Mill Valley> MARIN CHAPTER, ACLU MEET <Agenda + Minutes

MEETING NOTICE: BOARD OF DIRECTORS, MARIN CHAPTER, ACLU

Monthly Meeting: Monday, September 20, 2010,

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Directions: From US 101, from north, exit East Blithedale exit,
head west on East Blithdale to Camino Alto (3rd light after freeway), turn L
(south). Go to Miller Avenue (end of Camino Alto, at Tam High), make a U
turn and enter The Redwoods parking lot. (Alternatively, you can park in the
Safeway parking lot, and there is a pedestrian-activated street light from
there to The Redwoods).

From US 101, from the south, exit at Manzanita/Mill Valley/State Route 1, go
under the bridge and follow Shoreline Highway around toward Mill Valley
(road becomes Almonte Blvd. and then Miller Avenue near Tamalpais High
School). Turn R at Camino Alto and enter The Redwoods parking lot (or park
in the Safeway lot across from the Redwoods).

When you walk into the main lobby at The Redwoods, turn right and go through
the library. Turn left toward the auditorium, then turn right at the
auditorium and go to the end of the corridor. The Conference Room is on the
right.
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TENTATIVE AGENDA:
1. Call to order
2. Approval of Agenda
3. Approval of minutes of prev. meeting (attached)
4. Treasurer’s report
5. Chair’s Report
6. Non Agenda Items and Announcements
7. Old Business
8. New Business
9. ACLU-NC Report

10. Committee reports
-Death Penalty
-Education
-Law Enforcement
-Nomination Committee and Annual Meeting
-Media Committee
-Outreach Committee
-Other Committees

11. Adjournment
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Quote:
… Some of her answers might excite popular prejudice, but if there is any
principle of the Constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment
than any other it is the principle of free thought—not free thought for
those who agree with us but freedom for the thought that we hate.
-- Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., dissenting, Schwimmer v. U.S., 279
U.S. 644 (1929)

Meeting of the ACLU Marin Chapter Board
At: conference room, The Redwoods Senior Center, Mill Valley, CA
Monday, August 16, 2010

Present: Marna Cohen, George Pegelow (chair), Bob Harmon (secretary), Ben Cook, Max Diebel, Mary Gomes, Don Carney, Arnie Scher (treasurer), Sophia Abramowitz.

Called to order 8/16/2010 7:14 PM

Approval of agenda: m/s/a/.

Approval of July meeting minutes m/s/a.

Treasurer’s report: Balance $4,651, same as last month’s meeting.

Chair’s report. What to do during coming year? Chair: we may make a video/DVD on students’ rights, will also continue to push youth court, restorative justice in schools, school issues in general.

Bob Harmon reported that Greene v. Sonoma County, which we have been following, has been settled out of court for $650,000, in late July. Max Diebel noted that Tiburon has put the surveillance cameras in, as they had planned.

Non-agenda items and announcements. None.

Old business. None.

New business. Arnie has been in touch with ACLU-NC with regards to Melody’s Law on DUIs (Assm. Huffman, D-Marin), why they opposed it. ACLU-NC’s opposition based on the arbitrary and permanent nature of the law.

ACLU-NC Report (George). No affiliate meeting this last month. They are kicking off a membership drive. Fall fundraising campaign is about to start; ACLU-NC will be asking fundraisers not just to call but to attempt to get face-to-face meetings. George would like us to do it in two-person teams. Several board members expressed interest.

Committee Reports.
Death penalty. No report at chapter level; executions on hiatus. Affiliates in California are working with DAs to avoid capital prosecutions.

Education committee: working on a student-rights DVD; we will start pre-production planning shortly.

Law Enforcement committee: Tiburon cameras going in (see above). Mary Gomes showed a settlement from Judge Lynn Duryee, Marin Superior Court, reading, in pertinent part:

Ms. Gomes, I want to say to you on behalf of the Superior [Court] of the State of California and on behalf of the City of San Rafael that I am so sorry for what happened to you on November 19th, 2007. I am so sorry for the suffering that arose out of that incident. And I really acknowledge you for the courage that you had to fight what you regarded to be an injustice for as long as you could.

And I know that you were ready to fight it beyond today and even more, so I acknowledge you for your courage and your big heart in laying down the swords and being willing to accept a settlement. I really appreciate your courage and I appreciate your willingness to forgive and let this go.

And I really extend my most heartfelt sympathy for the wrongs that you suffered here.

Ms. Gomes expressly wants this on the record of this meeting.

Nomination committee. We are going to confirm the same venue for the 2011 annual meeting.

Media committee: see student-rights DVD production, above. We should be able to broadcast it on Channel 26 (public access).

Outreach committee: ACLU-NC student organizers from Berkeley are gathering memberships in various places in Marin. We would like to know how successful they’ve been.

Meeting adjourned 8/16/2010 7:59 PM.

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