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News: Protest Activity |
Urgent appeal from behind the Iowa Curtain
by Brian Terrell/Brad Grabs posted by MM
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
08 Feb 2004 |
Iowa Peace activists threatened by McCarthyian witch hunt.
Brian has requested that people call the US Attorney's office in Des Moines on Monday (their Grand Jury appearance is on Tuesday). The phone number is 515-284-6257. PLEASE CALL and tell them that you have heard about this case, and that you are concerned about the apparent violation of freedom of speech and right to peaceably assemble that this legal action is apparently targeting. If it can happen in Iowa, it can happen anywhere. |
Dear Friends:
Below is an email that I received yesterday about peace activists in
Iowa
being subpoenaed by the Polk County Sheriff's Office and FBI Joint Task
Force on Terrorism. After reading it, I called Brian Terrell, who is
one
of those subpoenaed. I have known Brian for several years, and have
stayed with him at his Catholic Worker farm in Iowa. He is a pacifist
and a man of great integrity. Brian told me that he believes this
legal
action is in response to an anti-war conference that his group
(Catholic
Peace Ministry) held in opposition to the war (at Drake University),
followed by a demonstration the next day in front of the National
Guard.
They have also subpoenaed the professors from Drake who participated in
the conference, and have demanded the list of all people who attended
the
conference. After Brian and the others alerted the press to this
bizarre event, the US Attorney for Iowa placed a gag order on all Drake
University employees, barring them from saying a single word about any
of
this. He said it has made the headlines of the Des Moines Register for
the last 3 days. You can read more at www.desmoinesregister.com
Brian has requested that people call the US Attorney's office in Des Moines on Monday (their Grand Jury appearance is on Tuesday). The phone number is 515-284-6257. PLEASE CALL and tell them that you have heard about this case, and that you are concerned about the apparent violation of freedom of speech and right to peaceably assemble that this legal action is apparently targeting. If it can happen in Iowa, it can happen anywhere.
Please forward this to those whom you think might be interested.
Thank you.
Brad Grabs
Friends:
I am passing on the below communication from Brian Terrell, who is one of the folks to receive a subpoena to appear before a Federal Grand Jury. The subpoena came from the Polk Co. Sheriff & FBI "Joint Task Force on Terrorism."
Please support freedom of expression, civil liberties, and due process for our friends.
US Court house Rally: Tuesday, Feb. 10 at 12:15 noon
US Courthouse Rm: 024 123 E. Walnut St.
Our friends will individually (and w/o attorney) be before the grand jury from 12:45p- 3:15p. It is important to have a presence there throughout. The "...Taskforce
on Terrorism" and the grand jury need to know we are watching and those who have been called before them do not stand alone.
Thank you, Kathleen McQuillen
FROM BRIAN:
Friends,
Yesterday, February 3, Detective Jeff Warford of the Polk County Sheriff's Office-FBI-Joint Terrorism Task Force came to Catholic Peace Ministy's office here in Des Moines with a supoena for me to testify before a Federal Grand Jury next Tuesday, February 10. Mr. Warford also served papers on Elton Davis at the Catholic Worker House and Patti McKee, who was coordinator of Iowa Peace Network until last month.
The Grand Jury process is shrouded in secrecy. We do not know who or what the object of this investigation may be, beyond "possible violations of federal criminal law in the Southern District of Iowa." The proceeding will be behind closed doors. We may not have an attorney present. We have the right to plead the fifth amendment, refusing the answer
questions that might incriminate us. The government, then, can offer us immunity from prosecution, in which case we will obliged to answer under threat of contempt of court and could be imprisoned for the length of the Grand Jury session, 18 months, should we continue to refuse to
answer. This immunity would be limited to our own testimony and anything any of us say could be used against the others. Whatever is going on, this is definitely an escalation on the part of the government's war on dissent and clamp down on civil liberties. The fact that anything that we three and the peacemaking communities we represent
could possibly attract the notice of a "Terrorism Task Force" is reprehensible. Please spread the word, express concerns you have with Federal and Polk County authorities. Keep us in mind and prayer. --
Brian Terrell
Executive Director
Catholic Peace Ministry
4211 Grand Ave.
Des Moines, IA 50312
(515)255-8114 |
See also:
http://desmoinesregister.com/news/stories/c4788993/23473647.html
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Commentary: Protest Activity |
Iowa Update
by Emily Brown
Email: a_kind_of_blue (at) yahoo.com (unverified!) |
Current rating: 0
10 Feb 2004 |
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Here's the latest from Des Moines: Two things have taken place tonight. The U.S. Attorney's Office has issued the following statement according to an article posted on
www.theiowachannel.com:
---
And Monday evening, U.S. Attorney Stephen O'Meara provided the first official details of what the investigation is about. O'Meara said reports that the case is being investigated as an "antiterrorism" matter that
involves the United States Patriot Act are "not accurate."
The grand jury issued subpoenas to at least four Iowans: Wendy Vasquez, Elton Davis, Patti McKee and Brian Terrell.
The activists had been scheduled to appear Tuesday, but the government pushed it back until next month. Reasons for the delay were not given.
The grand jury is also seeking documents and information from Drake, though a legal activist group is asking a federal judge to throw out the subpoena.
The federal government issued the subpoena last week because it wants records of an antiwar forum that took place Nov. 15 at Drake and of a war protest the next day at Camp Dodge. Polk County Sheriff's deputies arrested some of the protesters.
In a statement released Monday evening, U.S. Attorney Stephen O'Meara in Des Moines said:
"The narrow purpose and scope of that inquiry is to determine whether there were any violations of federal law, or prior agreements to violate federal law, regarding unlawful entry into military property -- and specifically to
include whether there were any violations as a result of an attempt to enter within the fenced, secure perimeter at Camp Dodge."
O'Meara said the investigation "does not relate to the rally held at STARC Armory on Nov. 16." He confirmed his office is investigating an event that occured at Camp Dodge at or about the same time as the peace rally at STARC
Armory.
---
Secondly, they have postponed the testimony times from Tomorrow to some time next month. Apparently there was no comment made as to why. Also, the rally will go on as scheduled - Noon at the Federal Courthouse in Des
Moines.
Other last minute thoughts:
-Given the US Attorney's statement, one does have to question why the Drake subpoena still stands in terms of needing membership information about the Lawyers Guild
-According to The news broadcast tonight, the US Attorney *never* makes a comment about a grand jury subpeona....but due to the number of calls to his office, he had to make a statement.
-A sincere and big thank you to all who called today.
-We still need to watch this one. |
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