BOLT ACTION MESSAGES
Tired of being told what to wear in WNC? So are we; come join fellow bikers opposed to the NC Helmet law this Saturday on Ground Hog Day near Asheville. See item one below for more details and directions! ~FF
From Jan:
"A shout to Lynn from Sanford - Yes, you with the straw cowboy helmet with feathers who believes the state does not have the right to attach an appliance to your body. You have been nominated and seconded to join the freedom fighters of BOLT of the Carolinas. Please contact Jan at jan@boltcarolinas.org";
Lynn at the 2007 SOB Helmet Protest and Ride... note his very cool helmet at the link below:
http://www.fastfreds.com/trips/helmetlawprotest/pages/DSC09831_JPG.htm
1) WNC Bikers Opposed to the Helmet Law to Meet in Asheville
2) ‘Highway blogging’ legality debated
3) Drug Law Reform to disband
4) Gang study recommendations already in use in Lowcountry
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1) WNC Bikers Opposed to the Helmet Law to Meet
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WNC Bikers Opposed to the Helmet Law to Meet Meet in Asheville
Carolina BOLT members and other concerned bikers opposed to the NC helmet law will gather at the French Broad Brewery Saturday, February 2, 2008. The French Broad Brewery is located at 101 Fairview Rd # D, Asheville, NC. Non-alcoholic drinks are available.
You are cordially invited to join us to discuss the current helmet law and strategies to defeat it in the courts and legislature. FastFred and Roger have fought NC helmet tickets successfully and will be present to share information.
Visit this URL for directions http://tinyurl.com/2eu4m3
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2) ‘Highway blogging’ legality debated
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http://citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880127028
‘Highway blogging’ legality debated
By Joel Burgess
JBURGESS@CITIZEN-TIMES.com
January 28, 2008 12:15 am
ASHEVILLE — An increasingly popular type of political demonstration in Asheville has raised new questions about where the right to free speech ends and police power to protect motorists’ safety begins.
In growing numbers, demonstrators are using bridges over interstates and aiming messages at high volumes of traffic below.
This new type of soapbox, sometimes called “highway blogging,” has prompted varied police reaction — directing demonstrators to move, arresting them or leaving them alone.
Backers of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, the largest group of demonstrators, say they are protected by the First Amendment.
“Public right of ways are an extension of the town square,” said local Paul organizer Bernard Carman. “If you can’t stand in the public right of way with a sign, then where can you stand?”
It depends on whether you are affecting traffic, city officials say. City attorneys are analyzing a state law they believe would make the demonstrations illegal over all North Carolina interstates, no matter the circumstances.
Police response to demonstrators
Bridges around Asheville have been used for demonstrations since at least 1996, said H.K. Edgerton, a former Asheville NAACP president and self-described “Southern heritage” supporter.
Edgerton said he has stood on bridges with a confederate flag in a Confederate soldier’s uniform for 12 years. He has used practically every bridge in and around Asheville, he said, though his favorite is Brevard Road over Interstates 240 and 26 in West Asheville.
“That’s my office,” he said.
Edgerton said he has always been treated “very decently” by police and never told to move. Police could not confirm that Edgerton has never been sent off a bridge.
Last year, demonstrator Jonas Phillips got a different reaction.
Phillips was on Haywood Road over Interstates 240 and 26 in West Asheville propping up an “Impeach Bush, Cheney” sign when he was arrested Aug. 15.
Police said he was violating a city code against blocking public sidewalks. His attorney, Bill Auman, said Phillips was doing “nothing illegal,” only exercising a fundamental right of expression.
Paul supporters said they were left alone when they stuck to one bridge, Flint Street over I-240 downtown. Police would come by and sometimes get out and talk to them but would not ask them to leave, they said.
But when they expanded their weekly demonstrations in November to Brevard Road, Haywood Road and other bridges, officers told them to leave, sometimes citing city code or state law, said Paul supporter Tim Peck.
“We feel that we are just being harassed by certain officers when they really don’t understand the law themselves,” Peck said.
Hogan: ‘Issue of safety,’ not ‘rights’
Police Chief Bill Hogan said officers make different decisions based on whether demonstrators are causing traffic back-ups or blocking pedestrians. Either action is a violation of City Code 16-2, he said.
“This is an issue of safety. It has nothing to do with impeding somebody’s constitutional rights,” Hogan said. “We are trying to make sure the … public is traveling in as safe a means as possible.”
If demonstrators aren’t impeding foot or vehicle traffic or endangering anyone, then they are supposed to be left alone, he said. That can lead to subjectivity, with officers making decisions on the spot about how demonstrators are affecting traffic.
That gray area could become clearer, a city attorney said.
A state administrative code regulating advertising may make the demonstrations illegal whether they are slowing traffic or not, said Curt Euler, assistant city attorney.
State rules already forbid people from hanging signs or affixing signs to the bridge. But the administrative code, which says a sign is anything “intended, or used to advertise or inform,” would make the demonstrations illegal at any time over any interstate within North Carolina.
Euler said he is trying to get a verbal opinion from somebody in the N.C. attorney general’s office before asking police to enforce the rule.
First Amendment expert disagrees
A constitutional law expert gave a mixed review on the city’s interpretations.
Asheville is likely within its authority in enforcing the city code based on traffic safety, said Ronald Collins, a scholar with the nonprofit First Amendment Center in Washington. But using the state administrative code that regulates advertising to cut back on political speech is overstepping.
“If it says advertising, I’m sorry, political speech is not advertising. You can call a horse a donkey, but it’s not,” Collins said.
Meanwhile, demonstrators say they may expand farther to the south over I-26 in Fletcher and Henderson County.
Police there say they believe “highway blogging” is legal, though demonstrators will have to obtain a permit, said Matthew Reid, acting Fletcher police sergeant.
“There are certain statutes that would come into play if they are out in the roadway and people are having to swerve, but otherwise, there’s no problem,” Reid said.
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3) Drug Law Reform to disband
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http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/jan/29/drug_law_reform_disband28956/
Drug Law Reform to disband
By Schuyler Kropf
The Post and Courier
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
A pro-legalization-of-drugs lobbying group that gained notoriety after Charleston County Council allocated it $500 several years ago has been snuffed out.
South Carolinians for Drug Law Reform is disbanding, its president said Monday.
The group made what it considers some gains in recent times, he said, but in the end there simply wasn't enough money or interest to tackle the issue effectively in this state.
"I'm sad about that because we are the only organization in South Carolina that is devoted exclusively to reforming our cruel, racist, counterproductive drug laws," SCDLR President Skip Johnson of Charleston said in an e-mail to supporters.
Reached by phone, Johnson said his reform efforts will continue, though they don't come under the mantle of SCDLR.
"We know the cause is right, we know something is going to happen some day," he said. "We've lost the battle but certainly not the war."
Founded in 2003, the group contends the war on drugs has been a failure. It advocates legalization of drugs in a method similar to that of alcohol and tobacco, for sale to adults.
No membership list was assembled, Johnson said, in part out of fear of the negative response group members might have faced from employers or family members.
Little was known of the group's existence until May 2006, when Charleston County Councilman Henry Darby wanted $500 in taxpayer money to go to their efforts.
At the time, council had a practice of giving contributions to outside agencies. When council went to single-member districts, individual members could make selections of preferred outside agencies to help, though the full council made the final vote. The practice has been eliminated for the budget year beginning in July. SCDLR eventually gave the money back.
Darby defended the contribution, saying he supported allowing terminally ill patients to use marijuana medically. He also said at the time that the state's prison sentences were stiffer for crack cocaine users, who tend to be economically disadvantaged, than they were for heroin or cocaine users, who are more likely to be from the upper or middle class.
Reached Monday, Darby said he regretted the group wouldn't be around anymore to advocate the use of medical marijuana in South Carolina.
Johnson said the group did make some in-roads during its brief history. Members testified before state Senate subcommittees, he said, and helped to halt an effort that would have denied lottery scholarships to anyone who had a drug arrest on their record.
"We've changed the minds of at least a few people, and we've raised questions in the minds of others," Johnson said.
Reach Schuyler Kropf at skropf @postandcourier.com or 937-5551.
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4) Gang study recommendations already in use in Lowcountry
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http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/jan/31/gang_study_recommendations_already_use_l29205/
Gang study recommendations already in use in Lowcountry
By Andy Paras , Yvonne Wenger
The Post and Courier
Thursday, January 31, 2008
COLUMBIA — Findings released Wednesday by a gang prevention committee will help agencies across the state launch a coordinated attack against gang activity, but many of the suggestions already are being put to use in the Lowcountry, local officials said.
The state Gang Prevention Study Committee, created by the Legislature last year, made five recommendations on how the state can curb gang violence: use the grand jury to prosecute gang-related crimes; provide specialized education for law enforcement; mandate a reporting system to track activity; educate the community; and develop a comprehensive plan.
North Charleston Police Chief Jon Zumalt said the more information collected at a statewide level the better.
Curbing violence
The Gang Prevention Study Committee made five recommendations to the state Wednesday. The state should:
-- Use the grand jury to prosecute gang-related crimes and gather information on gang structure and organization.
-- Provide specialized education and training for law enforcement personnel to effectively combat gang activities.
-- Have a mandatory, inclusive reporting system to track gang activity through the State Law Enforcement Division.
-- Educate schools, parents, concerned citizens and youth about the dangers of criminal gangs.
-- Develop a comprehensive plan to combat gang activity, including integration of new ideas into existing gang-diversion programs.
The committee also found that the state should extend the life of the committee for up to two more years and that the state should consider creating a permanent gang awareness commission to monitor the state's efforts.
"It's been an issue for us for some time," Zumalt said. "All five of these things we've been doing and we support."
State Attorney General Henry McMaster said the primary finding of the Gang Prevention Study Committee is simple.
"We do have a gang problem in South Carolina and a lot of people don't believe that," McMaster said. "But it's trueand they are going to stay unless we do something about it."
The study committee is one measure included in legislation that came out of the Senate Criminal Justice System Task Force last year. The committee was formed in the summer of 2006 and continues to examine ways to curb violence.
The legislation also gave the state grand jury authority to investigate gang crimes. The grand jury has investigated three cases since the legislation was signed by the governor in June, McMaster said.
Charleston Police Sgt. Debbie Fritts, who is head of the department's crime intelligence and crime analysis units, said the department has not yet had a case that matches the criteria spelled out in the law. The law states that a known gang composed of at least five members must be connected to four gang-motivated incidents, three of which have to occur since the law was passed in June.
She said officers are being trained to look at cases in a new way.
"They need to understand what gangs are and how to get the information back to us," she said.
One of the first hurdles the state must address is the lack of data on gang activity. The committee wants the state to pass a mandatory reporting system through the State Law Enforcement Division. McMaster said he thinks the starting point would be to have law enforcement agencies add another check box on police reports to indicate whether a crime was gang-related.
Fritz said the department added the check box two weeks ago and also revamped field contact cards that will help officers identify possible gang members they come in contact with.
In addition to giving law enforcement the tools they needed, the key to addressing gang activity is bringing interested parties together, McMaster said.
He said the committee — made up of legislators, church leaders and the state's social service agencies — will continue its work. He also encouraged the public to get involved.
"There's all sorts of things that the average citizen can do and we're calling on those citizens now," McMaster said.
While it's hard to measure the specifics of the problem, Bill Byars, director of the state Department of Juvenile Justice, said he has seen the growing problem through the detained juveniles and their stories.
"It is time that we took action," Byars said. "These are South Carolina's children who are in danger. These are South Carolinians who are being hurt by the gang activity."
Byars encouraged the public to turn to their local sheriff or Juvenile Justice office to help in dealing with gangs.
A.V. Strong, executive director of A Better Way "Project Gang Out," a nonprofit, faith-based group in Columbia, said that last year, 1,000 youths participated in the group's programs and 95 percent were involved in gangs.
"This is not a time for panic," Strong said. "This is a time for process. We just don't want to believe we can't get this problem under control."
Josh Lorick, director of the youth mentor program in the Attorney General's Office, said he gets calls from families and teens looking for help. One conversation with a young man sticks out in his mind, and, although there is no easy answer, it is a call for action.
"Our concern is being able to get ahead of the curve," Lorick said. "As one young man asked me, 'If I get out of the gang, can you protect me?' Of course, I didn't have an immediate answer for him."
The Rev. Eddie Guess of Good News Global Ministry in Columbia said law enforcement and faith-based communities have different responsibilities and that what the public and churchgoers can do is to let young men and women know they are loved and that someone cares about them.
"There are absent fathers. There are teenagers with babies and they don't have the slightest clue as to how to parent them," Guess said. "I believe the faith-based community has a responsibility."
Among the committee's finding is that the average age of a gang member is 15.8 years old and two of the main reasons they join is poverty and a lack of adult supervision, McMaster said.
Reach Andy Paras at 745-5891 or aparas@postandcourier.com. Reach Yvonne M. Wenger at 803-799-9051 or ywenger@post andcourier.com.
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