American Liberty Under Siege at Home - 3 Articles

Lawyer Arrested for Wearing a 'Peace' T-Shirt

REUTERS

Tue March 4, 2003 07:55 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A lawyer was arrested late Monday and charged with trespassing at a public mall in the state of New York after refusing to take off a T-shirt advocating peace that he had just purchased at the mall.

According to the criminal complaint filed on Monday, Stephen Downs was wearing a T-shirt bearing the words "Give Peace A Chance" that he had just purchased from a vendor inside the Crossgates Mall in Guilderland, New York, near Albany.

"I was in the food court with my son when I was confronted by two security guards and ordered to either take off the T-shirt or leave the mall," said Downs.

When Downs refused the security officers' orders, police from the town of Guilderland were called and he was arrested and taken away in handcuffs, charged with trespassing "in that he knowingly enter(ed) or remain(ed) unlawfully upon premises," the complaint read.

Downs said police tried to convince him he was wrong in his actions by refusing to remove the T-shirt because the mall "was like a private house and that I was acting poorly.

"I told them the analogy was not good and I was then hauled off to night court where I was arraigned after pleading not guilty and released on my own recognizance," Downs told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Downs is the director of the Albany Office of the state Commission on Judicial Conduct, which investigates complaints of misconduct against judges and can admonish, censure or remove judges found to have engaged in misconduct.

Calls to the Guilderland police and district attorney, Anthony Cardona and to officials at the mall were not returned for comment.

Downs is due back in court for a hearing on March 17.

He could face up to a year in prison if convicted.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

[zombienote: Shut up and shop!]


Protestors gather at Crossgates Mall
MSNBC

Upset over arrest of man with peace T-shirt

GUILDERLAND, N.Y., March 5 - Protestors descended on Crossgates Mall Wednesday. The "Mall Walk for Peace" drew people from several peace groups to protest the arrest of 61-year-old Stephen Downs of Selkirk earlier this week. Downs was charged with trespassing Monday night when he wouldn't leave the mall after he refused to remove his T-shirt bearing a peace message.


DOWNS AND HIS SON, 31-year-old Roger Downs, each had a pro-peace shirt made Monday night at a store in the mall. One shirt simply said "Let Inspections Work" on one side and "No War With Iraq" on the other. The other shirt said "Give Peace A Chance" on the front and "Peace On Earth" on the back.

A Macy's employee saw the men in the food court and alerted security. Downs and his son were asked to remove their shirts. Roger Downs complied, but when Stephen Downs wouldn't, he was told to leave the mall. When he refused, he was arrested for trespassing.

Demonstrators upset about the trespassing charge arrived at Crossgates shortly before noon Wednesday wearing similar peace messages. At 12 p.m., they entered the mall together and sat down for lunch at the food court. They said they were doing what Stephen and Roger Downs should have been allowed to do.

The group also marched through the mall, and at one point there was a confrontation in the food court between one of the marchers and a man carrying a sign that read "9-11."

The protestors said they were willing to be arrested, although no arrests have been reported.

Stephen Downs paid $23 for each shirt. The father and son put the shirts on Monday night after purchasing them at a store in the mall.

"This struck me as a powerful way of expressing myself. I wanted to do something peaceful," Stephen Downs said.

His son points out that they were not verbally protesting or interfering with any other shoppers.

"We were just shopping. We were wearing these T-shirts. We weren't handing out leaflets, we weren't saying anything," Roger Downs recalled.

They may not have been saying anything, but their message apparently created enough of a disturbance to the mall employee.

Roger Downs says he is proud of his father.

"I'm impressed that he's refused to have his civil rights violated," Roger Downs said.

Guilderland police say they arrested Downs because he refused to leave private property. That, they say, is trespassing.

Representatives for Crossgates did not return calls for comment Tuesday.

Signs posted at entrances to the mall say that "wearing of apparel... likely to provoke disturbances... is prohibited" at the mall.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

[zombienote: The crackdown is here folks. No more freedom of expression. No Bongs - joints only. No music or dancing, no wearing peace emblems at the mall, the Cathedral of Capitalism. Its enforcers demands belief in cheap oil and percieved global dominace to jumpstart its asphyxiating economy. You really must believe or you must leave the Cathedral - Unbeliever.

The following article, without any sort of direct reference, makes pretty clear that cannabis reform activism will be considered "domestic identified groups that may affect our communities".

Ain't that sweet? We would not be "terrorists" or "enemy non-combatants", but like the lawyer in the peace sign shirt he bought with money in the cathedral we'd be "domestic identified groups that may affect our communities".]

______________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________


Expert identifies extreme groups in state

Star Tribune

Randy Furst and Mike Kaszuba,

A Hennepin County sheriff's official with expertise on counterterrorism efforts urged Minnesota law enforcers Tuesday to become aware of several right-and left-wing organizations operating in the state.

"We are not calling any of them terrorists. We call them domestic identified groups that may affect our communities," Capt. Bill Chandler said after giving a presentation to emergency management personnel on "Understanding Terrorism in Minnesota."

Chandler, who heads the patrol division for the Sheriff's Office and frequently gives training talks on countering terrorism, offered details about the number of militia and neo-Nazi groups in Minnesota.

He said that one group, Posse Comitatus, is "very strong in Minnesota" and active in Stearns County, and that two other organizations, the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front, were more dangerous in Minnesota than Al-Qaida.

About 160 law enforcement, fire and other emergency officials from around the state heard Chandler's seminar on the opening day of the annual Governor's Emergency Management Conference at the Radisson Hotel South in Bloomington.

Chandler said afterward that he was unaware of any terrorist cells in Minnesota but that "there is a financial network here that is supporting terrorism overseas. It's a safe community. We can't let our guard down because I know they're among us."

[zombienote: Utter Fascist scare tactic bullsh**, like that from Hillary Clinton who stated the fabricated terror alerts at Xmas "could have been true". A monster COULD be under my bed, too. Fascists are like over-controlling parents that dont think twice about trying to terrify children into compliance with the craziest of stuff.]

Chandler told the seminar crowd that there are six neo-Nazi groups in Minnesota. He said there was a "strong group in Minneapolis" and groups in Grove City, Park Rapids and Hutchinson. He said one group, the National Socialist Movement, has a national commander in Litchfield.

Chandler said another neo-Nazi group, Aryan Nation -- which has been involved in hate crimes -- has a presence in New Brighton and St. Paul. Two Christian identity groups that are part of the radical right are operating in Apple Valley and Albert Lea, he said.

Chandler also cited "neo-Confederate" groups, which he described as much less violent.

[zombienote: The Neocons run the country. Richard Perle, Don Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, most everybody on the Carlyle BOD. It is the "vision" of these wackos that we should obliterate the people of the world through infinte war. Perle says "our children will sing great songs about us".]

Joseph Peschek, chairman of the Political Science Department at Hamline University, said in an interview that it appeared that authorities were painting extremist groups with a very broad brush.

"You have groups on the left and right that use very different tactics," Peschek said. "These may all be radical or extremist groups, but their connection to terrorism in any meaningful sense is a bit cloudy to me."

Chandler said that 43 racist skinhead groups exist in the United States, and that while there are no actual groups in the Twin Cities, there are some smaller groups and "wannabes."

Chandler also listed a number of antiracism action groups that he said are violent, anti-government and protest the Ku Klux Klan. He said they had connections to Arise, a Minneapolis group that has affiliations with anarchist organizations. There are no Klan groups in Minnesota, he said.

Chandler said there are a number of militia movement groups in the state that are extremely strong, especially outstate. He said one group met with the FBI and gave the agency information about its weapons. He said the group told the FBI that when things go bad in Minnesota, the FBI is welcome to join with them.

Chandler cited several left-wing groups, "mainly" of anarchists who don't like the government or anything that hurts the environment. He said the groups have used "direct action," and he listed a Twin Cities group that has national ties, the Ruckus Society.

He said the most dangerous groups, with a national base, were the Animal Liberation Front, which supports animal rights and damages property, and the Earth Liberation Front, which has a "strong violence component" and "doesn't care who they injure."

Chandler also mentioned "pro-life and pro-choice movements" that he said have become more violent because of actions on both sides. He did not give details on the groups.

He said that a group at the University of Minnesota, Students Against War, was organizing a walkout of classes if war breaks out with Iraq, with plans to leave cars in city intersections to create gridlock.

"You're kidding me? Wow," Nathan Mittelstaedt, an organizer for Students Against War, said in reaction. "It's pretty disheartening to be listed with some of those groups. . . . I'm kind of shocked at this."

Mittelstaedt, a political science major, said the group formed after the Sept. 11 attacks in response to U.S. military action in Afghanistan. The group, he said, generally draws 15 to 25 people to its meetings and is part of a coalition organizing a student walkout should U.S. forces invade Iraq.

Bob Cahill of Arise Bookstore on Lyndale Avenue S. in Minneapolis said that the bookstore has rented space to Anti-Racism Action (ARA), but that neither group had terrorist links. ARA and (at least indirectly) Arise Bookstore were named at Tuesday's meeting. "Arise wouldn't align itself with any violent tactics," he said.

"Any group like ARA, if they had a meeting here, they wouldn't [represent Arise] . . . at all," he said.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

[zombienote: Any organization that seeks to interfere with or - gasp - change laws the Feds need for their profits, thier power, or their ideologies, will be on these lists, if they are not already there. This will include cannabis reform groups at the top in the "special" section of their list of people to stifle and terrorize. Agin, the Bonghunt, Dancecrime legislation, and the whole ugliness of that mockery of a court system in San Francisco are all evidence the war against us is on.

They massive increase in anti-marijuana propaganda is to fan the flames of division in the population so that the Feds can break the law and gangrape the Constitution without effective but legal protest. This has been so vastly successful they feel they can propagandize and buy their way into or out of anything that cruise missles can't fix.

America used to be a great place. It's Nazi Germany in the mid 1930's now and we have got to wake the sheep before concentration camps are paraded in the New York Times as a "good thing". All of this has brewed for decades under the guise of reefer madness.

We are about to become the worst generation since Hitler's junky boys stomped around Europe stealing art and wrecking cities. If you're over 18 and of sound mind and body, you will be guilty. No, your little god won't save you, whoever he is. Chances are he already wants to kick your yellow ass for not giving a goddamn about the epic slaughter you're about to pay for with your tax money and soul. The day of the attack he's gonna waggle his giant thing at you--with or without foreskin--and stomp out of your house of worship forever.

Germans paid for the Holocaust and WWII with Dresden, Berlin and a nation turned to rubble. Not to mention five decades of guilt and infamy. What price America? The bill's long overdue.

Adam Engle The DamnedRise up -ye mighty people! - Bob.]