I am petitioning the Mayor's Office and the City Council on the matter of the prosecution of the four folks who protested the eviction of Occupy Bellingham from Maritime Heritage Park in December 2011.
You could have knocked me over with a feather when I learned recently that this matter is still not resolved for these four civic minded citizens.
I attended the most recent court appearance on December 13, 2012.
Before the hearing, I asked one of the defendants, Debbie Cantrell, how many court appearances she has made since the eviction event in 2011. She said this was her eighth appearance in municipal court.
And, as she sat quietly in her defendant's chair knitting, it just struck me as out of all proportion this is to a single act of principled civil disobedience for her to be summoned to a courtroom that many times over such a prolonged stretch of time.
It will be 2013 before any of these folks will get a pre-trial conference. On an event that occurred in 2011.
It is difficult to overstate the chilling effect this series of events has on a citizen who is contemplating taking a stand and performing an act of civil disobedience.
This taking on a creepy Les Miserables vibe.
Is there anything you can do for these citizens?
Shane Roth
Do the crime, do the time.
ReplyDeleteGet over it.
8 municiple court appearnces. Why? The council should consider requesting (they can demand if needed) a report on just how a municiple violation would take this long to resolve.
ReplyDeleteHey, Anonymous...
ReplyDeleteThe four citizens spent a night in County Jail.
YOU get over it.