The Civic Center One goes on Trial on Thursday
God knows we're on opposite ends of the political spectrum on the issue of Medical Marijuana. But I do support Bob on this issue. Bob Newland, aka "the Civic Center One" goes on trial for gathering petition signatures in the doorway of the Rapid City Civic Center. From my e-mail:
So, I hope you can support him on his right of petition. Because the next ballot measure that's limited might be yours.
I go on trial for a Class 1 misdemeanor (max 1 year in jail and $1000 fine) Thursday morning at the Pennington County Court House (Rapid City SD). The charge is “failure to leave a premises after proper order given”. The crime? Asking a question while carrying a clipboard inside the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center.Like I said, I'm dead set against his issue, and Bob rails on me about it. But the key here is that you can't just endorse liberty and the process for the things and people you like. If you limit liberty for one, you're limiting it for everyone. And I don't like my liberty limited.
Public places – those built with money extracted in the form of taxes – should be open to political discussion. They should not be reserved as free-speech-banned zones for the convenience of well-to-do promoters who use these publicly-funded venues to line their pockets.
I think it’s great if people want to hold events, and that they risk capital to do so. But if they are doing so in a venue that would not exist but for the “contributions” made by everyone who buys a pack of gum in the city, then they also should understand that the rest of us have a right to petition for redress of grievances on those premises. Problem is, a Rapid City ordinance does not recognize that principle.
People carry on political discussions, cut deals, buy and sell things, write checks, and read books in the halls of the Civic Center during the stock show. I was asking people if they would like to help us put an issue on the ballot. If they said no, I left them alone.
I could have done that with no repercussions, if I had asked them to inconvenience themselves and walk outside to sign the petition. So the real crime being prosecuted is asking a question while carrying a clipboard.
Anyway, you’re invited to come to the trial. It starts at 8:30 am.
Bob Newland
605-255-4032
So, I hope you can support him on his right of petition. Because the next ballot measure that's limited might be yours.
Comments
Remember this story from two weeks ago?
"Jim Shaw, 59, says the trouble started last Friday night after complaining that a vehicle was barreling through a crowd of pedestrians inside the fair's gates. The mayor claims he approached the driver and was confronted by the Iowa State Fair Patrol.
"The next thing I know, he throws me to the ground, handcuffs me like I'm some escaped murderer, and I was carried to the substation," Shaw says.
PP, you tend to pander to those on the other side of the aisle. C'mon, man! Wake up! Get the real dope on the story.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - Voltaire, 18th-century French writer
I'd reply to some of the other comments, but I find it quite difficult to bring myself to directly address folks who post anonymously, whether or not they support the constitution of the United States.
And that is a high compliment...and not in the high sense Bob might think appropriate for those suffering from cancer or other painful ailment.
We all should appreciate those who put their lives and fortune on the line for freedom...even those who are suckered into it in Iraq by a Liar in Chief or guys like Bob Newland. When are we going to get him into the SD Hall of Fame?
And "No" to the anonymous A-Holes, I have never used a mind-altering drug with the possible exception of coffee.
Sorry (not really), PP, couldn't resist.
Interestingly enough, patients using cannabis as a therapeutic for wasting syndrome, nausea and loss of appetite from chemotherapy, spastic paralysis syndrome (muscle spasms in paralyzed limbs of the spinally injured), and migraine headaches almost universally say they do not notice a pyschoactive effect from smoking or eating cannabis.
They say it makes them feel better, but most act like they really don't know what you mean if you ask them, "But do you get high from it?"
Trying to explain cannabis's effect on those of us for whom it has a psychoactive effect (maybe just lucky enough that our pains and illnesses don't speak louder than our pitiful attempts at artificially-induced pleasure), trying to explain that to someone whose only frame of reference is alcohol or, say, a prescribed opiate, leaves us with inadequate analogies.
We can say, "It's kinda like right after two beers on an empty stomach," and it is,...kinda. Or we can say, "It's kinda like when the percocet first starts to kick in," and it is, ...kinda.
The trouble is, it's also not like those effects, too, partially because it leaves you in much better control of yourself than either two beers or a percocet -- better reaction time, better motor skills, and safer drivers (want a study showing that? I have four of them, done by gummint agencies).
"But," you protest, "but if it doesn't make you talk loud and swing (you wish) a big dick, if it doesn't make you stumble, if it doesn't make you drive too fast for conditions, why would you smoke it?"
Good question. Let's find out. Free the weed.
Some of us are not in a position to include our names on blogs because it could affect our jobs or the jobs of family members. We still have concerns, and blogs allow us to speak out.
This is why so many people are so hesitant to listen to Bob on medical marijuana.
A publicly-funded building wouldn't exist for the convenience of event promoters but for the largesse of the taxpayers. The benefits of the building should not be limited to those who are simply paying extra rent in return for having a roof over the event.
The rest of us are still paying rent on the structure, too.
Was the Rapid City Center closed to the public? Would your private smimming party be closed to the public.
Was Newland blocking access to something cowboy or whatever was the center rented?
The petition process for anything becomes meaningless if petition seekers can be blocked for little of any reason from any public event where large number or readily accessible possible petition signers are available.
Given a choice of saying no or yes to a petition signer on the street or in a shopping center or wherever, I would opt for that instead of having somebody banging on the door or barraging me with calls.
Oh, and good luck to Bob in court. His case is not just important to him, but to all of us who think constitutional guarantees of right to petition, freedom of speech, and freedom of press, and freedom of association should not be restricted mindlessly for all the right or wrong reasons.
The gideons cant even step on School (public) property to give Bibles away for free, they have to stand out on the sidewalk, and I am talking, after school is over for the day and the kids are leaving the building. Do you sympathize with the Gideons ? You are kinda like the Gideon of weed (which I am voting for by the way) Hope your first day in court went well Bob.
"The public" does not assist you in paying the rent on your house. "The public" (that's me) does pay the rent on the Civic Center during the time it is not being used to provide tons of money for vendors and propmoters.