[CRNMC] your rights

Thu Jun 5 13:26:09 PDT 2014

...we also have the local decision that supports our right to be in public
places collecting signatures.  Dennis O'Brien, a local activist and former
attorney pushed this forward and won recently.  Very powerful and
supportive!  I am carrying these documents with me in case someone gives me
trouble.

Blessings,
Kelly

~~~

Press Release – For Immediate Release
Mendocino County Settles Free Speech Case, Changes Policies Re Petitioning
at Shopping Centers
February 20, 2014 (Ukiah, CA) The County of Mendocino today settled a
lawsuit brought by one of its residents after a county deputy interfered
with petitioning at a local shopping center. From now on, store
owners/managers cannot just call the police to roust petitioners and others
engaged in free speech activities near their stores; they must first get a
court order that such activity is interfering with their business.
“You cannot deprive someone of an essential right without due process of
the law,” said Dennis O’Brien, a retired attorney who filed the lawsuit.
“Shopping centers and malls may be private commercial property, but the
California Supreme Court has determined that they are the modern day
equivalent of a town square. People have the right to engage in free speech
and petitioning so long as they are not directly in front of a store
entrance or otherwise interfering with the normal course of business. They
can’t just be rousted by the police at the beck and call of corporations
who do not like the politics of those engaged in protected activities.”
The event leading to the lawsuit happened in April 2012. Mr. O’Brien was
approaching the Raley’s supermarket at the Crossroads Shopping Center on
State Street just north of Ukiah. A woman was standing about 15 feet to the
side of one of the entrances, collecting signatures for to get propositions
on the state ballot. One of the propositions raised taxes on high incomes.
Before Mr. O’Brien could finish signing the petitions, a uniformed deputy
of the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office appeared and said that the store
manager wanted them to leave (the petitioner had informed the manager of
her activities and shown him the petitions as a courtesy). After a
discussion of free speech rights, the officer said that if Mr. O’Brien and
the petitioner did not leave, he would arrest them. Both left.
Mr. O’Brien filed a formal complaint with the MCSO. Their internal review
board found the complaint to be “unfounded.” [See attached.] Mr. O’Brien
appealed the decision, ultimately meeting with Sheriff Tom Allman in early
2013. Sheriff Allman offered his personal apology and agreed that 15 feet
from an entrance was a reasonable distance for free speech activity. All he
needed to change the department’s policy was approval from then-County
Counsel Tom Parker. But when County Counsel failed to approve the change
before to the expiration of the statute of limitations, Mr. O’Brien was
forced to file a lawsuit [attached] in order to protect his rights. The
County responded by filing a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming that
the area where the free speech activity occurred was not protected. After
filing opposing briefs, the parties met with local attorney Barry Vogel and
hammered out the settlement, the first of its kind in California [per
County Counsel’s office].
The key provision of the settlement is the County’s acknowledgment that
free speech rights exist in shopping centers and malls, even though they
are private commercial property. If someone is engaged in petitioning or
other protected free speech activity and is not directly in front of an
entrance, then the store owner/manager will need to obtain an injunction or
restraining order before the sheriff’s office will intervene. Absent some
criminal activity, like vandalism, it will be considered a civil matter. If
an owner/manager believes there is criminal activity, they can still
institute a citizen’s arrest, but the consequences of wrongfully doing so
can be costly, as with the case against the local Walmart for a false
arrest a few years ago.
“This is a major change in the policy and procedures of local law
enforcement. Instead of enforcing the whims of powerful corporations, they
have acknowledged the right of the people to gather peacefully, to speak
freely, and to petition their government,” said O’Brien. “These rights are
being fought for even now in the streets of Kiev and around the world. They
are the very basis of our democracy, and if we do not honor them, then our
society will quickly be engulfed in the turmoil of political repression.
Without those rights, we might as well live in Putin’s Russia, where people
are jailed merely for singing protest songs.”
“This settlement would not have been possible without community support,”
continued O’Brien. “The folks at the Mendocino Environmental Center and
Occupy Ukiah provided essential feedback and moral support throughout the
process. It is difficult for any one person to ‘take on city hall.’ But
when the people come together to assert their basic rights, few forces can
stop them. Fortunately, we don’t have to take to the streets and build
barricades to protect ourselves; in this country, the pen is still mightier
than the sword. No matter how powerful corporations become, no matter how
much they spend to influence elections, they must bow before the right of
the people to engage in the political process.”
“I would like to thank Sheriff Allman for his willingness to find a
solution that benefits the entire community,” said O’Brien. “My father was
a police officer most of his life, and I know how difficult the job is. The
police are on the front lines when it comes to making public policy a
reality, and it is difficult to please everyone. This settlement will
actually relieve officers of an unfair burden, of having to take sides in a
civil matter. It is not an officer’s job to make the law, only to enforce
it. The new protocols will provide clear guidance for officers, store
owners/managers, and the people. I haven’t seen a single petitioner since
the incident in 2012; our free speech rights were effectively ‘chilled.’
This settlement will encourage robust political debate and engagement by
the people in the political process.”
The case is O’Brien v. County of Mendocino, case no. SCUK-CVG-13-61758,
filed in Mendocino County Superior Court in Ukiah. Raley’s had also been
named a defendant, but was dismissed when the case settled, as were all
claims for money damages. “The money means nothing. It is the rights that
are priceless,” said O’Brien. The Complaint, Settlement Agreement and MCSO
Policy are attached. The County was represented by deputy County Counsel
Terry Gross (707- 234-6885). Her last day working for the County is Friday,
February 21, 2014. County Counsel Tom Parker abruptly retired last Friday,
February 14. It is not known to what extent, if any, this case influenced
their decisions.
For more information, please contact Dennis O’Brien at
dennisobrien at sharejerusalem.com. - 30 -

On Wed, Jun 4, 2014 at 10:38 PM, Beth Brenneman <storyteller2069 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> down load and take it with you:
>
> Pruneyard decision
>
> "The trouble is that once you see it, you can't unsee it. And once you've
> seen it, keeping quiet, saying nothing, becomes as political an act as
> speaking out. There's no innocence. Either way, you're accountable.” Arundhati
> Roy <http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6134.Arundhati_Roy>
>
> _______________________________________________
> crn mailing list
> crn at lists.mcn.org
> http://lists.mcn.org/mailman/options/crn
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.mcn.org/pipermail/crn/attachments/20140605/5f6dbe02/attachment.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Press Release - County Settles Free Speech Case 2 pg.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 44713 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.mcn.org/pipermail/crn/attachments/20140605/5f6dbe02/attachment.pdf 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Policy MCSO re Free Speech at Shopping Centers 1 pg.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 122946 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.mcn.org/pipermail/crn/attachments/20140605/5f6dbe02/attachment-0001.pdf 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Free Speech Settlement Agreement - Court Doc.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 683836 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.mcn.org/pipermail/crn/attachments/20140605/5f6dbe02/attachment-0002.pdf 