
II, Dempster was the Socialist candidate.
for governor in 1934.
A man of boundless energy, dogged
determination and a lifelong enthusiasm
for learning, Dempster became a cham-
pion of editorial page letter writing.
Marin Chapter Board member Eve Citrin
recalled that the only time he didn't come
to ACLU meetings was when he was
working for the anti-nuclear cause. ``He'd
show up with a whole bunch of placards
about nuclear disasters and explain that he
had to dedicate attention to eradicating
nuclear bombs - otherwise there would
be no one left to fight for civil liberties.
"He dedicated his life to the dual
causes of peace and justice and he never
stopped working for either one - he
began fighting for civil liberties long ~
before any of us were bom," Citrin added.
A memorial for "Mr. Peace" was held
on January 11 at the Marin Fellowship of
Unitarians in Terra Linda. Milen
Dempster's family requests donations in
his memory be made to the ACLU-NC,
Marin SANE/Freeze, Greenpeace and the
Sierra Club.
Field Program
Monthly Meetings
Chapter Meetings
(Chapter meetings are open to all inter-
ested members. Contact the chapter
activist listed for your area.)
B-A-R-K (Berkeley-Albany-Richmond-
Kensington) Chapter Meeting:
(Usually fourth Thursday) Meet on
Thursday, February 27 and March 26.
Volunteers needed for the chapter
hotline - call Florence Piliavin at
510/848-5195 for further details. For
more information, time and address of
meetings, contact Julie Houk, 510/848-
4752.
Earl Warren (Oakland/Alameda County)
Chapter Meeting: (Usually second
Wednesday) Meet on Wednesday,
February 12 and March 11. The Earl
Warren Chapter is sponsoring a high
school essay contest. Chapter Hotline,
510/534-ACLU is now available 24
hours. For time and address of meet-
ings, please call Irv Kermish, 510/836-
4036 or Abe Feinberg, 510/451-1122.
Fresno Chapter Meeting: (Usually
third Monday) Meet on Monday,
February 17 and March 16 at 6:30 PM
at San Joaquin Law School. New mem-
bers always welcome! For more infor-
mation, call Nadya Coleman at 209/
229-7178 (days) or A.J. Kruth at 209/
432-1483 (evenings).
Lesbian and Gay Rights Chapter
Meeting: (Usually first Thursday) Meet
on Thursday, February 6 and March 5 at
the ACLU Office, 1663 Mission, #460,
San Francisco at 7:00 PM. February 6
mailing party will start at 5:30 PM For
more information, contact Teresa
Friend, 510/272-9700.
Marin County Chapter Meeting:
(Third Monday) Meet Monday,
February 17 and March 16 at 7:30 PM,
Westamerica Bank, East Blithedale and ~
Sunnyside Avenues, Mill Valley. For
more information, contact Harvey
Dinerstein, 415/381-6129.
Mid-Peninsula (Palo Alto area)
Chapter Meeting: (Usually fourth
Thursday) Meet Thursday, February 27
and March 26 at 7:30 PM at the
California Federal Bank, El Camino
Real, Palo Alto. New members wel-
come! For more information, contact
Harry Anisgard, 415/856-9186 or call
the Chapter Hotline at 415/328-0732.
Monterey County Chapter Meeting:
(Usually first Tuesday) Meet on
Tuesday, February 4 and March 3 at
7:30 PM at the Monterey Library,
Community Room, Pacific and Madison
Streets, Monterey. For more informa-
tion, contact Richard Criley, 408/624-
762.
Mt. Diablo (Contra Costa County)
Chapter Meeting: (Usually fourth
Thursday) No meeting in February.
Meeting on Thursday, March 26 at 7:30
PM. For more information, contact
Mildred Starkie, 415/934-0557.
North Peninsula (San Mateo area)
Chapter- Meeting: (Usually third
Monday) Meet on Monday, February 17
and March 16 at 7:30 PM at the offices
of Planned Parenthood, 2211 Palm
Avenue, San Mateo. Note: The North
Pen Chapter has a new Hotline num-
ber: 579-1789. For more information,
contact Emily Skolnick at 340-9834.
North Valley (Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehema,
and Trinity Counties) Chapter
Meeting: (Usually third Wednesday)
Meet on Wednesday, February 19 at
6:30 PM at Harry's Restaurant,
Redding. Date for March meeting to be
announced. For more information con-
tact interim Chairperson Tillie Smith at
916/549-3998.
Redwood (Humboldt County) Chapter
Meeting: (Usually third Monday) The
new Redwood Chapter will meet on
Monday, March 16 at Humboldt State
University, Science B Building, Room
135 at 7:15 PM. Call for information on
February meeting or other information
contact Christina Huskey at 707/445-
7034,
Sacramento Valley Chapter Meeting:
(Usually second Wednesday) Meet on
Wednesday, February 12 and March 11
at 7:00 PM at Hearing Room 1,
Sacramento County Offices, 700 H
Street. Meeting on April 8 will be a
panel discussion on The Right To
Privacy. For more information, contact
Ruth Ordas, 916/488-9956
San Francisco Chapter Meeting:
(Usually third Monday) Meeting on
Monday, February 24 and March 16 at
7:00PM. at ACLU office, 1663
Mission, 460, San Francisco. For more
information, call the Chapter
Information Line at 415/979-6699.
Santa Clara Valley Chapter Meeting:
(Usually first Tuesday) Meet on
Tuesday, February 4 and March 3 at
7:00 PM at the Community Bank
Building, 3rd Floor Conference Room,
comer of Market/St. John Streets, San
Jose. Contact John Cox 408/226-7421,
for further information.
Santa Cruz County Chapter Meeting:
(Usually third Tuesday) Meet on
Tuesday, February 18 and March 17.
Chapter will continue to work on com-
bating Hate Crimes. Contact Keith
Lesar, 408/688-1666, for further infor-
mation.
Sonoma County Chapter Meeting:
(Third Thursday of the month) Meet
Thursday, February 20 and March 19 at
7:30 Pm at the Peace and Justice
Center, 540 Pacific Avenue, Santa
Rosa. All members welcome. Contact
Len Bronstein, at 707/527-9018 for fur-
ther information. ~
Yolo County Chapter Meeting: (Third
Thursday of the month) Meet on
Thursday, February 20 and March 19.
For more information, contact Alan
Brownstein at 916/752-2586.
Field Action Meetings
(All meetings except those noted will be
held at the ACLU-NC Office, 1663
Mission Street, Suite 460, San
Francisco.) :
Student Outreach Committee:(Usually
third Saturday) Meet on Saturday,
February 15, March 14 and March 21.
Contact Marcia Gallo, at ACLU-NC
415/621-2493, for more information.
Civil Rights Committee:
(Fourth Saturday) Meeting on Saturday,
February 22 and March 28 from 10:00
AM to 11:30 AM. RSVP to Nancy Otto
at ACLU-NC 415/621-2493.
First Amendment Committee:
(Fourth Saturday) Meeting on Saturday,
February 22 and March 28 from 12:00
PM to 1:30 PM. RSVP to Nancy Otto at
ACLU-NC 415/621-2493.
Pro-Choice Action Campaign:
Contact Nancy Otto at the ACLU-NC
415/621-2493.
Death Penalty Action Campaign
Contact Nancy Otto at the ACLU-NC
415/621-2493.