From: "Joan M Norman" <defender-AT-cavenet.com>
Subject: Fw: [cssn] judge subpoenas NLG peace group's records
Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 15:59:20 -0800


Hi
  Here comes Joe McCarthy time again!!! For those of us that are not
intimidated...gather everywhere on March 20...or sooner...do what you can
do!!
Peace
Joan
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "nate" <nmt2002-AT-columbia.edu>
To: <cssn-AT-columbia.edu>
Sent: Saturday, February 07, 2004 2:54 PM
Subject: [cssn] judge subpoenas NLG peace group's records


> Damn.
>
>
> ---
> nate - nmt2002-AT-columbia.edu
> cell=917 445 6830 aim=mediumnate
> www.columbia.edu/~nmt2002/gpgpubkey
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 22:37:09 +0000 (GMT)
> From: AGA NY <zlababajaga-AT-yahoo.com>
> To: nycanarchists-AT-lists.riseup.net
> Subject: [nycanarchists] FYI
>
>
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&e=2&u=/ap/activist_investigation
>
>
> DES MOINES, Iowa - In what may be the first subpoena
> of its kind in decades, a federal judge has ordered a
> university to turn over records about a gathering of
> anti-war activists.
>
>
>
> In addition to the subpoena of Drake University,
> subpoenas were served this past week on four of the
> activists who attended a Nov. 15 forum at the school,
> ordering them to appear before a grand jury Tuesday,
> the protesters said.
>
> Federal prosecutors refuse to comment on the
> subpoenas.
>
> In addition to records about who attended the forum,
> the subpoena orders the university to divulge all
> records relating to the local chapter of the National
> Lawyers Guild, a New York-based legal activist
> organization that sponsored the forum.
>
> The group, once targeted for alleged ties to communism
> in the 1950s, announced Friday it will ask a federal
> court to quash the subpoena on Monday.
>
> "The law is clear that the use of the grand jury to
> investigate protected political activities or to
> intimidate protesters exceeds its authority," guild
> President Michael Ayers said in a statement.
>
> Representatives of the Lawyer's Guild and the American
> Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites) said they had
> not heard of such a subpoena being served on any U.S.
> university in decades.
>
> Those served subpoenas include the leader of the
> Catholic Peace Ministry, the former coordinator of the
> Iowa Peace Network, a member of the Catholic Worker
> House, and an anti-war activist who visited Iraq (news
> - web sites) in 2002.
>
> They say the subpoenas are intended to stifle dissent.
>
> "This is exactly what people feared would happen,"
> said Brian Terrell of the peace ministry, one of those
> subpoenaed. "The civil liberties of everyone in this
> country are in danger. How we handle that here in Iowa
> is very important on how things are going to happen in
> this country from now on."
>
> The forum, titled "Stop the Occupation! Bring the Iowa
> Guard Home!" came the day before 12 protesters were
> arrested at an anti-war rally at Iowa National Guard
> headquarters in Johnston. Organizers say the forum
> included nonviolence training for people planning to
> demonstrate.
>
> The targets of the subpoenas believe investigators are
> trying to link them to an incident that occurred
> during the rally. A Grinnell College librarian was
> charged with misdemeanor assault on a peace officer;
> she has pleaded innocent, saying she simply went limp
> and resisted arrest.
>
> "The best approach is not to speculate and see what we
> learn on Tuesday" when the four testify, said Ben
> Stone, executive director of the Iowa Civil Liberties
> Union, which is representing one of the protesters.
>
> Mark Smith, a lobbyist for the Washington-based
> American Association of University Professors, said he
> had not heard of any similar case of a U.S. university
> being subpoenaed for such records.
>
> He said the case brings back fears of the "red squads"
> of the 1950s and campus clampdowns on Vietnam War
> protesters.
>
> According to a copy obtained by The Associated Press,
> the Drake subpoena asks for records of the request for
> a meeting room, "all documents indicating the purpose
> and intended participants in the meeting, and all
> documents or recordings which would identify persons
> that actually attended the meeting."
>
> It also asks for campus security records "reflecting
> any observations made of the Nov. 15, 2003, meeting,
> including any records of persons in charge or control
> of the meeting, and any records of attendees of the
> meeting."
>
>
>
> Several officials of Drake, a private university with
> about 5,000 students, refused to comment Friday,
> including school spokeswoman Andrea McDonough. She
> referred questions to a lawyer representing the
> school, Steve Serck, who also would not comment.
>
> A source with knowledge of the investigation said a
> judge had issued a gag order forbidding school
> officials from discussing the subpoena.
>
> ___
>
> On the Net:
>
> Drake University: http://www.drake.edu/
>
> National Lawyers Guild: http://www.nlg.org/
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ___________________________________________________________
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>
>
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