BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 X-WR-CALNAME:www.indybay.org PRODID:-//indybay/ical// v1.0//EN BEGIN:VEVENT UID:Indybay-18471109 SEQUENCE:18493731 CREATED:20080109T001300Z DESCRIPTION:MARIJUANA ANTI-PROHIBITION PROJECT\n\n** AMERICAN HARM REDUCTION ASSOCIATION**\n\n**Compassion and Common Sense**\n\n**PO Box 739, Palm Springs CA 92263-0739**\n\nPhone ~ 760-799-2055\nwww.marijuananews.org \n ~ email to lanny@marijuananews.org \n\nPRESS RELEASE\n\nFemale & celebrity impersonators at CopyKatz Show Bar to stage\nbenefit to keep great grandma out of jail\n\nShow and auction seeks to raise $5,000 to pay a lawyer to defend\nsenior citizen medicinal marijuana patients JoAnn and Rich McCabe\narrested by San Bernardino sheriff's officers\n\nCONTACT: Lanny Swerdlow at 760-799-2055.\n\n**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 8, 2008**\n\nLike many high desert senior citizens, JoAnn and Rich McCabe find\nthat marijuana provides safe, effective symptomatic relief for the\nailments of advancing years and use it specifically to manage their\narthritis, insomnia and chronic back and joint pain. For following\nstate law and doing what the voters of California said they could do,\nthey are now paying a terrible price - a price they cannot afford.\n\nThe San Bernardino District Attorney's office wants to put them in\njail for up to three years and has assigned a special prosecutor to\nthe case to make sure the 74-year-old great grandma does time. JoAnn\nand Rich McCabe live in the high desert in a mobile home near Old\nWomen's Springs Road on the way to Landers. It is not an area known\nfor the density of upper income residences. With a special prosecutor\nassigned to the case, they will need a lawyer steeped in medical\nmarijuana law - a specialty sorely lacking in the public defenders\noffice that is more use to defending robbers, car thieves,\nprostitutes, drug prohibition violators and drunk drivers than elderly\nmedicinal marijuana patients.\n\nLanny Swerdlow, director of the Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project,\nstates "unfortunately lawyers with the knowledge to defend medical\nmarijuana patients do not come cheap - reasonable maybe, but not\ncheap. We need to raise $5,000 immediately to retain a lawyer. I have\nnever tried to raise that much money before so we are very grateful\nthat the owner, performers and staff of CopyKatz Showbar have\nvolunteered to host a defense fundraiser to keep great grandma out of\njail."\n\nElyse Del Francia-Goodwin, owner of CopyKatz Showroom and Backstage\nBistro is outraged at the arrest of two senior citizens, especially a\ngreat grandmother and has offered to hold a spectacular fundraiser at\nCopyKatz.\n\nElyse is no stranger to the medicinal use of marijuana and says she\nowes a debt of gratitude to marijuana for the relief it brought her\nhusband who suffered from Parkinson's disease. Marijuana was the\nonly thing that worked. It controlled his non-stop tremors and gave\nhim relief from his agonizing muscle weakness and helped prevent falls\nthat were always terrifying to Elyse. Her husband's use of marijuana\nmade life bearable for both of them.\n\nElyse's husband was not a criminal and neither are the McCabe's.\nTo that end, on Sunday, February 3 at 3 p.m. Elyse is hosting a McCabe\nDefense Fund fundraiser for the CopyKatz. The female and celebrity\nimpersonators of CopyKatz are going to put on one very special show\nwith the most outrageous auction ever held in the Coachella Valley.\nEveryone who comes to the fundraiser will have a great time and can\nfeel great about keeping a great grandma out of jail.\n\nIn addition to the sensational performers at CopyKatz, many of the\nmerchants in downtown Palm Springs are helping to raise defense funds\nfor the McCabes. Joy Meredith, owner of Crystal Fantasy and president\nof the Downtown Business Owners Association, will be helping to\ncoordinate donations of auction items as well as encouraging\nbusinesses to donate 10% of their proceeds on Sunday, February 3 to\ntheir defense fund. "I would have trouble sleeping at night if I\ndidn't do something to help keep grandma out of jail."\n\nThe benefit JoAnn and Rich McCabe Defense Fund fundraiser will be\nheld at 3 p.m. on Sunday, February 3 at the CopyKatz Showroom and\nBackstage Bistro located at 210 South Palm Canyon in downtown Palm\nSprings. The event is open to the general public. A $20 cover charge\nto attend will be requested with all funds from the cover charge and\nauction going directly to the defense fund.\n https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/01/08/18471109.php SUMMARY:Palm Springs: Benefit to Keep a Great-Grandma Out of Jail LOCATION:CopyKatz Showroom and\nBackstage Bistro located at 210 South Palm Canyon in downtown Palm\nSprings URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/01/08/18471109.php DTSTART:20080203T230000Z DTEND:20080204T020000Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR