Oppression in Primary Colors

In Federal District Court today in Albuquerque three defendants took
the collateral forfeiture offer and have six months to pay off their
fines.

The other three defendants plead not guilty to all charges and are
taking a constitutionally based case versus the legality of the
signature requirement of the regulations. These three are Robbie
Gordon, Karen Kelley and English Tony. They are represented by Judy
Rosenburg and John McCall. Their cases are the result of ticketing and
arrest at the Tres Piedras regional gathering held last month.

Their trial date is September 20th. Donations for support can be sent
c/o Robbie Gordon, P.O. Box 284, Arroyo Seco, 87514.

They would like to get copies of the applications and paperwork
concerning the Colorado and Pennsylvania regionals because there may
be some particulars that may show prejudice in comparison to their
situation. Also, anyone who has photos or videos of the ticketing or
arrests there please get in touch. They would like all the backup
materials they can get.

There are both 251.51-10k [the infamous rainbow reg] and interfering/
resisting arrest charges.

In the quest for Justice there is always the need for someone willing
to carry the torch.

Garrick
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Butterfly Bill
I heard Robbie tell this story to all of the people who came around to
his
house and called up on his cell phone, and if you know Robbie Gordon,
you
know that's a lot of people. I've heard it repeated enough that I
think I've
got most of his original words right, tho he did change them a bit
sometimes
himself. But I'm gonna tell it in the third person:

----------------

Robbie was reading "The Lord of the Rings" when he heard a helicopter
outside, so he went out to take a look. Robbie has the use of only one
leg,
so he had to do this on his hand-carved canes that he uses like
crutches. It
wasn't flying as low as it had been the last two times they came
around to
his house on the mesa and busted him for growing marijuana. [Little
more
happened from those two than that they hauled off all his plants and
he got
a fine.] It was flying at what he would estimate about 300 feet,
circling
his house several times. He saw in the distance 10 assorted kinds of
cop
cars parked at a road intersection about a quarter mile from his
house, and
he got some descriptions of them from friends who were nearer to them:
two
New Mexico state, two Taos County, two New Mexico Fish and Game
Commission,
and 4 Forest Service LEOs. There had been a downpour the previous
evening,
and for about two days after such an event the totally unimproved dirt
roads
that lead into his "subdivision" and to his house are deep rutted
quagmires
until they dry out again into rock-hard dirt. Only one state police
car
drove all the way to his house. Robbie was standing outside on his
canes as
they approached. They got out of their car, and there was a lady
officer and
a young man. The lady did most of the talking. The first thing she
said was,
"Are you having a nice day?" Robbie answered, "Well, I guess I was
until you
guys showed up", and he gestured toward the helicopter. It had
stopped
circling and was hovering in front of him so that he could see people
in the
helo looking down at him. She said, "Is your name Robert Gordon?" He
replied, "Yes it is. What do you want?" "We have reason to believe
that
you're growing marijuana plants." Robbie then reached into his shirt
pocket
and pulled out a card and handed it to her. He said, "I have this card
from
the New Mexico Department of Health that says I am authorized to smoke
pot
and possess up to eight medical marijuana plants." She looked it over
and
said, "I haven't seen one of these before." "Yes, it's a new law that
just
started on July 1st." She hesitated for a second and finally said,
"Yeah...
I've heard of it. Then she said more deliberately, "Might I ask how
somebody
gets one of these cards?" "Well, first you have to go to a doctor who
will
see if you have one of six medical conditions that can benefit from
the use
of medical marijuana. Then your doctor writes a letter to the health
department, and they will certify you." "What are these six
conditions?"
"They are glaucoma, AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, and
my
condition, which is damage to the spinal cord resulting in
intractable
spasticity." She handed the card to the other officer, and he looked
it over
and gave it back to her. Then she said, "Do you mind if we look
around?"
Robbie answered, "No, I do not give you permission to search my
property,
and this is my property." She looked at the other cop, and he looked
back,
and finally she gave the card back and said, "Thank you". Robbie
said,
"You're welcome", and they got back into their car and left, as did
the
helicopter and all of the other vehicles. They didn't go to any of the
other
residences in his neighborhood, even tho there are others there who
had been
busted for pot in the past. ---------------- He showed me the card
when he
told me about this the first time. It was about the size of a
driver's
license, a piece of inkjet printed paper laminated in plastic, that
said:
TEMPORARY MEDICAL MARIJUANA PASS, along with a number and his name,
the
words "good until 10/07", and a rainbow colored logo for the NMDoH in
the
bottom right corner. It had no portrait picture, and could very easily
be
manufactured by someone with MS Word and an inkjet printer. That may
be why
it was temporary; some less easily faked ones are to come in October.
I
missed Robbie at the gathering in Arkansas, which he didn't attend, so
I
drove to Taos last week to visit him at his adobe house on the mesa to
the
west, absolutely totally off of any grid, and a drive down deeply
rutted
roads from town. I wanted him to give me some peer review on what I've
got
done of the book I'm writing about my Rainbow experiences, and he
wanted me
to give him some advice on his legal case from being arrested at the
regional gathering they had started late in July of this year at the
site of
the 1995 national near Tres Piedras, NM. I printed out the comments
and
responses article of 1993 on the proposed new regulations, the 1988
court
case brief, and the 1999 one for him to read. His arraignment, as well
as
those of 10 other people who were also arrested at the gathering, was
on
Aug. 23rd, and I accompanied him there and to the meeting they had
with
their lawyers the previous afternoon. Robbie's charges were, as the
officer
wrote on his tickets: "Use or occupancy of National Forest land
without
special use authorization", and "Threatening, resisting, intimidating,
or
interfering with any Forest officer engaged in his duties'". Robbie
related
the events that led up to his being charged thus: In the evening of
Thursday, June 26 a line of FS LEO vehicles came up and stopped in
front of
a group of people and the cop in charge of this group got out of his
car and
said, "All right. The party's over." He then told everyone there that
they
had until tomorrow morning to leave the forest. Anyone still there the
next
morning would be subject to arrest. A lot of people did leave, but a
few
stayed behind, and Robbie was one of them. He had erected his tepee,
as he
usually does at any gathering. Robbie was inside his tepee when he
heard a
voice from outside saying, "Who's in charge here? How come this tepee
hasn't
been taken down?" Robbie crawled to the door and said, "This is my
tepee,
officer, and I'm not taking it down because I don't intend to leave."
Robbie
then took out one of some small cards that he said he had been
carrying
since July of 1972 for situations like this, that started out with "I
do not
consent to a search" and went on to quote the Fourth Amendment. He
handed it
to the officer, who gave it a brief look, and tried to hand it back
to
Robbie. Robbie didn't take the card and let it fall to the ground.
"You
know, I could arrest you for littering because of what you've just
done",
said the officer. But I won't do it if you co-operate with me. Robbie
said,
"I am not going to cooperate." The officer said, "Stand up", and
Robbie
replied that he couldn't without the aid of his canes. Another officer
said,
"He's lying. He can walk. I saw him last night." He was ordered to
stand up
again by the first, and Robbie didn't because he really couldn't. He
told me
that his legs had gone stiff in a bent position, a case of the
intractable
spasticity that his marijuana was medicating, happening at this
moment
because of the stress he was feeling. The other officer said, "Make
him
stand", and the two grabbed him under the armpits and tried to leave
him
standing, but when he began to collapse again they laid him face down
on the
two poles he has attached to one of his wheelchairs so they can be
picked up
like the poles of a rickshaw. There they handcuffed him with the arms
behind
his back and then attempted to search him, going thru his pockets and
unclipping the suspenders on his pants. Robbie said to them, "You can
turn
me over, but I'm not going to cooperate." Then, as he put it, "I
remembered
all the non-violence training I had had back in the sixties. I just
went
limp and didn't move." The cops again picked him up beneath the
shoulders
and dragged him to a police truck, about 30 feet, with his hands in
cuffs
and his feet sliding on the ground. When they got to the truck they
first
leaned him against the side, then they opened his door, and got his
rump up
onto the seat. Then they tried to bend his legs so they could turn his
body
the rest of the way into the truck. But his legs were stiff and
couldn't be
bent far enough. Then one officer pulled out a baton and said to him,
"I'm
going to administer pain compliance technique." Then he hit Robbie's
thigh
twice with the baton, sudden sharp blows. Then he did it to the other
thigh.
Then, as Robbie said to me about it, "All of a sudden the stiffness
was gone
and they succeeded in moving my legs far enough to get them into the
car."
He was not hit any more, and he and 10 other people were taken away
in
police vehicles. For reasons not made clear all of the arrestees were
transported down to the county jail in Bernalillo, the seat of
Sandoval
County, even tho the gathering was in Rio Arriba County to the north.
The
trip was about 120 miles, that included long periods of sitting in the
cars
while they were parked and the officers were discussing on the radio
and
waiting for replies or for other officers to show up. They finally got
to
Bernalillo at 10:34 pm (Robbie checked the clock), but Robbie was
taken to a
hospital (probably BCMC in Albuquerque) to "be examined". Robbie was
now
alone with two Forest Service officers, and he told me that "I was
tired,
they were tired", and they all started relaxing and engaging in
conversation
with each other. One thing that Robbie especially remembered was one
of them
saying, "When you call 'Shanti Sena', and then lots of people stated
running
toward us and then surrounding us, we feel threatened." They got to
the
hospital, wheeled him in, and a doctor examined the scars on his back,
and
gave him some reflex tests with a rubber hammer. They got him back to
the
jingleslam at about 2 in the morning. They spent the night in the
drunk
tank, a large communal cell that they shared with 5 genuine drunks.
They
were taken before a judge at about 9 in the morning, and he gave them
a
court date and released them all on their own recognizance, except
Kalif,
who had some legal problems beyond Rainbow. When I got to Robbie's
place
late in the afternoon of Sunday a week ago, there was a sister and
two
brothers who had been arrested and who had been staying since the
eviction
at Robbie's place. A third brother who lived nearby stayed at Robbie's
house
Tuesday night. (Kalif had also been staying with him too, but he and
Robbie
had some disagreements and Kalif had left.) They all left in an old
Cadillac
sedan that the sister owned at about noon on Wednesday to try to make
it to
a meeting with their lawyers in conference room at the Public
Defender's
office in Albuquerque. The lawyers, a man and a woman, were acting pro
bono
and were not court appointed, but the woman used to be a PD and was
still
able to get the use of the room. The meeting was supposed to be at
4:00 pm,
but the Taoseños didn't make it until about 4:35. Another Rainbow
brother
showed up before 4, as did I (who drove down by myself). The lawyers
told
them about an offer from the prosecutor that they plead guilty to
illegal
camping and all charges of resisting arrest would be dropped, they
would be
put on "unsupervised probation", and would have to pay $200 in "court
fees",
a $1000 fine, and a condition of their probation would be that they
stay out
of any National Forest for 365 days. They knew in advance that nobody
would
agree to this. Robbie and the sister had decided to plead not guilty
and
demand a jury trial, but the lawyers told us that only offenses for
which
the possible jail time was more than six months were eligible for a
jury
trial. The occupancy and the resisting arrest charges were both
misdemeanors
of six months maximum, so the case was going to have to be decided by
a
judge. Some of the other Rainbows still wanted to know if they could
still
just give up a "forfeiture of collateral", which meant simply paying
the
fine amount on the ticket (typically $400), and there was confusion
over why
they still would still have to go to trial if they did this. Two of
the
brothers lived in California, and others were also from out of state,
and
didn't have the resources to return to Albuquerque for the trial The
lawyers
discussed possible defenses, and they knew about "reasonable time,
place,
and manner restrictions that are content neutral and narrowly tailored
to
specific governmental needs", and didn't waste much time on another
First
Amendment defense, the kind that has already lost in court several
times.
There was considerable doubt over whether there were truly 75 or more
people
there, which they thought they might could exploit. There were some
stories
of blatant brutality that they thought they could present during the
discussions of the interference with an officer charges. They had
asked for
a $10,000 bond form us, which had never been done before to us or to
anybody
else. Finally we were told to "dress appropriately, that means at
least no
shorts". Robbie called around in the few days before this event trying
to
find someone in Albuquerque who would offer a place to crash, but he
was not
successful. One of the people he called recommended a motel on Central
near
the university, so Robbie rented a room for two people and tried to
see if
he could sneak the three others in too. (I rented a room by myself.)
But
they were found out by the manager, and three people had to leave.
But
Robbie managed to make another phone call to someone who lived in
Albuquerque who this time offered to take them in, so the three
brothers
left and the sister stayed with Robbie. It was 50 dollars a night plus
room
taxes, and not worth the price in my opinion. (For 50 bucks I expect
at
least a microwave, fridge, clock radio, and shampoo along with the
soap,
none of which this motel provided.) Thursday morning all of us arrived
on
time at 9:00 am at the federal courthouse on Gold Street twixt 4th and
5th.
We had to go thru a security check with the x-rayed bags like at an
airport.
Then we were admitted to a room with wood paneling on all the walls,
and
matching furniture. There had been two more Rainbow brothers who had
showed
up that morning for the arraignment. One was wearing sandals, and the
other
had on jeans cut off at the knees. A man in a suit who had a badge on
his
coat breast pocket that said "Court Security" did not let them into
the
courtroom. I had on a red rayon dress with the hem at mid calf length,
knee
high trouser socks, dress loafers, and a black suit coat, and nobody
said
anything to me about it. There was also a woman in a pants suit who
had on
some open toed dress shoes, with a short high heel, who walked in and
out of
the courtroom. Four Forest Service LEOs showed up in their green
cargo
pants, khaki shirts, and gun belts before we all went in, and some of
them
were chatty with some of the Rainbows. The two who had taken Robbie to
the
hospital greeted him with "how's it going", and Robbie responded
cordially
and made some small talk. The was a desk at the front for the judge, a
table
in front of it behind a partition that separated it from the rest of
the
room with two computer monitors on it, two tables in the middle of the
room
each with six chairs around them, and three rows of benches that
looked like
church pews in the rear of the room for the spectators. There was
another
case besides ours being taken care of during the same hour, and there
was a
man in an Air Force dress uniform with captain's bars at the table,
and an
airman 1/C in camo utilities sitting in the pews along with a lot of
what
looked like family members, mostly women, in civvies. After "all
rise", the
judge entered, and he started with our case. He asked each of the
defendents
to state their name, address, and phone number or any othere means of
contact. He asked, "Do you understand the charges against you? Are you
on
any kind of medications? Could any of these medications impair your
ability
to testify in this court?" Then he asked for a plea of guilty or not
guilty.
Some of the people asked his honor about forfeiting collateral, and he
said
that it might depend on the individual circumstances. Finally he said
that
he would enter a nominal plea of not guilty for everyone, and anyone
who
wanted to forfeit any collateral could come to the office
individually
before the trial date. He set a time and date for the trial of 9:00 am
on
September 20, "in this room". At one point the judge looked at one of
the
Rainbow brothers and said, "I notice you're smiling. Is there a reason
for
this? Do you find this amusing?" The brother said, "No, I'm just
smiling
because this is a beautiful day", and then he quoted the Bible, "This
is the
day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." The judge
then
said, "I can send you to a place where you can commune with your Maker
in
private." The brother knew by then to shut up. We were all out of
there
before the Air Force case was taken up. I hugged Robbie and said a
bunch of
goodbyes to the rest. So on 20 Sept. at 0900 at the federal court
house at
421 Gold Ave. in Albuquerque at least two Rainbow brothers and one
sister
will get their day in court before a judge who doesn't like for you to
wear
short pants or smile. As much as I hate driving (690 miles one way
from
Muskogee), I am extremely tempted to attend myself. Robbie said he
would
love to have me. -Butterfly Bill
More options Aug 26, 6:58 pm

-=-=-=-=-
with Valerie Corral
http://www.mavericksofthemind.com/val-int.htm
Few people in California have done more to help financially-needy
patients obtain medical marijuana than Valerie Corral. It is largely
Ms. Corral's community-oriented vision which allows for many indigent
patients in Northern California to obtain free marijuana, and for
others to legally grow their own without fear of governmental
persecution.

Understanding that a lack of financial resources prevented many needy
and deserving patients from receiving high-priced medical marijuana,
Ms. Corral was instrumental in drafting the provision in California's
Proposition 215 which allows patients and their care-givers to
cultivate their own medicine. With her husband Michael, and their
partner Alice Smith, Valerie also began and currently runs the only
legally-recognized, non-profit 501(c)3 medical marijuana club in
America-- the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana, or WAMM.

One of the things that makes WAMM different from other medical
marijuana organizations is that it is entirely patient and care-giver
run. They provide free marijuana to over 120 patients. They also
provide patients with hybrid female plants, along with growing
certificates-- which are recognized by the local sheriffs and police--
and instructions for the plants' care. This creates an interdependent
environment for the patients, which in many cases allows them to
cultivate their own plants, or to do so for other members, under
WAMM's politically protective umbrella.
................................

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