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San Pablo City Officials with Bush-Ashroft against the American People!

	Mayor Sharon Brown Elected: November 1984 Term Expires: November 2004 Office: City Hall Telephone (510) 215-3000 Facsimile (510) 620-0204 E-mail: sharonsell@aol.com Voicemail: (510) 869-5098
	Joseph M. Gomes Elected: January 1977 Term Expires: November 2004 Office: City Hall Telephone: (510) 215-3000 Facsimile: (510) 620-0204
	Paul V. Morris Elected: November 2002 Term Expires: November 2006 Office: City Hall Telephone: (510) 215-3000 Facsimile: (510) 620-0204 E-Mail: winefinds@sbcglobal.net

Save civil Liberties

by Larry J. Martinez
from San Pablo
West CC Times 7/27/03

I'm writing regarding the San Pablo City Council's refusal to consider a resolution agaisnt the USA Patriot Act
(Times July 14).

Council members Genoveva Garcia Calloway and Barbara Vigil were very wise to want to bring it before the full council, but the issue was shot down by the majority three.

It is so easy for people who have never lived in an
oppresive society to give up civil liberties.

As those who have lived there. It is not the "haves"
who this law affects, it is the "have -nots."

History will prove that this is the way it starts. Little by little the oppressors chip away at our civil liberties until we have none.

I commend council members Calloway and Vigil. Hang in there!


Important Issue

by Leonard McNeil
from San Pablo
West CC Times 7/28/03

It just might behoove the San Pablo City Council to re-examine its recent 3-2 vote to support the USA Patriot Act.

According to a New York Times article (July 21), Inpector General Glenn Fine issued a report that sparked widespread bipartisan criticism of the Justice Department regarding the alledged mistreatment of hundreds of undocumented immigrants rounded up after Sept. 11.

From Dec. 16, 2002 through June 15, 2003, Fine received 1,073 complaints that suggest "a Patriot Act-related" abuse of civil liberties. This seems to refute the City Council majority contention that the law is not an intrusion on civil rights.

Just as the Bush administration cooked intelligence to promote the war agaisnt Iraq, a phantom 500 San Pablo residents supposedly justified Mayor Brown's support for the controversial legislation.

When the issue came before the council as an agenda itemin a previous study session, those 500 residents were conspicuosly absent.

Council member Paul Morris displayed his ideological intolerance by referring to those who oppose the Patriot Act as " a bunch of left-leaning liberals". Apparently, Mayor Brown believes protecting citizens from the government abuse of power is not an important enough issue "on which to spend council and staff time."

McNeil was Correct
by Mary Corley
San Pablo
August 22, 2003
West CC Times

I am amazed San Pablo council memeber Paul Morris would have the chutzpah to ridicule Leonards McNeil's letter (Times July 28) for not getting his facts right. I thought McNeil's criticism of him was absolutely correct.

In the Times article, "San Pablo panel chooses not to oppose Patriot Act" (July 8), Morris tried to trivialize the efforts of many Americans who are concerned about this controversial measure. Now, in his letter of Aug. 8, Morris said he wants to set the record straight. Good. I saved the article, and his statement about liberals is intolerant and innacurate!

Morris said: "They say they're not a bunch of left-leaning liberals. Well, excuse me, that's the way they come off. It's these people who are putting the scare into our citizens, and not our legislators."

Morris thinks that most people don't need to be concerned about it "unless they are criminals, subversive, or are here illegally and wish to do this country some harm." Obviously he's unaware that the U.S. Justice Department's inspector general has issued a report about how scores of immigrants have been mistreated.

Three states have passed resolutions opposing the Patriot Act, including Alaska, which isn't a hot-bed of liberalism. Across the country, approximately 130 comunities have also oppose it; thta includes Richmond, Oakland, Livermore, Pleasanton, Union City, El Cerrito, Pinole, Berkeley, Albany and San Francisco.

Morris is the one who needs to get his facts right.

Mary Corley
San Pablo

Appalling Stand

by Kay Wallis
West CC Times 7/22/03

I was appalled to read that San Pablo Mayor Sharon Brown and Council members Paul Morris and Joe Gomes killed a proposal to oppose the so-called patriot act.

Months ago, my city Council in Richmond was enlightened enough to recognize that the Patriot Act undermines precious civil liberties guaranteed by the Constitution, which council members have sworn to protect and thousands of Americans have died to defend.

El Cerrito, Pinole, Albany, Berkeley, Oakland, Livermore, Union City and San Francisco have formally denounced the Patriot Act because it gives the government unprecedented power to persecute any group it perceives as a potential threat.

Opponets of the Patriot Act span the political spectrum and include a local mayor who remmebers first-hand the forced internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

San Pablo voters, take note: Brown, Morris and Gomes were asked to take a stand for the Constitution and they refused, hiding instead behind the ubiquitous banner of "fighting terrorism". This banner may prove to be a scanty attire for the November winds that blow on election day.

Kay Wallis