_PCU_//\_Free Assembly Project__/
St.Louis MO • www.Free-Assembly.org
_//\__________________________an Association of Volunteers__/
27 July 2018 ~ PUBLIC INFORMATION ~
The July 3 Injunction
~ `Rainbow Roadblocks`, Deja Vu…
Dancing with Georgia Judges
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The Rainbow Gatherings have endured all kinds of harassment and dirty tricks over the years, but this year the gathering went to Georgia. Now the USFS Southern Region and the ‘Incident Command’ goons were ratcheting up the hostilities, resuming the same kinds of targeted roadblocks that we fought and beat in court 20 years ago… deja vu all over again.
Back then we had two live lawsuits against police actions on gatherings in Missouri and Florida. In both cases the District Court ruled that such roadblock and gauntlet tactics to entrap travelers to an expressive assembly violated their First Amendment rights, and declared this kind of systematic targeted enforcement to be unconstitutional:
• Park v. Forest Service, 205 F.3d 1034 (8th Cir. 2000)
• Addison v. Forest Service, 108 F. Supp.2d 1365 (M.D.Fla. 2000)
See the `Addendum` below for backgound info and links to the principal rulings in these cases, as well as the “National Checkpoint Policy” enacted in September 1998: This was quietly written into the FS Law Enforcement Handbook, creating new authorities to deploy these tactics unilaterally, without need of local police agencies that had such authorities, as before.
So, confronted with 2 civil rights lawsuits challenging such conduct, the Feds expanded roadblock powers rather than curtailing them. And as those cases were resolved, the injunctions lapsed and the LEO’s were let off the hook. Since then roadblocks have recurred briefly in notable instances, but they have leaned more on other road tactics to the same effect, eluding renewed challenges.
A few days after Chattahoochee N.F. was chosen for the 2018 Rainbow Gathering, first word of the roadblocks came by phone, in a first-hand account on Sunday night, June 17. Ensuing reports told the same story – full-tilt multiagency roadblocks on the only road to the site, a mile from the gate… pretextual stops, fabricated probable cause, invasive Illegal searches and contrived charges.
The lucky victims got federal citations with mandatory appearance during the gathering, in a federal court 45 miles away; the unlucky ones were arrested on minor violations and thrown in the Lumpkin County jail, and got stuck there because they could not make bail.
By the scale of these operations, with full collusion of State police and County sheriffs, and by their intensity and clear vindictive intent, Incident Command was reasserting roadblock powers blatantly and arrogantly, as if to dare anyone to stop them – so we resolved to do so.
PCU•Free Assembly Project went to work getting referrals, informing Georgia attorneys on these issues, and seeking representation to get a new civil rights lawsuit underway. In the last days of June we found an able and ready man, Ralph Goldberg, who could get a case into court before July 4.
Through that weekend I sent him research and pleadings from the prior successful cases, and coordinated with victims on-site. He also had to be paid up-front, so in a few days we managed to raise funds for a modest retainer, and got it there by Monday morning July 2.
That afternoon as promised, worthy plaintiffs showed up at Goldberg’s office… they prepared affidavits while I sent more key documents to his assistant, who was composing the Complaint.
That evening he got the package filed electronically with a Motion for Temporary Restraining Order (TRO), and I finally hit the road to Georgia, driving through the night.
By morning of July 3, I reached the Georgia mountains and called Ralph… he expected the judge to set an afternoon hearing at the federal court in Gainesville, so I headed that way. But a couple hours later he called back… the plan changed: The Feds had agreed to a stipulated Order, without a hearing, without a fight — so the lawyers would hammer it out with the judge by phone, and he would send me the filings and final Order when it came out.
I drove to Dahlonega instead, and picked up the email at the public library…
that day we got a little Injunction, by Order of the U.S. District Court for Northern Georgia:
Hadaway, Beck & Buxbaum v. Tooke … Case No. 2:18-cv-107-RWS
(see the filings & details on ^this page)
The good outcome was imperfect: The “Preliminary Injunction Order” was a misnomer, because it worked more like a TRO — there was no hearing, its sanctions expired after 7/7, the Government made no admissions, and the Court made no findings on the merits. The former USFS Chief was inaccurately named as the Defendant, rather than the agency as a whole, and the County & State police were excluded. And while the Order acknowledged the unlawful conduct of LEO’s, they were held mainly to the standards of the “Forest Service Law Enforcement Handbook/ FSH 5309.11” — which has no constraints on discriminatory deployment of checkpoints, or targeted speech.
Still, it was a timely Win in a tough venue…
not enough clout, but it made a loud noise and surely sent a message:
Rainbow kindness is not weakness, the hippies are not helpless —
they can stand up for higher law, and can get to court pretty fast.
The People need a Permanent Injunction…
maybe Georgia is a good place to get it.
Let’s see where this case goes.
Respects…..
__scott c. addison______
Coordinator – St. Louis, MO
`Addendum` —
‘RAINBOW ROADBLOCK’ CASES, FS ‘CHECKPOINT’ POLICY:::
Park v. Forest Service, 205 F.3d 1034 (8th Cir. 2000)
MOrdblk_Judgment-11jn99.pdf
MOrb_Clar’nORDER-16au99.pdf
8thCir_Park Ruling-mr00.pdf
Intensive interagency roadblocks were imposed on the ’96 Rainbow Gathering in MIssouri. An individual plaintiff sued and the Distict Ct. granted a strong injunction in June ’99; the Govt asked for “clarification” and the Court amplified its intent. On appeal the Govt challenged the individual’s standing for injunctive relief: The 8th Circuit bungled the facts and took down the injunction, but upheld the District in finding such actions unconsitutional.
Addison v. Forest Service, 108 F. Supp.2d 1365 (M.D.Fla. 2000)
FLrdblk_PrelimInjn-20fe98.pdf
StipInj-Shrfs vf 8oc99.pdf
FLrdblk_SumJgmt Ordr-00720.pdf
FS-LEI kept up roadblocks despite a “moratorium” promised in ‘Park’ … we sued again in Florida and won a Preliminary Injunction while they were still going on. The Lake/Marion Co. Sheriffs pulled out and agreed to a stipulated permanent injunction. Due to subterfuge on the backside, co-plaintiffs were suddenly pulled out and the legal fund I raised was highjacked. The default ruling in summary judgment dismissed the case as moot, without prejudice — and also upheld the Court’s findings on such police conduct, as declaratory law.
USFS Law Enforcement Handbook: WO Amendment 5309.11-98-2 (9/30/98)
FSLE-Hndbk_CkptAmdts-30se98.pdf
In the face of 2 lawsuits against these activities, FS-LEI secretly enacted new “checkpoint” authorities by amending the LE Handbook, without public notice or congressional approval. Previously they had no unilateral authority and relied on local LE agencies for this power. This is the standing policy, with no real restraints or conditions upon police conduct.
founded__/ “People for Compassion and Understanding” \__ 1993