-------------------------------------------------------------------
NORML Foundation Weekly News Release (Will Foster To Spend Another Christmas
Behind Bars, Medical Marijuana Patient Remains Incarcerated Despite
Parole Board's Plea For Early Release)
From: NORMLFNDTN@aol.com
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1998 15:28:33 EST
Subject: NORML's holiday WPR 12/22/98 (II)
NORML Foundation Weekly News Release
1001 Connecticut Ave., NW
Ste. 710
Washington, DC 20036
202-483-8751 (p)
202-483-0057 (f)
www.norml.org
foundation@norml.org
December 22, 1998
Will Foster To Spend Another Christmas Behind Bars, Medical Marijuana
Patient Remains Incarcerated Despite Parole Board's Plea For Early Release
December 22, 1998, Oklahoma City, OK: Medical marijuana patient Will
Foster will spend another Christmas in jail despite unanimous approval
from the state's parole board to release him.
"Will Foster is a loving husband and father of two children who has
been wrongly imprisoned for his efforts to treat a painful and
debilitating condition with medical marijuana," NORML Executive Director
R. Keith Stroup, Esq. said. "It is unconscionable for Gov. Frank Keating
to allow Will to spend another Christmas apart from his family after a
parole board moved to correct this injustice. It is time for Will Foster
to come home."
An Oklahoma jury sentenced Foster in 1997 to 93 years in jail for
cultivating marijuana in a 25-square foot underground shelter and other
lesser marijuana-related charges. Foster maintains that he grew the
marijuana to alleviate the pain of rheumatoid arthritis; however,
Oklahoma law does not accept the defense of medical necessity as a basis
for acquittal on a marijuana charge.
This fall, an appeals court judge found Foster's sentence excessive
and reduced the term to 20 years. At Foster's first parole board hearing
days later, officials unanimously voted to release him on parole upon
approval from Gov. Frank Keating. Keating has thus far refused to act on
the parole board's request despite thousands of phone calls, e-mails, and
letters from Foster's supporters. Several of Foster's prison supervisors
have also written Keating urging his release. They each label Foster as
an exemplary inmate who deserves to be reunited with his family.
Danny Earls, Unit Manager at North Fork Correctional Facility, writes
on Foster's behalf: "I have worked in prisons for a many number of years.
I rarely intervene on any inmate's behalf. Mr. Foster and his case are
definitely an exception."
Unit Manager Tim Brown agrees. "I believe Mr. Foster should be given
a second chance to resume his life with his family ... and start a new
and better life ... for himself."
"Everybody who has reviewed this case, including the appeals court
and the parole board, has concluded Will Foster's sentence was a
miscarriage of justice," Stroup summarized. "Governor Keating must do
what is right and grant Foster's parole."
The NORML Foundation urges concerned parties to contact the governor
and demand parole for Will Foster so he may be reunited with his family.
Contact Gov. Frank Keating at the following address:
Gov. Frank Keating
State Capitol Building, Room 212
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(P) (405) 521-2342
(F) (405) 521-3317 or (405) 523-4224
For further background on the Will Foster case, please visit the May
1997 issue of Reason Magazine online at:
http://www.reasonmag.com/9705/col.smith.html. For more information,
please contact either Keith Stroup of NORML @ (202) 483-5500 or Adam
Smith of the Drug Reform Coordination Network @ (202) 293-8340.
- END -
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Fight Brews Over State's Inmate Work Program (The Oregonian
notes Oregon Governor John "Prisons" Kitzhaber wants to cut the state's
1999-2001 prison-inmate forced-labor budget from $14.4 million to $9 million,
saying it has become too expensive - apparently it threatens to limit
the number of pot growers and other illegal drug offenders the state
can lock up. "What is the price for full compliance, and are we willing
to pay it?" Kitzhaber said, referring not to the war on some drug users
but to Ballot Measure 17, the 1994 ballot initiative that obliges inmates
to work a 40-hour week.)
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1998 19:22:29 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US OR: Fight Brews Over State's Inmate Work Program
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Pubdate: Tue, 22 Dec 1998
Source: Oregonian, The (OR)
Contact: letters@news.oregonian.com
Mail: 1320 SW Broadway, Portland, OR 97201
Fax: 503-294-4193
Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/
Forum: http://forums.oregonlive.com/
Copyright: 1998 The Oregonian
Author: Michelle Roberts, The Oregonian staff
FIGHT BREWS OVER STATE'S INMATE WORK PROGRAM
* The Future Of Measure 17's Mandate Will Be At The Center Of Debate During
The Upcoming Legislative Session
Ballot Measure 17 passed on promises of inmates toiling behind bars --
working a 40-hour week to help pay for their prison stay and make
restitution to the victims and communities they had harmed.
But more than four years after voters changed the Oregon Constitution to
force inmates to work, the vision of prison labor has yet to be realized.
To date, slightly fewer than 60 percent of eligible inmates are fulfilling
the voters' mandate. And by Oregon Department of Corrections estimates, it
will take at least eight more years to employ all the state's eligible
prisoners.
But even those projections will suffer a serious blow if Gov. John
Kitzhaber's budget proposal gains support. The governor wants to slash the
1999-2001 inmate work program budget from $14.4 million to $9 million,
saying it has become too expensive and competes too heavily with the
private sector, forcing law-abiding Oregonians out of jobs.
Kitzhaber's plan has infuriated some Republicans in the Legislature who
view it as an attempt to thwart a program he never has liked but that
Oregon voters approved by a landslide.
The Corrections Department, meanwhile, is at the center of a political
storm, caught between contrary philosophies on how inmate work should be
implemented: make it self-supportive and risk stealing private sector jobs,
or finance it, even at the expense of other government programs.
"We need to ask ourselves, 'What is the price for full compliance, and are
we willing to pay it?' " Kitzhaber said.
Oregon is unique in its struggle because it is the only state that mandates
all eligible inmates work a 40-hour week. Other states have experienced
fewer problems because they "are not under the same kind of pressure to
have 100 percent inmate employment," said Gwyn Smith-Ingley, executive
director of the Correctional Industries Association at the University of
Baltimore. "At 60 percent in Oregon, to me, sounds like an incredible
achievement."
Creating inmate work in Oregon so far has required a combination of
generous general fund support -- $34 million by the end of the budget
biennium -- and the aggressive pursuit of private partnerships and contracts.
In proposing to cut the budget for inmate work, Kitzhaber will force the
Legislature to debate how it should be implemented and at what expense. The
governor said that would have been done four years ago if not for the
initiative process that bypasses the Legislature.
State Rep. Kevin Mannix, R-Salem, who sponsored the measure in 1994 as a
state senator, is poised to fight the governor's proposed budget and push
hard for even more financing.
"I think the governor is rejecting the will of the people and
misinterpreting financial information," Mannix said.
Because inmate labor is so cheap, "every dollar we invest, we're getting
back two or three dollars in benefit to the taxpayers," he said, and those
and other advantages -- like prisoner rehabilitation -- don't show up in a
budget document.
"I've had to tell these idiots over and over again that the measure had to
do with community benefit," said Mannix, who will play an influential role
in the debate as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which handles
prison issues. "If inmates help a community at a cost lower than outside
workers could have provided it for, then taxpayers have come out ahead,
even if the state has to underwrite some of the cost."
Legislators in both parties agree inmate work will become a center of
debate in the session. But where that will lead is uncertain.
"This is not something I expect to break down party lines," said State Rep.
Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, who supports the idea of inmate work but worries
about its cost to the general fund. "I think everyone will look at the
issue, listen and decide where we should go next. Where that is, I don't
know."
Kitzhaber, meanwhile, said he is not trying to stall inmate work and denies
that his efforts are a back-door attempt to inspire a repeal.
"Voters can say 'make gold out of lead,' " Kitzhaber said. "But figuring
out how to do this has been monumental. We've bumped into security risks,
taken jobs away from law-abiding citizens and competed with the private
sector. That's happening at the same time as we're paying millions to get
the program up and running. I don't think voters intended these things to
happen."
Some Inmates Too Dangerous
Oregon's total prison population is about 8,500, but roughly a fourth of
those inmates are unable to work because they are too dangerous or are
mentally ill. Corrections officials have faced serious challenges finding
jobs for the 6,688 prisoners who are eligible.
Transporting them to jobs and monitoring them are costly. Prisons don't
have enough industrial space to employ more inmates on-site. And Measure 17
mandates that inmate work go beyond busy work.
"You can't have inmates cleaning the same toilets three times because the
constitution says the work has got to be 'meaningful,' " said Nancy
DeSouza, communications manager for Inmate Work Programs, an arm of the
Corrections Department. "That's why we're trying to help transition inmate
work into the private sector so we can save the state money."
Measure 17 requires that the "value" of inmate labor either reduce the cost
of government or make a profit for the private sector. Although most states
ban prisons from getting involved in private enterprise, the Oregon
Constitution mandates it.
State government provides about three-fourths of the inmate work done in
Oregon. It ranges from traditional tasks -- mopping floors, cooking food
and scrubbing toilets -- to answering phones for state Driver and Motor
Vehicle Services.
Inmates build office cubicles that are sold to other government agencies
and design bedroom sets for private furniture stores in the Oregon State
Penitentiary wood factory. They rebuild car engines and wash several tons
of laundry a year. They package meat and process fresh milk for many state
institutions.
But with the inmate population expected to swell to more than 14,000 in the
next decade, there aren't enough jobs to employ all of them through state
government alone.
So the inmate work program has turned to private industry to make up the
difference, putting it under increasing criticism.
"Most taxpayers didn't think about the cost to the state," DeSouza said.
"They thought we would be able to immediately fire up all these businesses
and sell products that wouldn't compete with business or hurt anybody."
A Eugene company that manufactured furniture and permanent tents for state
parks cried foul when the contract was later awarded to prison workers. And
a construction labor union strongly objected when inmate work was used to
help build the Umatilla prison.
In the most significant example of the competition spurred by inmate work,
two dozen employees were laid off in October when Sacred Heart Hospital in
Eugene opted not to renew its contract with a local private laundry and
sent its linens to the Oregon State Penitentiary for prisoners to clean and
fold.
"The fact that we lost the contract in and of itself is not the issue for
me," said Bill Inge, general manager for the Eugene branch of American
Linen. "The issue is, and always has been, that here you have a publicly
supported enterprise that's competing with the private sector. In this
case, it's convicted convicts taking away the jobs of law-abiding,
dedicated people on the outside."
Ruth Lawsh, 45, of Creswell was among those laid off.
Lawsh was hired by American Linen in June. She said it was the first time
in years that she and her husband, Charles, 50, a disabled Vietnam veteran,
had been able to get off food stamps.
The job paid minimum wage, but the overtime alone was almost enough to pay
the $384 monthly rent on the couple's apartment. Lawsh even splurged last
summer and took the struggling couple's wedding bands out of pawn.
"I'm not angry at the prison," said Lawsh, who still has not found
full-time work. "I understand the need for prison work. What upsets me is
that prisoners don't have to worry about food, bills and clothing."
Lawsh was forced to pawn the wedding bands once again to pay the October
rent and is back to collecting welfare benefits.
"As a taxpayer, I'm paying for their living situation, and then I lose my
job to them," she said. "It hurts."
Kitzhaber says it's people like Lawsh who need to be protected. "Although
we've been pursuing private partnerships to make this program work, we're
starting to bump into instances where people are losing jobs they need,"
said Kitzhaber, who sits on the Prison Industries Board, which approves
inmate work contracts. "We need to be careful so this does not get out of
control."
Besides the Sacred Heart layoffs, no specific numbers are available on how
many people have been laid off because private jobs went to prisoners.
Mannix, however, vehemently denies inmate work will have a significant
impact on private-sector jobs.
"I can count them on my fingers and toes," Mannix said, referring to the
number of Oregonians who have lost their jobs because of inmate work. "I
can't come up with a single good reason for not having inmates work, except
for the self-serving reasons of those who worry about the fact that they
may not get as much business as they used to get."
When prison labor encroaches on private sector jobs, "we're the ones who
are vilified," DeSouza said.
"Some have made it sound like Sacred Heart Hospital made this heartless
decision to switch from a local laundry to a prison," she said, adding that
Sacred Heart had planned to drop its American Linen contract long before
the hospital decided to use inmate labor.
DeSouza said it was unfortunate that workers were laid off but said the
Corrections Department should not be criticized for doing what voters
ordered it to do.
"While there may be individual problems with local groups or labor
organizations, we're going to work very hard to diminish those and go
around them," she said.
"If Oregon's economy takes a downturn, I foresee -- and so do a lot of
other people -- more problems of competition with the private sector."
TheCorrections Department has developed private partnerships with four
companies, including a firm that has taken over production and marketing of
the popular Prison Blues line of clothing sewn at the Eastern Oregon
Correctional Institution in Pendleton.
Inmates also produce wooden pallets for a Salem company, and assemble cell
doors and security windows for a Minnesota firm. Another company is waiting
for the necessary permits to build a facility on prison property where
inmates can produce concrete building panels.
DeSouza and other Corrections officials said they would continue to do what
the constitution mandates.
"Competition with the private sector is the reality of what we've been
charged to do," she said. "That's a reality that every legislator knows,
the governor knows and the public knows. These issues are going to come up.
"If the people of Oregon decide to repeal Measure 17, or alter it, we'll do
that."
Mannix Vows Fight
Although the governor's budget seeks to scale back inmate work, Mannix has
vowed to fight for full legislative support of his initiative.
"I'm going to ask counties and cities to come forward with projects they
would like to accomplish that are labor intensive, and then designate that
certain state funds have to be used to put inmates in the field to
accomplish those projects," he said.
If the primary goal is to make inmate work self-funded, the program never
will benefit voters in the way the measure intended, he said.
Until recently, the Corrections Department charged cities and other
government agencies about $175 per inmate work crew.
A crew generally consists of 10 inmates and a supervisor who travel outside
prison walls to pick up trash, repair fences and conduct other
labor-intensive projects. To hire the same number of private-sector
laborers would cost as much as $900 a day, Mannix said.
Now, with the pressure to make inmate work as self-funded as possible, the
department has begun charging about $400 a day to cover the full cost of
providing the work crew, a move that has turned some state and local
agencies away.
Some work crews are fully subsidized, or provided at a lower cost if the
agency provides supervision.
Raising the price is an example of how making inmate work self-supporting
flies in the face of what the measure intended, Mannix argues.
"Let's say we send out an inmate work crew for free," he said. "Say it cost
Corrections $450. The taxpayers just came out ahead $450 because they got
$900 worth of good in a community for local government for a cost of $450
to state government. That's a 2-for-1 gain."
Mannix said he applies the same logic to legislators who think general fund
support money for Measure 17 is a cost burden.
"We appropriated a lot of money to implement Measure 17, and some
legislators were thinking, 'Gee, it just cost us $22.5 million to implement
this.' I said, 'Time out. What benefit did we get back from that? Because
if we got back more than $22.5 million worth of inmate work, then we saved
the taxpayers some money because we've just done some things we wanted to
do and we did it for less.' "
Kitzhaber's budget proposal would eliminate the positions of 40 work crew
supervisors, meaning that far fewer crews would be available to cities and
state agencies at less than the full $400 daily cost.
Mannix said he will try to change the mindset surrounding the measure he
wrote.
"Unfortunately, because we have city government, county government, state
government, they look at their own budget dollar as one little box," Mannix
said. "They're only focusing on their own little piece of it, not the
totality of the effort. And that's the vision part that still needs to be
dealt with."
Mannix said he also will suggest new ways to get more prisoners into
outside work crews to help enforce the measure.
"We should let out a number of medium-security inmates who are escape
risks, but we're also going to enhance the security level and the power of
corrections officers on hand to take adverse action to prevent an escape,"
Mannix said. "Now, I'm not supporting the idea of chain gangs, necessarily,
with shotgun-toting corrections officers, but yes, we need to empower them
to shoot if necessary.
"That will get more prisoners working."
The Corrections Department has requested $20.3 million in general fund
support for the upcoming budget biennium, more than twice what the governor
proposed. And if funding is reduced, even Kitzhaber admits it will reduce
compliance.
His shift from heavy financing for inmate work programs coincides with a
strong support for prevention programs such as education and reducing
juvenile crime.
Mannix refutes Kitzhaber's contention that paying for inmate work siphons
general fund support from other government programs.
"The only reason it would cut into other programs is if it would be run
stupidly," Mannix said.
Although acknowledging that the inmate work cut was "controversial,"
Kitzhaber said he would rather provide some general fund support for inmate
work than encourage heavy competition for private-sector jobs.
"I don't think general fund support is a bad thing," Kitzhaber said. "But
it's enormously complicated, and it ought to be a statute. Kevin (Mannix)
had little regard for the impact of these costs. Funding some general fund
investment is not bad, but the question is, at what point do you start to
underfund programs that keep people out of trouble in the first place."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Seattle's war on drugs has priorities mixed up (Seattle Times columnist
Michelle Malkin says instead of arresting drug dealers in public parks
and streets, city attorney Mark Sidran and the Seattle Police Department
have focused their energies on taking away private property from people
like the McCoys, owners of Oscar's II, using a 1988 drug-nuisance abatement
law. Of approximately 100 total cases brought by Sidran since 1990, roughly
two-thirds were secret because of open-records rules or "administrative"
reasons. Most of the 28 drug-abatement cases Malkin was able to review were
filed against people who were never charged, accused, suspected of, or
arrested for any criminal activity. Only one was filed against a white
person. Twenty-three were filed against blacks, and four were filed against
Asians or Hispanics.)
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1998 16:48:45 -0800 (PST)
From: Robert Lunday (robert@hemp.net)
To: hemp-talk@hemp.net
Subject: HT: Michelle Malkin: Seattle's war on drugs has priorities mixed up
Sender: owner-hemp-talk@hemp.net
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1998 14:22:04 -0800
From: "Jonathan Zack" (jonathan_zack@hotmail.com)
To: sunique@pacbell.net, bc616@scn.org, KOHL_JE@leg.wa.gov
Cc: magic@hemp.net, robert@hemp.net
Subject: Please post this to hemp/drug lists and e-mail it to your friends. Thanks.
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1998 14:21:42 PST
Copyright (c) 1998 The Seattle Times Company
Posted at 06:02 a.m. PST; Tuesday, December 22, 1998
Michelle Malkin / Times Staff Columnist
Seattle's war on drugs has priorities mixed up
ALL across this city, from the University District to West Seattle,
there are homeowners pleading with police to clean up local drug hot
spots in their neighborhoods. Young families feel like hostages in
their own homes. Parents forbid their children from playing in their
own yards.
Despite glowing rhetoric about the success of community policing, top
law-enforcement officials have proved unable or unwilling to combat
drug-dealing in an efficient manner. The apparent drug-related
shooting at Cowen Park last week underscored an embarrassing failure
of city government to respond to our communities' basic public-safety
needs. One police officer told The Times, "The kind of crimes that
occur in Cowen Park just aren't high on our priority list." Others
blamed a lack of resources.
Sound familiar?
Those were the same lame excuses tavern owners Oscar and Barbara
McCoy heard when they called police to report suspected criminal
activity in their Central District neighborhood. When the McCoys
complained that the Seattle Police Department didn't respond quickly
enough, Seattle drug-abatement officer Linda Diaz retorted that they
were "not as big a priority" and that there weren't "enough resources
to go around to baby-sit places."
Every resident of Seattle deserves to be free and safe from
destructive and disruptive illegal drug crime. But is the city waging
a cost-effective war on drugs? Or is it presiding over a gross
misallocation of public funds that cheats beleaguered citizens in all
corners of the city?
Instead of arresting drug dealers in public parks and streets, City
Attorney Mark Sidran and the Seattle Police Department have focused
their energies on taking away private property from people like the
McCoys. As Sidran explained in a recent deposition: "When you're
confronting a recurring, repetitive, long-standing problem, at some
point . . . you begin to think about draining the swamp instead of
constantly chasing the alligators down one by one."
The city's favorite "swamp"-draining tool is the 1988 drug-nuisance
abatement law. The measure was passed to make it easier for law
enforcement to clear out drug dens. In some areas of Washington, the
law is being used as intended. A model example was the February 1990
closure of a crack house operated by a Cuban gang in Tacoma's Hilltop
neighborhood. The closure resulted in the arrest of 28 members of the
infamous Marielitos crime ring. Another model case, filed by King
County, involved a home located north of Seattle whose owners operated a
drug ring; they were arrested for multiple heroin sales.
Here in Seattle, by contrast, the law appears to be used primarily
against law-abiding citizens. Of approximately 100 total cases
brought by Sidran since 1990, roughly two-thirds are inaccessible
because of open-records rules or administrative reasons. Of 36 cases
open to the public, 8 are archived and could not be obtained in time
for this column. The remaining 28 raise troubling questions about the
city's energetic application of the law: Is the drug-abatement law
working as intended in the city of Seattle? Is it reducing drug
crime? And is the law being applied in a race-neutral manner?
Most of the 28 drug-abatement cases I reviewed have been filed
against people never charged, accused, suspected of, or arrested for
any criminal activity. None were brought to clean up such
conspicuous, publicly owned drug magnets as Cowen Park, Freeway Park, or
the streets outside the King County Courthouse. Only one was filed
against a white person. Twenty-three were filed against blacks, and four
were filed against Asians or Hispanics. In other words, Sidran
lodged 96 percent of these drug-abatement cases against minorities in
a city where minorities comprise 25 percent of the population.
Nearly 90 percent of these 28 cases were located in just two
neighborhoods: the Central District and Rainier Valley. The city
might reasonably argue that there are a high number of drug-abatement
cases concentrated in these areas, where most of Seattle's black
residents live, because that is where most drug crimes occur. SPD does
not currently provide narcotics arrest data broken down by geographic
area or precinct. However, a comparison of other
law-enforcement statistics in the East and West Precincts in 1997
shows that the Central District, which is in the East Precinct, is
not responsible for most of the city's other major crimes.
In fact, the West Precinct reported twice as many thefts as the East
Precinct and substantially more robberies, assaults and auto thefts.
All are crimes associated with drug activity. Given that data, it's
reasonable to expect a far more even distribution of drug-abatement
cases between the two precincts than the disturbing pattern that
seems to be emerging.
Can the city claim that its efforts are at least reducing organized
drug-crime rings in those areas? No. The number of gang-related
narcotics arrests in the city skyrocketed from 168 in 1992 to 397
last year.
The city's law-enforcement strategies are out of whack. Spending huge
sums to push the city's drug problems from one "swamp" to another is
ineffective - and fraught with dangers to both civil and property
rights.
Take it from Lindsay Thompson, a Seattle attorney who served as
deputy prosecuting attorney for Cowlitz County and handled 300 drug
felony cases. "Sidran's swamp analogy is faulty," says Thompson, who
happens to live just a few blocks from Oscar's II.
"The last thing we as servants in law enforcement should be doing is
destroying the village to save it."
(Next week: The faces behind the numbers.)
Michelle Malkin's column appears Tuesday on editorial pages of The
Times. Her e-mail address is: malkin1@ix.netcom.com.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Lt. Gov. settles ethics charges for $7,000 (The Associated Press
says Washington state Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, a longtime drug-war hawk,
will pay $7,000 to settle state ethics charges arising from his allocation
of state funds to oppose a 1997 initiative to legalize the medical use
of marijuana and other controlled substances.)
From: "Bob Owen@W.H.E.N." (when@olywa.net)
To: "HempTalkNW" (hemp-talk@hemp.net)
Subject: HT: Lt. Gov. Brad Owen settles ethics charges for $7,000
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1998 20:17:16 -0800
Sender: owner-hemp-talk@hemp.net
Lt. Gov. settles ethics charges for $7,000
By HAL SPENCER
The Associated Press
12/22/98 4:27 PM Eastern
OLYMPIA (AP) -- Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, who has carved a name for himself as a
drug-fighter, will pay $7,000 to settle charges he broke state ethics rules
in opposing a 1997 initiative to legalize medicinal use of marijuana and
other drugs.
Owen, who admitted no wrongdoing in agreeing to the settlement, said Tuesday
that paying the money was painful but worth it.
"If this what I have to do to see to it that our kids aren't further exposed
to illegal drugs, that's what I'll do," he said.
Owen, a former Democratic state senator from Shelton, has for years made an
anti-drug message a part of his political campaigns.
The settlement, to cover costs of the investigation into Owen's activities,
was good for taxpayers, said Meg Grimaldi, a spokewoman for the state
Executive Ethics Board.
"If we'd gone further, there whould have been additional costs to the
taxpayers for a hearing," she said.
The board in May said it had "reasonable cause" to contend Owen improperly
used his office to fight 1997's Initiative 685 to legalize medicinal uses of
marijuana and other drugs. The measure failed, but a scaled-down version
passed last month.
The board contended Owen illegally distributed letters, press releases and
other documents against Initiative 685, and used public employees, equipment
and federal grant money to fight the measure.
State law allows public officials to respond to individual inquiries about
their stands on issues. Owen did so on the initiative.
"But then he sent his replies to all the legislators," Grimaldi said.
"We believe (the replies) may be beyond the normal and regular conduct of
his office," the board said in its finding.
Owen said the charges were an affront to his right as a politician to speak
out on public issues. In addition, he said, the federal grant money was
spent making a video and conducting workshops even before the initiative had
been certified for the ballot.
"To say this grant money was used to fight the initiative was just wrong,"
he said.
Owen said he decided to settle the case for $7,000 after determining "it
would have cost me another $25,000 to fight the state."
Bellevue attorney and I-685 backer Jeff Haley, who filed most of the
complaints against Owen, had complained that when public officials use their
offices to wage campaigns, it puts their foes at a disadvantage.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
7 Officers Cleared In Shooting (The Houston Chronicle says a Fort Bend County
grand jury refused to indict seven Houston police officers Monday
for the death of Derek Jason Kaeseman, an unarmed man shot 14 times
while trying to flee police. The chase started when two officers saw
what appeared to be a drug deal between two men. A passenger bailed out
before the chase, but the medical examiner's report said the passenger
was a male prostitute.)
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1998 18:02:12 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US TX: 7 Officers Cleared In Shooting
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: adbryan@onramp.net
Pubdate: 22 Dec 1998
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Contact: viewpoints@chron.com
Website: http://www.chron.com/
Forum: http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html
Copyright: 1998 Houston Chronicle
Author: Patti Muck
7 OFFICERS CLEARED IN SHOOTING
Driver was slain after freeway chase
RICHMOND -- A Fort Bend County grand jury nobilled seven Houston police
officers Monday in the death of a suspect who was shot 14 times after a
chase down the Southwest Freeway.
After about 5 1/2 hours of testimony that involved six witnesses, grand
jurors cleared Sgt. Antonio Guzman, 40, and Officers Ruston K. Alsbrooks,
38; M.J. Manuel, 26; Tony N. Nguyen, 29; Leopoldo Rubio-Ronso, 27; Tony
Tomeo, 34; and S.W. Wilkins, 34.
The officers shot and killed Derek Jason Kaeseman, 24, on Oct. 25 after a
lengthy chase that began near downtown Houston and ended in Fort Bend County.
The Harris County medical examiner's report, which lists Kaeseman's death
as a homicide, stated that 59 shell casings were found at the scene and
that Kaeseman suffered 14 bullet wounds, including three in the back.
All of the shots that hit Kaeseman were fired from "distant" range,
according to the autopsy report, but no definition for "distant" was given.
The seven officers are still subject to a Houston Police Department
internal affairs investigation but have been performing their regular
duties, said HPD spokesman Robert Hurst.
"Preliminary information showed there was nothing that was perceived as
wrongdoing on the part of the officers," Hurst said.
He declined further comment because of the investigation and also said that
Chief C.O. Bradford would not comment while the investigation is in progress.
Outside the grand jury room, the dead man's mother, Susan Hartnett, 48, a
paralegal from Houston, was supported by members of the Justice for Pedro
Oregon Coalition, a group formed after Houston officers shot and killed
Oregon in a botched drug raid on July 12.
The officers involved in that shooting also were nobilled except for one
who was indicted on a trespassing charge.
"They shot at my kid 59 times," Hartnett said. "I would like to see the
officers be accountable for their actions. They murdered my son. That's
like giving them a license to kill. They're acting like my kid's life
doesn't matter."
Her attorney, Vicki Pinak, said civil action will follow the final internal
affairs report on the case.
"I'm quite upset, too," Pinak said. "I was very disappointed.
"We think there's a lot more to it," she said. "I just know the truck looks
like a Bonnie and Clyde scene. There's no doubt about it that it was
unreasonable force. From the witness statements, I'm just appalled."
Fort Bend County Assistant District Attorney Felipe Rendon said grand
jurors heard a balanced presentation of the independent investigations by
Houston police as well as by Stafford police, in whose jurisdiction the
shooting occurred.
Prosecutors did not make a recommendation on what action to take, said
District Attorney John Healey.
Kaeseman died at Hermann Hospital a short time after the chase ended at
Corporate Drive and the Southwest Freeway.
Houston police said the chase started after two officers saw what appeared
to be a drug deal between two men in the 2200 block of Bagby near downtown.
After the passenger bailed out, Kaeseman led police on a chase, throwing
things from his pickup and ramming a patrol car near Bellaire Boulevard,
Houston police said.
The medical examiner's report said the passenger was a male prostitute
forced from the truck by Kaeseman.
Officers said they fired at Kaeseman after he crashed his truck and was
climbing out of the passenger side holding something shiny, which later was
found to be a can opener.
The autopsy, which indicated no gun was found on or around Kaeseman, also
showed traces of cocaine in his blood and urine. Kaeseman had been involved
in a car chase with police in July 1996 and was placed on 180 days'
probation for fleeing a police officer, records show.
His mother said he had suffered severe injuries, including brain damage, in
a crash four years ago in which he fled from a Manvel police car and went
off a bridge. She said he had just gotten through with years of
rehabilitation and was working two jobs, one at a bookstore and one for an
underground sprinkler system.
She said he fled the officers on Oct. 25 because he feared police.
Hartnett said her son didn't have time to make a drug deal. He had left her
home in southwest Houston just a half hour before the shooting, she said,
and did not have time to go downtown before the chase.
"They killed my baby, and they think it's OK? I mean, Merry Christmas,"
Hartnett said.
Toylean Johnson, a member of the Pedro Oregon Coalition, said the nobills
did not surprise her.
"I think it's tragic," she said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Subtle As A Frying Pan (Syndicated columnist Jacob Sullum,
in The Pioneer Press, in St. Paul, Minnesota, says public discussion
of the drug issue is rife with messages that subvert themselves.)
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1998 11:23:45 +0000
To: vignes@monaco.mc
From: Peter Webster (vignes@monaco.mc)
Subject: Jacob Sullum: Subtle As A Frying Pan
Pubdate: 22 Dec 98
Source: Saint Paul Pioneer Press (MN)
Contact: letters@pioneerpress.com
Website: http://www.pioneerplanet.com/
Forum: http://www.pioneerplanet.com/watercooler/
Copyright: 1998 PioneerPlanet / St. Paul (Minnesota) Pioneer Press
Author: Jacob Sullum, syndicated columnist
SUBTLE AS A FRYING PAN
Today's hit-you-over-the-head anti-drug propaganda can't help but
become tomorrow's camp.
The other day, I passed a car with a bumper sticker that read ``DARE
to Think for Yourself.'' At first, I thought it was a satirical jab at
Drug Abuse Resistance Education, the mindlessly puritanical program
that is omnipresent in American schools despite a lack of evidence
that it does any good.
On reflection, though, I wasn't sure how to interpret the exhortation
on the sticker. DARE purports to teach kids how to resist ``peer
pressure,'' so its promoters probably do see themselves as encouraging
independent thinking.
According to this view, only a true iconoclast accepts the
government's claims about drugs at face value. That conviction, of
course, makes the bumper sticker even funnier; the only question is
whether the humor was intended. I'm inclined to think it wasn't, since
public discussion of the drug issue is rife with messages that subvert
themselves.
Look down in the men's room of certain restaurants, and you will see
``Just Say No to Drugs'' imprinted on the perforated plastic liner at
the bottom of the urinal. Leaf through a catalog of school supplies,
and you will come across various items bearing similar slogans,
including the doormats kids trample as they enter and exit the building.
In a similar vein, the Associated Press recently reported an
embarrassing incident involving a Plainview, N.Y., business called the
Bureau for At-Risk Youth. Last fall, the company marked Drug
Prevention Week by distributing special pencils to hundreds of schools
around the country.
``Too Cool to Do Drugs,'' the pencils proclaimed. But after repeated
sharpening, the message became ``Cool to Do Drugs'' and then simply
``Do Drugs.''
The problem -- discovered, aptly enough, by a fourth-grader in
Ticonderoga, N.Y. -- led to a recall of the defective product. The AP
story said, ``a new batch of pencils will have the message written in
the opposite direction, so when they are sharpened, they (will) read
`Too Cool to Do' and finally `Too Cool.'''
Too Cool to Do? Apparently, the new pencils will encourage kids to be
teachers instead of drug addicts.
Sometimes anti-drug messages subvert themselves less directly. A
memorable scene in the 1989 film ``Drugstore Cowboy'' shows
protagonist Matt Dillon laughing as he watches an anti-drug commercial
on TV. This sort of reaction is not limited to junkies who knock over
pharmacies.
When the Partnership for a Drug-Free America started airing its ``This
is your brain on drugs'' ad in the 1980s, the eye-catching image of a
frying egg must have seemed awfully clever. But the spot quickly
generated a rash of lampoons -- including a T-shirt announcing ``This
is your brain on drugs with a side of bacon'' -- that neutralized any
power the message may have had to scare people.
The Partnership clearly did not learn anything from that experience,
because its latest batch of ads -- co-sponsored by the federal
government and financed with your tax dollars -- includes a spot that
plays off the fried-egg theme: A sexy young woman who exemplifies the
skinny ``heroin chic'' look smashes an egg and wrecks a kitchen with a
frying pan while screaming about the damage done by drug use.
The Partnership has thus taken a concept that was not exactly subtle
to begin with and transformed it into a very loud, over-the-top bit of
hectoring. If the spot has not already been mocked on a sketch comedy
show, it's only because broadcasters have promised to reinforce the
government's ad campaign, which is bringing them a lot of money.
The combination of titillation and moralism in the frying-pan ad is
reminiscent of the old paperbacks that warned people away from drugs
even while treating them to a salacious peek at the demimonde. ``A
cheap and evil girl sets a hopped-up killer against a city,'' says the
cover of William Irish's ``Marihuana,'' which shows a menacing man
smoking a joint over the prone body of a woman in a low-cut red dress.
Books with titles like ``Reefer Girl,'' ``Dream Club'' and ``The
Pusher'' featured similar themes and illustrations. A sample of the
covers is available as a set of magnets at a gift shop near my apartment.
So if the folks at DARE, the Bureau for At-Risk Youth and the
Partnership for a Drug-Free America ever wonder whether their work
will amount to anything, they should take heart: Today's anti-drug
propaganda is tomorrow's camp.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Details of cop's alleged drug deals revealed (The Chicago Sun Times
says an FBI agent testified in federal court Monday that Chicago
police officer Joseph Miedzianowski, a 22-year veteran of the force,
sold up to 330 pounds of crack cocaine to one drug dealer
during an 18-month period.)
From: "Bob Owen@W.H.E.N." (when@olywa.net)
To: "_Drug Policy --" (when@hemp.net)
Subject: Details of cop's alleged drug deals revealed
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1998 18:17:07 -0800
Sender: owner-when@hemp.net
Newshawk: ccross@november.org
Source: Chicago Sun Times
Online: http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cop22i.html
Details of cop's alleged drug deals revealed
December 22, 1998
BY CAM SIMPSON FEDERAL COURT REPORTER
Joseph Miedzianowski sold crack cocaine--often by the duffel bagful--in a
church parking lot, outside a grocery store and behind the station house
where he worked as a Chicago police officer, an FBI agent testified in
federal court Monday.
In fact, Miedzianowski, 45, a 22-year veteran of the force, sold up to 330
pounds of crack cocaine to one drug dealer during an 18-month period, said
FBI Special Agent Patrick J. Loll.
Arrested Wednesday, Miedzianowski, a gang crimes specialist, and 11 others
are charged with narcotics conspiracy. More counts against the officer are
expected in the coming weeks.
He has pleaded not guilty.
During a probable cause hearing in federal court Monday, Loll revealed that
at least three of Miedzianowski's co-defendants already are cooperating with
authorities.
One of those men, Joseph DeLeon, 33, of the 3700 block of North Bernard,
told authorities that he bought up to 2 kilograms of processed crack cocaine
from Miedzianowski every week to 10 days for about 18 months, Loll
testified. That could equal up to about 330 pounds.
The deals between Miedzianowski and DeLeon occurred at any of three places,
Loll testified: a grocery store parking lot near Miedzianowski's home, a
nearby service station or the parking lot of a church, which authorities
identified as St. Joseph Ukrainian Catholic Church, 5000 N. Cumberland.
DeLeon told authorities he got the crack in a duffel bag, Loll said.
Miedzianowski's attorney, Phillip A. Turner, tried to poke holes in those
stories, noting that law enforcement officials never saw Miedzianowski with
drugs and have no other physical evidence.
Loll also testified that another cooperating defendant in the case, Marvel
L. Passley, 29, said he bought 3 ounces of crack from Miedzianowski just two
weeks ago.
The deal, Loll alleged, took place ``behind the police station´´ where
Miedzianowski worked--Homan Center, 3340 W. Fillmore.
About four weeks ago, Passley bought 2 pounds of marijuana from
Miedzianowski, Loll said.
Authorities also revealed Monday that they seized 50 weapons from
Miedzianowski's home last week, including a sawed-off Winchester rifle and a
Dillinger pistol found in the bedroom of Miedzianowski's 15-year-old son.
Loll said the number of weapons seized exceeded the number of guns
registered to Miedzianowski, but he wasn't specific.
DeLeon and at least one other drug dealer have told authorities that they
obtained guns and ammunition from Miedzianowski. DeLeon said he got a dozen
guns and frequently six to eight boxes of ammunition from him, Loll said.
In turn, Loll said, the guns and bullets went to members of a street gang.
The hearing is set to resume today.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ex-Park District Cop Acquitted In Shakedown (The Chicago Tribune
says a federal jury on Monday exonerated Andre Williams, formerly with
the Maywood Park District Police Department, of charges he shared in
a $2,000 payoff from a purported drug dealer in 1996. The acquittal came
despite audio tape and videotape of the payoff, the cooperation
of Williams' partner, and the fact that the purported drug dealer
was an undercover agent.)
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1998 18:15:20 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US IL: Ex-Park District Cop Acquitted In Shakedown
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Steve Young
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Contact: tribletter@aol.com
Website: http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Forum: http://www.chicagotribune.com/interact/boards/
Copyright: 1998 Chicago Tribune Company
Pubdate: 22 Dec 1998
Author: Matt O'Connor
Section: Metro Chicago
EX-PARK DISTRICT COP ACQUITTED IN SHAKEDOWN
MAYWOOD -- A federal jury on Monday acquitted a former officer with the
Maywood Park District Police Department of charges he shared in a $2,000
payoff from a purported drug dealer in 1996.
An attorney for Andre Williams contended that the officer's partner, who
was then cooperating with authorities, had pocketed the $2,000 for himself
while misleading the FBI to think he had split half with Williams.
The jury's verdict came despite the fact that authorities had audio tape
and videotape of the payoff, the cooperation of the partner and the
purported drug dealer was an undercover agent.
Williams, 31, of Maywood was acquitted of attempted extortion and using a
firearm in the commission of a violent felony.
According to James A. Payonk Jr., the attorney for Williams, there was no
dispute over whether the agent handed over $2,000. The issue was whether
Williams had shared in the cash or his partner, Michael Broome, had
pocketed the entire amount.
Broome was then cooperating with authorities and wearing a hidden recorder
after he was caught extorting money from a citizen in 1995.
Prosecutors argued that Broome and Williams were partners who regularly
shook down suspected drug dealers in Maywood.
In the alleged shakedown of the undercover agent in February 1996, tape
recordings indicated Williams wanted to call in police dogs to search the
drug dealer's car, but Broome stopped him, Payonk said.
After the extortion, there was an 8-minute period during which Broome was
unaccounted for, suggesting that was when he could have pocketed the entire
$2,000 for himself, according to Payonk.
The Maywood Park District police force has since been disbanded.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The Mandatory-Sentencing Mistake (Washington Post columnist
William Raspberry says he was unmoved by the argument of Vincent Schiraldi,
director of the Justice Policy Institute, who discovered that during the last
10 years, New York State has increased spending on prisons by very close
to the amount by which it has decreased spending on higher education.
What persuaded Raspberry that the drug laws constitute poorly thought-out
policy, misguided toughness and bad law was Schiraldi's story about Tom Eddy,
a classmate of Schiraldi's at the State University of New York in Binghamton
who was arrested in 1979 and served 13 years of a 15-to-life sentence
for selling two ounces of cocaine.)
Date: Fri, 25 Dec 1998 21:57:23 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US WP: The Mandatory-Sentencing Mistake
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: DrugSense
Source: The Washington Post
Copyright: 1998 The Washington Post Company
Pubdate: Tue, 22 Dec 1998
Page: A23
Contact: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author: William Raspberry
THE MANDATORY-SENTENCING MISTAKE
Vincent Schiraldi's call sounded for all the world like another of those
false syllogisms that make me crazy. You know: For the money it costs to
keep a young man in prison, we could send him to Harvard. Or, if we took
the money we're spending on the drug "wars" and spent it on the public
schools, every kid in America would have a shot at a first-rate education.
Such non sequiturs, I told him, fail to convince anyone not already on your
side of the argument. Worse, by giving your opponents such a vulnerable
target, you encourage the impression that your argument -- not just your
jerry-built straw man -- has been demolished.
What Schiraldi, director of the Washington-based Justice Policy Institute,
had discovered is that over the past 10 years, New York State has increased
spending on prisons by very close to the amount by which it has decreased
spending on higher education.
So is he saying that if the state spent less on prisons, it would spend
more on colleges -- and vice versa? And if he's not saying that, what is he
saying?
"Look," he told me, "I'm the last person who wants to set up 'straw men' in
advocating criminal justice reform. The other side has an easy enough time
knocking us down as it is. But I think this higher-ed vs. prisons analysis
does provide the needed scale by which to illustrate the growth of the
prison system and how prisons have come to dominate our political and
social landscape.
"New York State is spending nearly twice as much on prisons as it did a
decade ago -- a $761 million increase -- while spending on the city and
state university systems has declined by $615 million during the same period."
Then Schiraldi -- perhaps sensing that my eyes were starting to glaze over
-- interrupted his account to tell me about Tom Eddy.
"Tom and I were both at SUNY [State University of New York] Binghamton
when, in 1979, he was arrested under the Rockefeller drug laws. He wound up
serving 13 years of a 15-to-life sentence for selling two ounces of cocaine.
"Though Tom and I began in the same place, I started a nonprofit, started a
family and launched a life while he wasted over a decade in prison. His
story, to me, embodies the wastefulness of these laws, and how our prisons
are warehousing people who don't need to be there."
And suddenly Schiraldi was making sense to me in a way the mirror-image
symmetry of his prison/college dichotomy did not. The spending patterns are
not the problem; the problem is poorly thought-out policy, misguided
toughness and bad law.
The Rockefeller laws -- touted as a no-nonsense approach to ridding New
York of the scourge of drugs -- provided mandatory jail times for drug
offenses that were often in excess of sentences for violent crimes. Once
people understood that not even judges could soften their sentences, people
would think twice about dealing drugs.
The target, of course, was big-time drug racketeers. One of the first to be
snared was Eddy, a national merit scholar in his sophomore year.
It's fair to say that Eddy, whose sentence was commuted by then-Gov. Mario
Cuomo four years ago this month, caused his own problems. But it is also
fair to wonder if the state got good value for the money it spent keeping
him locked up for more than 13 years.
And it is crucial to ask whether it isn't time to end this mistaken policy
-- and not just in New York.
Much of the prison overcrowding (and the consequent need for huge new
outlays for new and expanded prison facilities) is the result of mandatory
sentencing for drug offenders, including -- perhaps even mainly --
low-level dealers.
When Eddy first ran afoul of the draconian Rockefeller laws, 11 percent of
the inmates of New York prisons were there for drug offenses. By last year,
47 percent were in prison for drug offenses. The trend is national and --
Schiraldi's point -- it is the source of our prison-building boom that is
distorting state budgets across America.
He's right, of course -- right also when he notes that Florida and
California now have bigger budgets for prisons than for higher education.
But you don't need any false syllogisms to make that point -- no nonsense
about how New York could have sent several men like Eddy through college
for what it cost to keep him in the slammer. I'm content to let Eddy send
himself to college (he's about to get his law degree). I just wish we could
admit our mandatory-sentencing mistake and stop throwing good money after
bad.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
NJ Supreme Court Prohibits "Electronic Roadblocks," Curbs Police Power,
Upholds Privacy (The ACLU News says a landmark New Jersey Supreme Court
ruling earlier this month prohibits police from indiscriminately searching
for personal information about innocent motorists by entering their
license-plate numbers into mobile data terminals in police cars. "This is the
first time that a court has recognized that a government official's search of
a government database might violate statutory or constitutional privacy
protections," said Eric Neisser of Rutgers Law School.)
Date: Sun, 03 Jan 1999 08:49:48 -0500
From: Scott Dykstra (rumba2@earthlink.net)
Reply-To: "Cannabis Patriots" (cp@telelists.com)
To: Cannabis Patriots (cp@telelists.com)
Subject: [cp] ACLU News
List-Unsubscribe: (mailto:leave-cp-27149A@telelists.com)
NJ Supreme Court Prohibits "Electronic Roadblocks,"
Curbs Police Power, Upholds Privacy
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, December 22, 1998
NEWARK, NJ -- The American Civil Liberties Union is applauding a
landmark New Jersey Supreme Court ruling that prohibits police officers
from using "electronic roadblocks" to indiscriminately search personal
information of innocent motorists.
In a decision announced earlier this month, the court concluded that
state statutes do not "permit the random use of mobile data terminals
(MDTs) to secure the personal information of motorists by police
officers who had no reason to suspect wrongdoing" and that the
disclosure of "personal information" in the Department of Motor Vehicle
databases violated the federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act.
"This is the first time that a court has recognized that a government
official's search of a government database might violate statutory or
constitutional privacy protections," said Eric Neisser, Acting Dean of
Rutgers Law School and volunteer attorney with the ACLU of New Jersey.
"It is a major step forward in the protection of individual privacy in
the digital age," Neisser said.
The ACLU of New Jersey, who represented the defendants, challenged the
constitutionality of the random police use of MDTs, which gives officers
immediate access to state DMV information and warrant data.
The ACLU-NJ successfully argued that individual officers should not be
permitted to employ these "electronic roadblocks" without some degree of
reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing, or at least without some uniform
standards and supervisory control.
"The Court's decision is of national importance because almost every
state has passed legislation similar to New Jersey's to comply with the
federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act," Neisser said.
The arguments were raised in consolidated cases involving two motorists
-- Mauro Donis and Heidi Gordon -- who were separately stopped by police
conducting random checks on passing cars. Both motorists were cited for
driving without insurance and driving while under suspension.
At trial, the officer who stopped Donis testified that he checked
Donis's plates for no other reason other than he "just happened to be
behind" Donis's car, and that he conducted random searches of the
license plates of cars in front of him if he was "not doing anything
else."
Similarly, the officer who stopped Gordon testified that he was in the
habit of conducting 200 or more random computer searches of license
plates while on patrol, as he had done that day.
Because the Court said that access to personal information -- such as
the driver's name, address, telephone number, or social security number
-- is not authorized unless there is some reasonable individual
suspicion of wrongdoing, it ordered the State to modify the MDT displays
so that they proceed in two steps.
In the first step, the MDT would display only "the registration status
of the vehicle, the license status of the registered owner, and whether
the vehicle has been reported stolen. The registered owner's personal
information would not be displayed."
Only if the first step indicates a basis for further police action, such
as the existence of a warrant or an indication that the registered
owner's driving privileges had been suspended, would the police have
access to identifying information.
The Court also directed the Attorney General to "promulgate guidelines
that establish disciplinary measures that will be imposed on any law
enforcement officer for improperly using the MDT" to address the concern
that police officers will access the databases for personal or
impermissible reasons, such as targeting minority drivers.
Despite its conclusion that the MDT displays needed to be modified, the
Court affirmed the convictions of the two motorists, because even under
the Court's new guidelines, the police action in their cases would not
have been improper.
Although disappointed that the Court did not address the constitutional
questions, David Rocah, ACLU-NJ Staff Attorney, said that the decision
nonetheless "sets an important precedent in recognizing that government
officials do not have the right to simply browse government databases
that contain personal identifying information."
The case is State v. Donis, Docket No. A-134-97. Acting Dean Eric
Neisser was counsel for the defendants on behalf of the ACLU-NJ.
Attorneys Roger Martindell and William Slover, both of Princeton, NJ,
were co-counsel in the case.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Millions At Stake; Drug Tax Refunds Igniting Debates
(The Wilmington Morning Star, in North Carolina, says the state
has collected $40 million since 1990 from people accused of dealing illegal
drugs. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the state's
"drug tax" was unconstitutional, but the state attorney general's office
has so far prevented any of the victims from getting any money back.)
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1998 18:28:16 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US NC: Millions At Stake; Drug Tax Refunds Igniting Debates
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: General Pulaski
Pubdate: Tue, 22 Dec 1998
Source: Wilmington Morning Star (NC)
Contact: mseditor@wilmington.net
Website: http://starnews.wilmington.net/
MILLIONS AT STAKE; DRUG TAX REFUNDS IGNITING DEBATES
A case in New Hanover County Superior Court where a judge appears poised to
order a so-called "drug tax" refund for a convicted drug dealer illustrates
a challenge the N.C. Attorney General's Office is facing across the state.
Friction between federal and state courts on the constitutionality of North
Carolina's drug tax has the Attorney General's Office fighting brush fires
where local judges order refunds.
At stake could be millions of dollars the state has collected since 1990
from people accused of dealing illegal drugs. The N.C. Department of
Revenue has collected $40.4 million through June, primarily by seizing
money and property from drug dealers who failed to pay the tax.
In the Wilmington case, Franklin Bryant wants back $6,000 in cash and
property authorities seized upon his arrest in 1995. Under the drug tax
law, dealers are required to pay a tax on their illegal drugs. If they
don't pay, the state can take money and property when they are arrested.
Mr. Bryant is not alone in his request, which was triggered by a Fourth
Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that appeared to strike down the state's
drug-tax law.
"Many demands have been made on the Department of Revenue," said Andy
Vanore, general counsel to the attorney general. None have been paid, he said.
Local courts are handling requests from convicts who want their money and
property back, saying the tax is unconstitutional, but judges have gotten
conflicting messages from the federal and state appellate courts and no
guidance from the U.S. Supreme Court.
"The majority of Superior Court judges are ruling in favor of the state in
these motions," said Chris Allen, assistant attorney general in the revenue
division.
Some, however, are not. Mr. Allen said several cases the state has lost are
being appealed to the N.C. Court of Appeals.
In the most recent case last week, Mr. Bryant asked Superior Court Judge
Allen Cobb for a refund of $6,000. Judge Cobb told lawyers during a private
hearing that he is inclined to rule in the prisoner's favor.
In a separate case he decided in October in Onslow County Superior Court,
Judge Cobb ordered the state to refund more than $79,000, plus interest, to
two men convicted on drug charges in 1994.
Those cases represent a larger problem for the Attorney General's Office.
Some judges, including Judge Cobb, have been ruling the drug tax is a
criminal punishment that violates constitutional protections against
punishing the same person twice for the same crime. Convicts argue a person
can't have his money and property seized and then be sent to prison.
Federal and state appeals courts have made opposite rulings on the issue,
leaving judges room to make their own decisions.
Judge Cobb and other judges who have sided with prisoners relied partly on
a U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in January that said the
state levy is so high it is actually a criminal punishment, not a tax, and
is unconstitutional, according to lawyers in the Attorney General's Office.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from the state in
October, letting the Fourth Circuit ruling stand.
Some lawyers and convicts, including Mr. Bryant, took the high court's
silence as a nod affirming the lower court's ruling, and they've sought
refunds.
The Attorney General's Office is arguing the prisoners shouldn't get any
money because of the legal pecking order judges should follow when weighing
precedent-setting decisions.
The office argues state judges are not bound by federal rulings unless they
come from the U.S. Supreme Court. In other words, the N.C. Supreme Court
trumps decisions from the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
On the drug tax question, the N.C. Supreme Court had declared it was
constitutional in a 1997 decision that upheld a 2-1 ruling from an N.C.
Court of Appeals panel. With the U.S. Supreme Court silent on the issue,
the state Supreme Court ruling should win, said Mr. Vanore.
In some cases, the state is taking that message to individual prosecutors
and judges.
Upon hearing news of Judge Cobb's apparent position on the refund, the
Attorney General's Office called New Hanover County prosecutor Mike DeSilva
on Monday to point out the N.C. Supreme Court decision.
Mr. DeSilva said he will use it when the matter comes before Judge Cobb for
a hearing. He agreed state Supreme Court rulings outweigh the federal
appeals court.
Meanwhile, the Attorney General's Office may be sending mixed messages of
its own. While lawyers in the office say the state will fight such rulings,
they are negotiating a settlement with the two men who won the Onslow case,
according to Mr. Allen.
The talks could prevent an appeal if they reach a deal. Mr. Allen said such
a settlement could encourage more refund requests.
"I suppose it depends on the grounds that we arrive at in the settlement,"
he said.
Meanwhile, the General Assembly amended the drug tax law in October in an
effort to withstand further scrutiny. One of the main reasons the Fourth
Circuit decided the tax was a punishment because it was so high.
The law requires tax stamps to be bought on illegal drugs. A person
arrested without the stamps was charged $200 per gram of cocaine, $400 for
10 dosage units of LSD, and lesser amounts for other drugs. A 50- percent
penalty was added if not paid within 48 hours of an arrest.
The new law lowers some of the tax amounts and deletes the late penalty.
But ultimately, the only way to put the conflict to rest may be for the
U.S. Supreme Court to hear a drug-tax case.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Judge Rules Scott Chief Planted Fake Drugs To Justify Cash Found
(The Advocate, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, says Scott Police Chief
Jerry Carpenter planted fake cocaine in a car to justify seizing $55,000
found during an interstate traffic stop.)
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1998 09:10:17 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US LA: Judge Rules Scott Chief Planted Fake Drugs
To Justify Cash Found
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Author: Angela Simoneaux, Acadiana bureau
Source: The Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
Contact: bbankston@theadvocate.com
Website: http://www.theadvocate.com/
Pubdate: Tues, 22 Dec 1998
JUDGE RULES SCOTT CHIEF PLANTED FAKE DRUGS TO JUSTIFY CASH FOUND
LAFAYETTE - Scott Police Chief Jerry Carpenter planted fake cocaine in a
car to justify seizing $55,000 cash found during an interstate traffic
stop, a state district judge decided Monday.
Fifteenth Judicial District Judge John Trahan found Carpenter guilty on one
count malfeasance in office and one count filing false police reports in
connection with an April 1996 traffic stop on Interstate 10.
Carpenter faces up to five years in prison on each count. Trahan set
sentencing for 9 a.m. March 15.
Carpenter was indicted on five charges in connection with an April 1996
traffic stop on I-10. He was accused of planting the fake cocaine, planting
marijuana, filing a false police report, destroying the fake cocaine and
erasing a videotape that allegedly showed him planting the fake cocaine in
the car while it was parked at the Scott Police station.
Friday night, Trahan dismissed the charges that accused Carpenter of
planting the pot, destroying the fake cocaine and erasing the tape.
District Attorney Mike Harson said he is pleased with the judge's verdict.
"It's what the evidence showed. The overall circumstances of this case led
to no other conclusion," Harson said. "There were just too many coincidences."
Carpenter had no comment. His attorney, C. Michael Hill, said no final
decision has been made regarding an appeal.
"I have recommended that he seriously consider an appeal, because I don't
think the evidence was there," Hill said. As for the verdict, Hill said the
chief "took it better than his lawyer did. He was calm. Obviously, he was
disappointed."
One thing was made clear by testimony in the trial: evidence handling in
the case was lax at the very minimum, Harson said.
"The evidence handling in this case was kind of peculiar," Harson said. "I
think I have more confidence now in how the evidence is handled. But at the
time of this case, certainly, there were a great deal of procedural
shortcomings, to say the least."
For instance, although eight officers were involved in the traffic stop and
the subsequent searches, only two filed reports, Harson said.
"It's very poor procedure all around. More of that than we'd like," Harson
said.
Harson now will proceed with the prosecution of Scott Police Officer Byron
Romero, accused of planting marijuana in the car. Charges against a third
man, officer Darrell Broussard, were dismissed in exchange for his
testimony during Carpenter's trial.
A second indictment pending against Carpenter charges him with injuring
public records, filing false records and malfeasance in office. He is
accused in that case of altering accident reports and filing falsified
accident reports.
Harson said he will wait to see what sort of sentence Carpenter receives in
this case before he decides if he will go forward with the second indictment.
In his closing arguments Monday, Harson told Trahan that Carpenter planted
the fake cocaine in the hopes that the three men involved would not fight
the forfeiture of the money.
Harson said he believes Carpenter believed the men actually were drug
dealers. "His plan got screwed up when it turned out they weren't drug
dealers, and they did fight the forfeiture," Harson argued.
A district judge ordered the return of the cash to the three men following
a forfeiture hearing.
Hill argued that Carpenter did not have time to plant anything in the trunk
of the car.
He also argued that it made no sense for Carpenter to plant fake cocaine
because it would not have justified the forfeiture.
"It was not a controlled substance, and so the state would not be allowed
to forfeit the money," Hill argued.
Additionally, Hill argued, there are several reasonable hypotheses as to
what actually happened.
"The first being, that these Vietnamese men could have had dope in the
car," Hill said. "There is much reasonable doubt in this case."
In his ruling, Trahan said it is clear that the car was thoroughly searched
by two officers on the shoulder of I-10, before it was moved to the station.
He said it also is clear that someone intentionally erased the videotape.
Three witnesses testified that they saw Carpenter putting something into
the trunk on that tape prior to its erasure, the judge added.
"All the evidence points to one and only one reasonable conclusion, and
that is that Mr. Carpenter planted something in the trunk," Trahan said.
Carpenter's second term as police chief expires at the end of the month. He
was defeated in the fall election by Darrell Menard.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Biology Of Behavior - The Possible Link Between Genes, Attention Deficit
(Newsday discusses some of the research presented to a panel of scientists
convened by the federal government earlier this month to discuss the state
of medical research about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD.)
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1998 20:25:11 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US NY: Biology Of Behavior
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: General Pulaski
Pubdate: Tue, 22 Dec 1998
Source: Newsday (NY)
Contact: letters@newsday.com
Website: http://www.newsday.com/
Copyright: 1998, Newsday Inc.
BIOLOGY OF BEHAVIOR / THE POSSIBLE LINK BETWEEN GENES, ATTENTION DEFICIT
DANIELLE SITS quietly for the moment, thinking, huddled in the corner of her
classroom closet, waiting for the proverbial shoe to drop. She had just
screamed at her teacher and left the floor awash in papers and pens and
books and, well, mess. She can't quite say why she gets so mad and confused,
but she knows that her life schedule revolves around taking medicine to
control her behavior and her ability to sit still and focus.
The 10-year-old has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, so complex a
condition that doctors and teachers and parents have taken a hand in
diagnosing it. Since kindergarten, the school nurse has come up every lunch
hour to hand Danielle her medicine, Ritalin. This is an amphetamine-like
drug that has perplexing but positive effects on people with ADHD: the
stimulant calms them down.
Danielle speaks for the millions of children - and more recently adults -
treated for ADHD when asked what the medicine does: "It helps me behave,
think, and pay attention."
Researchers estimate that 5 percent of the child population suffers from
ADHD. Rachel Klein, a clinical psychologist in the psychiatry department at
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in Manhattan, says
that there is a great neuromythology when it comes to talking about the
condition. The behavioral deficit is obvious - inattention, disruptive
behavior, inability to sit still - but the underlying biological problem
is still elusive. What is it that makes these kids different?
Russell Barkley, an ADHD expert, has been thinking hard about this condition
for decades. Director of psychology and professor of psychiatry and
neurology at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester,
Barkley has fashioned a theory that has been greeted with enthusiasm by
colleagues trying to understand what triggers these complex problems. His
ideas appear in his latest book, coauthored with Christine M. Benton: "The
Defiant Child: 8 Steps to Better Behavior," published by Guilford Press.
To understand why people with ADHD are different, Barkley says that you must
first know something about how people normally learn self-control. It
develops in the first few years of life, when children learn to inhibit, or
stop, themselves from responding to their environment. You want a snack?
Wait until dinner is over. You want a new video game? Get good grades and at
the end of the year it is yours. In other words, humans learn to delay
rewards.
"There are four executive abilities that children learn during these years
that help them delay, or wait, for rewards," Barkley said. Each of these
abilities develops slowly, and in sequential order.
The first is working memory, which is generally in place by the child's
first birthday. A child has the ability to hold a thought in his mind and
wait. The constant chattering over the next few years begins to take on new
flavors as the child learns to internalize speech. Around 8, they no longer
talk aloud to themselves. They can keep their thoughts in their heads. At
this age they are also able to internalize their emotions and don't make
public displays of their feelings. This is an important stage, Barkley said,
because it is during this time that children learn private motivation. They
can carry out a behavior even though rewards might be days, weeks or months
away.
Barkley said that the last of these executive functions is inventiveness.
The ability to invent new behavior when faced with an obstacle or old
strategy that doesn't work. Together, all of these high-order functions aid
in the regulation of self-control. Importantly, all of these abilities come
with a sense of time, a skill necessary to plan for the future.
Barkley contends that children with ADHD suffer from an impairment in the
development of this first skill: inhibition. With this system thrown out of
sync, the development of working memory is slowed and the other executive
functions never take shape naturally. The most obvious result is seen in
behavior: kids talk aloud for years longer than normal; they don't acquire
private motivation and constantly seek external rewards; they can't solve
problems; and finally, their sense of time is devastated. They can't
organize around time - they are governed by the "now" - and they are
very disorganized as a result. Barkley calls it "time blindness."
These executive functions seem to be unique to humans, which means that they
probably developed in the most recent evolution of the brain. These regions,
called the frontal lobes, have actually been found to be less active and
smaller in children - and adults - with ADHD.
"It's quite a provocative theory," Klein said. "We know how to diagnosis the
disorder, we know how to treat it, but what has been missing is the
underlying biological defect."
Recently, scientists from seven laboratories have confirmed an association
between ADHD and a gene linked to sensation-seeking behavior. It turns out
that 18 percent to 27 percent of people with ADHD have an abnormal number
of repeats on a gene called DRD4. Normally, a gene is composed of three
base pairs that repeat themselves like a string of letters three to four
times. In 7 percent to 10 percent of the population, scientists are now
finding seven repeats of this string of genetic letters, or code. The
result, some studies suggest, is that cells are less sensitive to dopamine,
a brain chemical. It's like the need to raise your voice when speaking to
someone who is hard of hearing. The cells require more dopamine to function
normally.
Because this gene is not found in the majority of ADHD children, however,
scientists are hunting for other candidates. As with any psychiatric
condition, once scientists understand what these genes do and how they go
awry, they can design medicines to help.
It is often only during the first year of school that ADHD children come to
the attention of people who may be able to help. A major problem for
Danielle and others with ADHD is that they act on impulse rather than
thought. When Danielle gets mad, she might pour soda over her sister's head,
or bring a room down around her. Does she know it's wrong? "Yes," she says.
Does she care? "No."
Danielle on medicine is an engaging child with far-reaching interests. She
can sit for hours at a computer game building puzzles; she can talk about
the Civil War with adult skills. She asks lots of questions about life going
on around her and is sincerely interested in the answers. In a group of
children, Danielle is often the one who feels most comfortable alone. The
difference between Danielle on medicine and off medicine is her impulsivity.
"I don't misbehave," she says, her smile revealing her shyness.
A federally convened panel met earlier this month to discuss the
state-of-the-art in ADHD. The group concluded, not without a firestorm, that
the psycho-stimulant Ritalin is the most effective treatment available. As
with any medicines, there are side effects. Some children complain of
feeling tense, irritable and unable to sleep. And no one knows how long a
person must stay on Ritalin. It seems that many of the overt behaviors -
the talking aloud, the impulsivity - begin to disappear in late
adolescence.
Behavior therapies have also helped parents learn to manage their children -
on and off medicines. These strategies, however, have to be practiced moment
by moment and can be exhausting for parents, teachers and the children
themselves. Doctors now say that the condition is lifelong, even though
symptoms are different in adults. Motivation and the ability to focus are
the primary complaints of adulthood.
Researchers at the State University at Stony Brook recently finished a
decade-long study to determine whether ADHD children were at greater risk
for drug abuse in late adolescence or adulthood.
Jan Loney, a psychologist at Stony Brook, began her work at the University
of Iowa, where she had a natural study design. There was one doctor who
always medicated the children he diagnosed, and another who never did.
The people selected for the study had been seen between 1967 and 1978, when
they were between 6 and 12 years old. In total, 187 boys were medicated and
37 had never been treated with Ritalin. They also pulled together a control
group: 49 junior high school students without attention or impulse
problems. The study followed up when the particpants were in their early
20s.
They were asked about their attitudes towards medication: if they ever
experimented with drugs, had friends who exposed them to drugs, and were
currently using illegal substances.
Those with an ADHD diagnosis had fewer episodes of experimentation and
involvement with illegal drugs. The ADHD patients were far more likely to
abuse alcohol, however, but there was a big difference between those who
had received medicines as a child and those who hadn't. According to
Loney, 30 percent of the medicated ADHD patients were alcoholics compared
with 45 percent of the unmedicated patients. By comparison, 18 percent of
the control group had a drinking problem.
These findings were presented earlier this month during the federal panel
convened by the National Institutes of Health. Loney stresses that this
study was conducted during a different drug-culture climate, and findings
could be different if conducted today. There is another important message,
Loney said. "Medication seems to be important, and that there could be
hazardous consequences if children don't receive treatment."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Biker slain in restaurant (The Montreal Gazette says Lawrence Bellas, 38,
a Hell's Angels associate, was shot and killed yesterday by a hit man
in a busy east-end restaurant, where two innocent diners were also wounded.
Police said there was little doubt Bellas was another victim in the
continuing war between the Hell's Angels and the Rock Machine for control
of the illicit-drug trade.)
From: creator@islandnet.com (Matt Elrod)
To: mattalk@listserv.islandnet.com
Subject: Biker slain in restaurant
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1998 08:57:02 -0800
Lines: 123
Source: Montreal Gazette (Canada)
Contact: letters@thegazette.southam.ca
Pubdate: Tuesday 22 December 1998
Biker slain in restaurant
Two diners wounded as hit man targets Hell's Angels associate
MICHAEL MAINVILLE
The Gazette
PAUL CHIASSON, CP / Two unidentified relatives of victims comfort each
other at scene of the east-end shooting.
DAVE SIDAWAY, GAZETTE / Grieving family members embrace outside Maison
des Bieres Importees on Cartier St.
A Hell's Angels associate was shot and killed yesterday by a hit man
who opened fire in a busy east-end restaurant and wounded two innocent
diners.
The target, 38-year-old Lawrence Bellas, died on the floor of the
restaurant from a gunshot wound to the chest.
Last night, police said there was little doubt Bellas was another
victim in the continuing war between the Hell's Angels and the Rock
Machine for control of the illicit-drug trade.
"The victim was an important associate of the Hell's Angels, who was
close to Maurice (Mom) Boucher, among others," said Det.-Lt.
Jean-Francois Martin of the Montreal Urban Community police homicide
squad.
"At this point, it looks like a straightforward settling of accounts
between biker gangs."
The gunman, his face hidden by a ski mask, burst into the Maison des
Bieres Importees on Cartier St. just before 2 p.m., MUC police
Constable Jean-Pierre Levis said.
30 Customers Inside
There were about 30 customers in the restaurant, most sitting near the
bar in the back.
The gunman targeted Bellas, who was sitting alone at the front of the
restaurant near the door, and opened fire with a handgun, Levis said.
"He just came in off the street and started firing right away."
Police could not say how many shots were fired, but two men who were
also sitting at the front of the bar were hit by at least one bullet
each.
The men, both in their 40s, were in a hospital last night. One was in
good condition after a bullet hit him in the arm. The other was more
severely wounded, but police said his life was not in danger.
Police were quick to point out that the wounded men had no connection
with organized crime.
"They had no relation whatsoever with bikers," Levis said. "They were
just two innocent bystanders."
No one else in the restaurant was injured, but police said some
patrons required treatment for shock.
After firing, the assailant ran from the restaurant on foot. He was
described as 6 feet tall and in his 30s.
Bellas was reputed to be a member of the Rockers, a Hell's Angels
affiliate.
He is known to have been an associate of Boucher, the head of the
Nomads, an elite squad of the Hell's Angels, whose recent acquittal on
charges that he arranged the killing of two prison guards made
headlines.
In 1995, Bellas was charged along with Boucher and Hell's Angels
associate Steven Bertrand with conspiracy to commit assault.
At the time, police alleged that three men had conspired to have a man
beaten after he roughed up Bertrand in a bar on Rachel St.
Bertrand and Bellas ended up pleading guilty to the charge.
Bellas's slaying was the 41st in the MUC this year. There had been 47
by the corresponding date last year.
If the shooting was pulled off by the Hell's Angel's enemies, it could
signal an escalation in the gang war, with the Rock Machine starting
to take the offensive in the wake of the recent killings of a number
of high-ranking members of the gang's elite death squad, the Dark
Circle.
Shortly after the shooting yesterday afternoon, a handful of friends
and relatives of the victims briefly milled about near the police
cordon.
One shaken woman shouted abuse at police officers.
"He's not there," said a friend of the distraught woman, who led her
away from the crime scene. "He's gone."
Another upset man angrily ordered TV crews and photographers to stop
photographing the group.
The restaurant, just north of Sherbrooke St. across from the Papineau
metro station, advertises European specialties, frites maison and
coleslaw on its signs.
Police said it is not known as a biker hangout or to have any
connection with organized crime.
"It's a great place. They have 64 different kinds of beer," said one
woman who was on her way into the metro yesterday.
"Everybody around here eats there. It's full of businessmen and
businesswomen.
"But you never know who your neighbours are going to be."
(c)1998 The Gazette,
to the 1998 Daily News index for Dec. 17-23