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URGENT: Your Help Needed to Protect Free Speech in San Diego!
On January 20th at the Reclaim the Streets demonstration in downtown San Diego, journalist Carly Delso-Saavedra and activist Janice Jordan were both arrested on charges that, according to witnesses, were fabricated. If you have photos or videotape of any arrests made that night, please contact us immediately at 619-985-9639 or 619-269-4693 or email us at  info@radioActiveradio.org. We are asking you to take action to protect free speech and freedom of the press in San Diego.
Carly' Delso-Saavedra was at the protest as a journalist and photographer for the San Diego Independent Media Center. While taking photographs of police interacting with demonstrators, she was put in a chokehold, falsely accused of assaulting an officer and arrested on the charge of obstruction of justice. Carly was jailed overnight with a bail of $5,000, which members of the San Diego chapter of the National Lawyer's Guild have said is unusually high and might be part of a pattern of intimidation involving arresting a few protesters at random on charges with high bail and imprisoning them. Joni Craig, Executive Director of the San Diego Foundation for Change said about Carly: "I have known the young woman who was arrested for nearly two years. She has been a volunteer for our foundation and is involved in several of our grantee organizations..She is an extremely intelligent, honest, caring, and trustworthy individual. She is adamantly opposed to violence, has worked tirelessly for peace and justice, and is known for being quiet, somewhat shy, and even passive in her interactions with others.”
Janice Jordan, a local activist and member of the San Diego Peace and
Freedom Party, was arrested on the charge of obstruction of justice for simply asking a member of SDPD a question.
Arresting journalists and demonstrators on false charges not only directly violates their free speech rights and threatens the freedom of the press, but also can act indirectly to discourage the citizens of San Diego from exercising their constitutionally protected right to express their dissent.
Free speech can only be protected by vigorously exercising it. Therefore, we ask you to contact the Mayor, Members of the City Council and the City District Attorney to ask them to take action to protect free speech and freedom of the press in San Diego by dropping the fabricated charges against Carly and Janice and to make certain that SDPD respects the First Amendment rights of San Diego citizens in the future. You will find a sample letter at the end of this e-mail, followed by contact information for local officials.
In solidarity,
J20 San Diego Legal Support Team
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CONTACT INFORMATION:
INSERT CONTACT INFO HERE
SAMPLE LETTER:
Dear XXXX:
I am writing to request that you take immediate action to protect free
speech and freedom of the press in San Diego.
On January 20 during the counter-inaugural demonstrations downtown,
journalist Carly Delso-Saavedra and Janice Jordan were both arrested on charges that, according to witnesses, were fabricated.
Carly' Delso-Saavedra was at the protest as a journalist and photographer for the San Diego Independent Media Center. While taking photographs of police interacting with demonstrators, she was put in a chokehold, falsely accused of assaulting an officer and arrested and imprisoned on the charge of obstruction of justice. Community members and co-workers have contrasted the charges with Carly’s stature and reputation in the community: “She has been a volunteer for our foundation and is involved in several of our grantee organizations... She is adamantly opposed to violence... and is known for being quiet, somewhat shy, and even passive in her interactions with others.”
Janice Jordan, a local activist and member of the Ground Zero Players and the San Diego Peace and Freedom Party, was arrested on the charge of obstruction of justice for simply being a part of the demonstration.
I am concerned that the arrest of journalists and demonstrators on
fabricated charges with extremely high bail not only directly violates free speech and freedom of the press, but also creates a climate in which the citizens of San Diego will be afraid to fully exercise their constitutionally protected right to dissent.
I believe that freedom of speech for all citizens and freedom of the press are essential for a functioning democracy within the city of San Diego. I ask you to stand with me to protect the First Amendment rights of San Diegans by
(1) advocating dismissal of charges against Carly Delso-Saavedra and
Janice Jordan
(2) working to make certain that SDPD respects the First Amendment rights
of San Diego citizens in the future.
Thank you in advance for acting to protect democracy in San Diego.
Sincerely,
YYYYYY
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Please send this letter, or write your own, to:
District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis: 619-531-4040; FAX: 619-237-1351; publicinformation@sdcda.org
Mayor Dick Murphy: 619-236-6330; fax 619-236-7228; DickMurphy@sandiego.gov
Councilmember Scott Peters: 619-236-6611 (from North County 858-484-3808); fax 619-236-6999; ScottPeters@sandiego.gov
Councilmember Michael Zucchet: 619-236-6622; fax 619-236-6996; mzucchet@sandiego.gov
Councilmember Toni Atkins: 619-236-6633; fax 619-595-1481; toniatkins@sandiego.gov
Councilmember Brian Maienschein: 619-236-6655 (from North County 858-673-5304); fax 619-238-0915; bmaienschein@sandiego.gov
Councilmember Donna Frye: 619-236-6616; fax 619-236-7329; donnafrye@sandiego.gov
Councilmember Jim Madaffer: 619-236-6677; fax 619-238-1360; jmadaffer@sandiego.gov
Councilmember Ralph Inzunza: 619-236-6688; fax 619-231-7918; rinzunza@sandiego.gov
The San Diego Union-Tribune., PO Box 120191, San Diego, CA, 92112-0191, or fax (619) 260-5081, or e-mail: letters@uniontrib.com
Please Don't Feed the Trolls
Wikipedia defines an Internet Troll as: "either a person who sends messages on the Internet hoping to entice other users into angry or fruitless responses, or a message sent by such a person." San Diego IMC strives to provide both a grassroots media resource as well as a forum for people to contribute to a meaningful discussion about local issues. Please, when posting comments, be respectful of others and ignore those trying to interrupt or discourage meaningful discourse. Thank you.
-- San Diego Indymedia volunteers
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The SDPD website only has this phone number for non emergency calls: (619) 531-2000
Anyone have the Chief of Police's phone number and email address? He claims that the SDPD is so friendly to Freedom of Speech.
reader...
so i called internal affairs... their number is
619-531-2801
and they said they were too busy to talk to us because they were on the line with another caller. keep em comin folks...
caller
Steve Silva from Bonnie Dumanis' office at 619-531-1168 also said that "if you don't have any confidence in that" process, since her office works so closely with the police, then you can contact the attorney general's office in San Diego at 619-645-2001.
caller
after watching president bush on cnn, my first feeling was to vomit. his heart(as is he had one) going out the "children" who were victims of tusunami.
the US has had a long history of murdering children: first, with the native american children by giving the diseased blankets and bayoneting them in the chest(at wounded knee), to the Philippine islands where the US soldiers murdered over 250,000 children by burning their huts and when they ran, they would chase them through the jungle and run a bayonet through their chest; the apple never falls far from the tree. millions of children from almost all countries have been victims of the US military from one point in history to the next.
we must take a close look at Iraq to understand how the US wages war and occupation. from 1991 to 1999, over 500,000 Iraqi babies died due to a very strange and not indigenous parasite. the parasite, cryptosporidium parvum, found in the Iraqi water supply, had a definate signature and scientists traced that particular parasite back to the great lakes region of the united states. like particular species of animals, every region, and its biology, has its particular attributes. after these infants would ingest this parasite, the babies would literally puff up and explode, with their organs painfully shutting down, one by one. how did it(this parasite) get from north america to the Iraqi water supply? was there US involvement? if these babies did not die, there would be 500,000 more insurgents to do battle with. the pentagon had this all planned long ago, this is the way they clear nations for occupation that dates back to the hawaiian islands. in 1890 when the US sent the "fair american to start the occupation of the islands, their captain, told the king(I beleive kamamai) for his warriors to line up their women and children in canoes on the starboard side of the ship, and that they had gifts for all of them. when they lined up along side the ship, the captain opened fire with cannons filled with rusty nails and other items of iron, killing all of them. there was nothing "fair" about the fair american.
since the bombing of march 20th in Iraq, it is estimated that over 20,000 children have died and many more have been severely injured by unexploded
bomblets in their neighborhoods. the massive amounts of depleted uranium use against the people of Iraq will cause birth defect and cancers in children for many years to come.
we can only stop this machine of death and destruction by cutting off its currency, focus on the dollar.
peace be with you
robert mcclary
 e-mail:: rbmcclary@yahoo.com
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