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Indybay Feature

Cops continue to harrass drum circle

by Marie Meroke
SCPD and City Council forced longtime drum circle to the river levee where they continue to be harrassed by the police every Wednesday
SCPD continues to harrass the longtime drum circle which originated at the Farmer's Market on Wednesdays in downtown Santa Cruz. Earlier this year,city leaders arranged to take over the entire parking lot where drummers communed and played since the mid nineties. It was a gathering place for hippies, musicians, locals and travelers and often mellowed into heartfelt music by nightfall. Critics complained it attracted drunks and drug users and insulted the drummers for being freeform and open to all. THe circle was moved to the levee across from CVS drugstore and a tree was cut down soon after which had provided shade for the drummers. The police come routinely each week to shut down the circle at night and arrest anyone on the sidewalk. Dec. 1 seven cops surrounded the circle and tried to move off a man who said he could not move. The drummers hung tight together and continued to play. Videos can be seen at YouTube under sapiscnn and are seen around the world. A camera stopped police from being rude and it was a victory for those who refused to leave.
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by Robert Norse
Marie: Thanks for starting a new thread on an important issue.

What's the web address of the video you mention?

If you were there, for how long?

Would you like to give an account on Free Radio Santa Cruz Sunday? If so, call in at 831-427-3772 after 9:30 AM. For others, listen in at http://www.freakradio.org or 101.1 FM.
by serpico
"A camera stopped police from being rude"

always nice to have a camera to document/suppress police misconduct.

SC needs a well regulated CopWatch collective.
by That I can find
Is it actually there?
by Becky Johnson
The Drum Circle has been a community event for over ten years! It typifies creativity, diversity, inclusiveness, joy, fun, companionship, sharing, and has been FREE OF CHARGE.

Numerous times the CITY has attempted to destroy the Drum Circle by:

1. putting up mesh fencing where the drummers usually assemble
2. passing the "parking lot trespass law" and then selectively using it against drum circle participants
3. having police and business leaders claim in local media that the Drum Circle is characterized by drug use and sales, drunks, etc. (public smear job)
4. abusive use of the "citizen complaint" process where ONE complainant means dozens of people can't practice their 1st amendment rights to freedom of speech
5. police enforcement of "obstruction" charges when no person was obstructed
6. removal of mature trees and bushes simply to discourage public assembly
7. ridiculous amounts of police enforcement dollars slated to harass the Drum Circle
8. Closing the only porto-pottie near the Drum Circle with some kind of claim of vandalism/crime which may or may not have been committed by a few individuals at most
by Robert Norse
For those interested in monitoring police misconduct in Santa Cruz, take heart from the outcome in the Donna Deiss case, where an elderly activist whose arm was broken by Sgt. LeMoss got a financial settlement. Details are still unclear. http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/05/18/18595728.php?show_comments=1#18666092
by Shadow
"Details are still unclear"

You can say that again.

You guys changed the details of that incident on a daily basis. Becky Johnson has mangled the entire story beyond recognition. Practically every single detail you guys have offered on the Donna Deiss incident ended up being revised or changed.

Even you guys can't keep all your stories straight.

And are you so starved to write SOMETHING that you'll drag out a story from ages ago?
by Tired Old Norse
Robert alludes to the Deiss case now. Why? He has no new information on it, no evidence, but he brings it up. Per usual, throwing anything he can at the wall and hoping something will stick. Tired, tired, tired.

Course, this is the same Deiss that Robert misreported on the instant it happened. The case where he and Johnson made numerous claims they later had to recant. She was hit with a baton; oh, she wasn't. She was thrown on her back; er, chest. There was no pot being smoked; oh, her trailermate is on Roberts radio show saying they were smoking pot. Ridiculous misreporting.

And then when it was reported that her eviction, which Robert portrayed as Landlords Gone Wild, was actually due to her having turned it into a heroin shooting gallery that ultimately caused the fire, Robert said that "To raise Deiss's personal habits or her history is to obscure the issue ".

And then after the Three Trees incident, she came back to town and did a hit and run on two different vehicles. Either doing it purposely or so stoned she didn't know she'd clipped them. Hard to tell which, the accounts were so rambling.

But still Robert says to raise Deiss's personal habits or her history is to obscure the issue? Really? Spaced on horse before hand, stoned in Three Trees during, driving erratically with hit and runs after. Mentioning that she's drugged out and unaware of her surroundings is obscuring the issue?

I'd say Donna is obscure, and Robert is tiredly continuing to attempt to obscure the truth. As usual. Tired, tired, tired.
by Robert Norse
But the City settled with Deiss and paid her money. Apparently a broken arm was not something the City wanted to have brought up in open court.

If the Deiss critics are to be believed, they need to come out from behind their veil of anonymity or document their charges. Otherwise the comments raise suspicions that they are police officers who are buddies of LeMoss. That uniformed assilant has so far suffered no apparent discipline for his abusive attack on Deiss costing the city lots of time and money.
by Becky Johnson
TIRED OLD NORSE must hide behind a pseudonym due to the number of fraudulent and libelous statements he/she has made:

1. that Robert misreported on the instant it happened.
BECKY: Breaking news stories often contain inaccuracies. This is true in ALL media. Norse misunderstood Deiss' excited message left on his answering machine. He corrected this information the next day.
2. She was hit with a baton; oh, she wasn't.
BECKY: Donna doesn't remember being struck with the baton. Other witnesses observed her being struck so she amended her statement to include being struck. This was a correction, and called for.
3. She was thrown on her back; er, chest.
BECKY: She initially said she was thrown on her chest, but on reflection, she remembered looking up at LeMoss so she deduced she must have been thrown on her back. she amended her statement accordingly---all in an attempt to get at the truth of what had happened to her.

4.There was no pot being smoked; oh, her trailermate is on Roberts radio show saying they were smoking pot.
BECKY: Perhaps SOMEONE was smoking pot, but not DONNA nor her friend, WHITE DOVE, who was also arrested. Police found NO POT.
5. "...was actually due to her having turned it into a heroin shooting gallery that ultimately caused the fire"
BECKY: This is libel. I saw the fire damage. It was a burnt circle about a foot in diameter on the WALL near where a candle had been burning. Heroin???? I think NOT!!! It was simply a candle burning which had been placed too near the wall. No charges of heroin use were made and I went to Deiss' eviction hearing too. NO such charges were ever made!
5. did a hit and run on two different vehicles
BECKY: I don't have a clue what you are talking about here. Sounds like more false reports. More libel. No wonder you HIDE your real name.
by Robert Norse
Donna Deiss, having read the latest remarks on this thread, sent me an e-mail:

"Thanks Robert. Please let everyone know that my arm is permanently damaged and I will get x-ray confirmation after seeing my MD Jan.20, 2011."

In what appears to be a "clean out the riffrarr" vindictive move, authorities have turned the area where Donna Deiss and other vandwellers used to park their vehicles on Westcliffe Drive during the day into a 20-minute parking zone.

A long-time local reported to me that surfers are also suffering because police are now criminalizing and ticketing overnight parking at previously open parking lots along Westcliffe.

The attack on poor people turns around to bite the rest of the community.



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