- Two more cities could join 18 other municipalities around
the country that have questioned whether the USA Patriot Act combats terror
at the expense of Americans' constitutional rights.
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- The city council of Oakland, Calif., is scheduled to
vote today on a resolution that would order city employees not to cooperate
with federal investigations that are felt to violate civil liberties. The
city of Flagstaff, Ariz., also has a vote scheduled on a less harshly worded
resolution that would be a statement by the city that it is concerned about
potential violations of civil rights as a result of implementation of the
USA Patriot Act, but stopping short of withdrawing the city's cooperation.
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- If both resolutions pass, the two cities would become
the 19th and 20th local governments to formalize their opposition to provisions
of the USA Patriot Act.
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- Supporters of the Oakland resolution, which include nearly
two dozen organizations, say they expect the measure to pass.
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- "I think there is strong support," City Councilwoman
Nancy Nadel said. "We can't trade our civil liberties for security
and still be fighting for the freedoms our country symbolizes."
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- The Oakland draft resolution says in part that "to
the extent legally possible, no City employee or department shall officially
assist or voluntarily cooperate with investigations, interrogations, or
arrest procedures, public or clandestine, that are in violation of individuals'
civil rights or civil liberties as specified in the above Amendments of
the United States Constitution."
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- It also says that "the City of Oakland affirms its
strong opposition to terrorism, but also affirms that any efforts to end
terrorism not be waged at the expense of the fundamental civil rights and
liberties of the people of Oakland, the United States and the World."
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- The resolution originally put before the Flagstaff City
Council was written in terms similar to the Oakland measure, but there
has since been compromise to remove references to the police department
and soften the criticism of the federal government, Flagstaff Mayor Joe
Donaldson said.
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- "We wanted it to be a citizens' reminder to the
government that we're concerned about terror acts and at the same time
we're concerned about civil liberties," Donaldson said.
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- Other Cities Considering Patriot Measures
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- Similar resolutions have already passed in 18 other communities,
including Berkeley, Santa Cruz and Sebastopol, Calif.; Denver and Boulder,
Colo.; four cities in Massachusetts; Ann Arbor, Mich.; Santa Fe, N.M.;
Eugene, Ore.; Burlington, Vt.; and Madison, Wis.
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- There are efforts under way to rally support for such
resolutions in dozens of other cities, including New York, Chicago, Miami,
Seattle, Boston and Portland, Ore., according to the Bill of Rights Defense
Committee, a Florence, Mass.-based organization that supports "repeal
of parts of the USA PATRIOT Act and Executive Orders that infringe on Constitutional
rights."
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- There are votes on similar resolutions scheduled for
January and February in Davis and Fairfax, Calif., and New Paltz, N.Y.
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- The USA Patriot Act was passed by overwhelming margins
in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, but Nadel said she
finds it hard to believe that legislators read it very carefully, because
of what civil libertarians and constitutional rights groups say are the
many areas where the law oversteps the bounds of proper law enforcement
procedure.
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- Opponents of such measures say that the events of Sept.
11, 2001, are proof of the need for extraordinary measures to protect the
country from terrorists.
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- What Cost Freedom?
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- Giving up civil liberties is no way to fight that fight,
Nadel said.
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- "It is not a small price to pay," she said.
"Our country was based on civil liberties. Some of these governments
like the Taliban that we fought to put out of power had restrictions on
what people read. If that's what we're trying to eradicate around the world,
I don't think it's something we should be adopting here."
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- The U.S. attorney's office in San Francisco ó
the local arm of the Justice Department, which overseas federal investigations
ó declined to comment on the resolution that was up for a vote in
Oakland.
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- Among the areas that Nadel said especially concern her
in the Patriot Act are increasing the FBI's power to spy on Americans'
e-mail and telephone conversations, allowing ethnic profiling, denying
the right to attorney to some detainees ó which she said is "one
of the most heinous aspects" of the law ó and allowing law
enforcement access to records of the books people take out of the library.
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- The city's Public Library Commission has already passed
a resolution opposing the Patriot Act.
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- Though the resolution's sponsors said it has strong support
on the city council, not all of Oakland's residents were convinced that
limiting the powers granted law enforcement to fight terrorism was the
best thing for the city.
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- "The City Council has no business getting involved
in something like this," 40-year Oakland resident Anne Woodell told
The Associated Press. "We're a major port and we've got to be prepared."
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- Nadel, however, said that none of her constituents has
spoken to her in opposition to the proposed resolution.
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- "They're the ones who asked me to carry it,"
she said. "I have not gotten a single negative response, only thanks
and support."
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- What Is Reasonable?
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- In Flagstaff, though, Donaldson said the consensus was
that a softer statement was needed, and that fighting the war on terror
required sacrifices.
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- "Just about all of us realize that we're going to
have to give up some freedoms to make sure we're safe from terrorism,"
he said. "The FBI, the Secret Service ó those guys have a mission.
If they deem that an action is necessary ó if they want to know
what Joe Donaldson took out from the library, if they want to know what
Joe Donaldson looks at on the Internet, what Joe Donaldson eats ó
well, if Joe Donaldson is reasonably suspected of terrorist activity, the
Joe Donaldson needs to be looked at. But it has to be reasonable."
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- The mayor said that will be the thrust of the resolution.
Though it is scheduled to come up for a vote today, he said the matter
could be put off if it looks like the vote will not be unanimous.
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- "It doesn't make sense to make a statement if it's
not unanimous," he said.
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- http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/usapatriot_oakland021217.html
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