Aressted for dancing?? They've gone too far this time!

[Dez]

I just got this information from the Drug Policy Alliance website at www.drugpolicy.org

Like flint, Michigan doesn't already have enough to deal with having a lousy economy and most of their poor urban youth signing up to go to Iraq for a G.I. Bill that doesn't pay for college when you're dead
Please read if you're interested in standing up for your civil liberties. First in Racine, WI... now in Flint, MI... where to next?
Thanks for reading

**********************************************************
New Attack on Raves and Live Music

Defend Your Right to Dance!

Dear Activist,

Last year our supporters helped raise attention to an outrageous abuse of power in Racine, Wisconsin, where hundreds of music fans were ticketed for being in a crowded nightclub where a few people used drugs. Those ticketed had no drugs on them. The police didn’t even have any evidence that they had ever used drugs. Their only “crime” was dancing at a nightclub where other people who used drugs were arrested. Although only three drug arrests were made, police issued citations to 445 innocent attendees with a penalty of $968 each for being "patrons of a disorderly house." Thanks to a public outcry from people like you, work by the Drug Policy Alliance, and an ACLU lawsuit, the citations were ultimately dismissed.

Now, it has happened again; this time in Flint, Michigan. On Saturday the local police raided a popular nightclub, Club What’s Next, and ticketed music fans who were attending a dance night known as “Getting Lucky” (the DJs included Halluci-Nate, Sparkimus Prime, White Rabbit, Captain Cheddar and California's Dj Primo.) While some people were arrested for possessing or selling illegal drugs, most people were ticketed for “frequenting a drug establishment,” a misdemeanor offense.

Speak out against this abuse of power now.

That’s right. In Flint, Michigan (and many other cities) if you go out dancing on a Saturday night and the police happen to arrest other people at the club for drugs, you could be charged with a drug crime even though you had nothing to do with drugs. These innocent party-goers now face up to 90 days in jail and a $500 fine. They also face a criminal record with all the legal and social barriers that brings. Several people at the club that night told us club-goers were also subjected to strip searches, including full cavity searches – even though they had nothing to do with drugs. Imagine the police walking into your favorite bar or nightclub and making you submit to a strip search for no reason! Imagine spending 90 days in jail or paying a $500 fine for dancing!

The raid on Club What’s Next was conducted by Flint's Special Operations and Crime Area Target Team units, along with the Flint Area Narcotics Group and the Genesee County Sheriff's Posse. We’re looking into whether or not federal Byrne grant money helped finance the raids. (On a side note, any law enforcement agency that has the word “posse” in it should be suspect).

You can send a message that this type of action is unacceptable by doing two things:

1) Contact the Flint City Council and Mayor and let them know how appalled you are that the city mistreats music fans and allows the police to punish people for the crimes of others. A pre-composed and editable letter can be emailed to EVERY MEMBER OF THE FLINT CITY COUNCIL with just a click of the mouse at http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=25203&MS=flintrave-aa

2) Forward this alert to your e-mail lists and to friends and family. We need to flood the Flint political establishment with faxes and emails.

The Drug Policy Alliance would like to give a special thanks to Will Patterson at the Electronic Music Defense Fund (EM:DEF) for alerting us to this scandal. He found out about the incident because one of the club-goers filed an incident report on EM:DEF’s web site. If your rights are ever violated by the police at a music event, you can file a similar report there. Copies of incident reports go to EM:DEF, the ACLU, and the Drug Policy Alliance.
**********************************************************

[shadowknows69]

1. sometime you have to cut loose, foot loose

HA, beat you to it.

[Coexist]

4. Dag nabit - I can't type that fast!

[Coexist]

2. I feel a Kevin Bacon movie coming on...

Everybody cut footloose!

[DawnneOBTS]

3. Did anyone forward this to Michael Moore?

Flint is where he's from. I'm sure this would piss him off as well.

[shadowknows69]

6. I love MM

but I don't want to see him dancing ;)

[Dogmudgeon]

5. Looks like the City of Flint has too much money on their hands

And they want to give it to a bunch of "raver" kids, who will successfully sue them into the poorhouse.

A "patrons of a disorderly house"? WTF does that mean? It would be amusing to hear this concept explained to a jury.

--p!

[kliljedahl]

7. Did you know that baptists can't have sex standing up?

It might lead to dancing.


http://www.kliljedahl.net

[classof56]

8. Now that's funny!

Can you believe in all my 67 years, 50 or so as a hard-line Baptist, I never heard this one? Thanks for the chuckle! Like your website, BTW.

Tired Old Cynic

[kliljedahl]

12. You're welcome and thank you

http://www.kliljedahl.net

[yodermon]

15. it was Mennonites in the version I heard

I would wager they are even more dancephobic than Baptists. ;)

[Warren DeMontague]

9. Your tax dollars at work. The "Drug War" and DEA cops out of control,

and Anti-Drug hysteria being used as an excuse to harass people or infringe on their civil liberties? Say it isn't so.

I used to go see the Grateful Dead at Alpine Valley. Doing the math, that's a lot of $500 tickets.

[G_j]

10. Thanks to Senator Joseph Biden for the "Rave Act" (Lieberman too)

http://www.emdef.org/s2633/

<snip>
The RAVE Act was an attempt by legislators to reduce the illegal use of MDMA (ecstasy) and other drugs by broadly expanding Section 416(a) of the Controlled Substance Act (21 U.S.C. 856(a)), also known as "crack house" statute. Rather than going after drug users or drug dealers, this legislation targeted music promoters, venue managers and land owners. Punishing innocent businessmen and women for the crimes of their customers is unprecedented in U.S. history. The federal government can't even keep drugs out of prisons, yet they seek to incarcerate business owners for failing to keep people from sneaking drugs onto their premises. The legislation also added a civil liability clause of $250,000+ to the existing criminal penalties of up to 20 years imprisonment and possible $500,000 fine.

Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE, sponsor) and Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA, co-sponsor) introduced the RAVE Act on June 18, 2002 (Biden's intro, Grassley's intro). Later, Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), and Strom Thurmond (R-SC) added their names as co-sponsors.

Senator Patrick Leahy and Senator Richard Durbin were also co-sponsors, but withdrew their support and removed their names as co-sponsors.

[kliljedahl]

13. Just some more of that

Joementum

http://www.kliljedahl.net

[slaveplanet]

11. It's the new Freedom

-Several people at the club that night told us club-goers were also subjected to strip searches, including full cavity searches – even though they had nothing to do with drugs.-

What part of slave training don't those partiers understand...

The new safety requires full submission to the criminals(uh er masters)

[AndyTiedye]

14. They Really Want To Stop People From Dancing -- Especially Young People

This really isn't about drugs (they found remarkably few)
it is the theocracy asserting its control over our culture!

They do not approve of dancing.

Dancing actually scares them more than sex.

Why do you suppose that is?


(This is my post number four thousand nine hundred ninety nine)