Monday, June 29, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Saturday, June 20, 2009
LEO Harrassment
office, with Sentators Bingaman and Udall, with US Representative Ben
Lujan and with, of course the admin people in Forest Service.
Everyone is "Looking into it." Everyone says they are "concerned." Etc.
It comes as little surprise to me, and to most at the site. but, also
as usual, it's a shocker to the Admin people who thought all along
that whatever direction they gave would be listened to.
Jeff is, as might be expected, just furious over the FS Leo
harrassment, especially after all the promises the FS admin made
about controlling their Leo's this year.
The FS admin people who we have been working with since last fall --
and who have been tremendously pleased by how we've worked with their
resource folks so far, and worked co-operatively on site selection --
they say they have issued new and more clear instructions to Leo's.
And they say that Regional Forester Corbin Newman is also very upset
that his direct instructions about leo behavior have not been
followed. They say he spent a lot of yesterday with the admin in D.C.
to get his backup together to challenge the leo power here and to get
his authority listened to. We'll see who's holding the reins soon.
LEO Stuff
- FS 70J. This was an area okayed for parking and camping by FS
Resource people. The officers ordered everyone to pack up and leave
their campsites because supposedly there was a rare Goshawk nesting
along there. The truth is that the Goshawk nest that the resource
people found was in a potential (as yet unused) parking area about
two miles away. This was a ruse by the officers to intimidate a group
of people to take down their camps and move for no real reason. There
were a lot of witnesses. I listened to two of them describe the
bullying way in which the order to move was given.
Dogs
without consult w/ any rainbows saying that dogs had to be onleash.
This fellow gets ticketed for dog-off-leash that day. The next day,
after discussion, the leash paragraph gets changed then it gets
changed again and by now it's something I think everyone can live
with (dogs ok off leash if under voice control; but dogs onleash on
the roads [rio arriba county ord.]). But this poor guy will have to
appear in court in albq on monday. He was ticketed the only day there
was a dogs-on-leash clause -- put in by the Leo IC before any
discussion and they went into the site, found some fellow who had no
idea the op plan had been changed and they ticket him! How on earth....?
Friday, June 19, 2009
LEOs
Mobile post sent by nmgathering using Utterli.
Replies.
Document all interactions with the LEOs
1) While the event is in progress, write everything down that you can.
Let them see you taking notes. If you can't capture it all during the
event, do it as soon as possible afterwards, as memory of details fades
rapidly.
2) Remain non-emotional in your documentation, and don't editorialize.
Such comments as "They violated my rights!" may be true, but they are
completely unhelpful in documentation for legal purposes. The courts
don't really care about opinions, just facts.
3) Note the date and time
4) Note where the event happened, with road numbers and mileages if
possible. Note whatever traffic control signs you have seen (Stop signs,
slow signs, speed limit signs).
5) Note, in detail, what you see as you approach a "safety check" or
other LEO activity.
6) Note whether all cars are being stopped, every fourth car, random
cars, or whatever. (This matters!)
7) Note what the uniforms looked like--what color, what insignia
8) Note whatever identifiers there are--badges identifying agency,
number, name of officer
9) Note what you can about rank: it may say so on the badge, or the
color of the badge might hold some information down the line for
attorneys to determine whether it was a line officer or someone with
supervisory or management authority. There might also be indications on
the shoulders, arms, or other parts of the uniform. Not how many stars,
bars, or sripes on the chevrons there are. This may make no sense to
you, but it could matter down the line.
10) Write down *everything* that is said, on both sides, whether or not
it seemed important at the time. What seems unimportant to you may
actually make a difference in a suit for injunction.
11) Write down everything you see. Try to keep it in time sequence.
Remember the rules of journalism: Who, what, where, when, and how. Leave
out conjectures about why. They only muddy the waters.
12) Write down who else was there. How many LEOs, how many vehicles.
Note if they are in marked or unmarked cars. Note what the color of
their vehicle is. Note whatever emergency equipment is on the vehicle.
13) Note if it appeared that there was more than one agency involved.
You can't always tell from the cars, but you can usually deermine if the
uniforms/badges/patches are different.
13) As best as you can, note the attitude: loudness of voice; physical
demeanor. Were they helpful and friendly? Neutral? Cold and distant but
not threatening? Hostile and threatening?
14) If there is any abusive, discourteous, or demeaning language, write
it down word for word.
15) If there is any use of force, write down exactly what you saw. Once
again, as difficult as it may be, try to keep emotionality out of it.
16) If you ask for a badge number, do so courteously, calmly and in a
normal tone of voice. If they refuse, don't argue with them. Note down
exactly how they state their refusal, and let them see that you are
writing down what they say.
_*Above all, when you are in the position of documentarian, don't
argue, yell, or interfere with them in any way. Don't get so close that
they have an excuse to mess with you, but get as close as you can in
order to see, hear, and/or film. If they tell you to move back, move back.
If they insist that you move on, weigh your own safety needs against the
probability that non-compliance might yield some valuable information.
*__*Be respectful even if you don't feel they deserve it. *_
Cop scene
spoke to myself.
Individuals 1 and 2 described the movement of a group of ten to
twelve Forest Service Leo's thru the encampment in the dark. The
officers followed a footpath to several different campfires where
people were sitting and shone bright flashlights into all the peoples
faces and eyes. When asked why this was being done sometimes the
answer was "Shut up!" and once one of they officers said they were
looking for someone. When they were asked "Who?" an officer replied,
"It's none of your business." When someone came over to them to ask
what was going on that person had weapons (pepper guns) aimed at them
and was commanded to back off. People were terrified but everyone
just put up with it. These were the same type pepper guns used at Kid
Village last July 3rd.
Individual 3 described a group of about 10 FS Leo's moving thru the
drop off area where there were many vehicles and people, loading and
unloading gear. As they came by one large white bus which was parked
there, one of the officers said he smelled marijuana. He and other FS
Leo's went into the bus. No one was on the bus, the bus owners
weren't there. They searched the whole bus. They found no contraband.
They left the bus.
Individual 4 described watching two FS Leo vehicles speed (est 45mph)
down the crowded section of FS 70 near the drop off with their lights
twirling. They stopped along the road below a small camp. They got
out of their vehicles and moved quickly up the hill to the camp.
Family came to see what was happening. The officers were telling the
people there that their camp was 'dirty' and to clean it up right
away. The people there were frightened and began rolling and folding
some material (bedding? tarp? clothes?) and the officers left. No one
still knows what that was about, except that the exact same thing
happened at welcome home/front gate, in Wyoming 2008.
Individual 5 described being stopped at a checkpoint along FS 69
three times. Once in the middle of the afternoon, he was told he was
driving without his lights on. The next time he was told he was
speeding and the next time he was told he had run a stop sign --
where there wasn't one. He never received any tickets, nor written
warning. He said he was undetered and had just taken to driving the
road with his license, registration and insurance card in his lap.
Individual 6 described being stopped at the same checkpoint and
seeing several other vehicles also stopped there. One vehicle was
stopped for failing to use their turn signal. That car was being
searched. One car was stopped - they were told - because they had a
'dirty license plate.' The officers ran dogs around the cars and said
they had positive hits for drugs. They searched the vehicles. In one
of the four vehicles there they found a small amount of marijuana and
issued a ticket for that.
I witnessed two people stopped at the checkpoint whose vehicle had
been searched. It appeared that the couple was not being issued a ticket.
These are just a few of a much larger number incidences that have
already occurred. I heard about many more, but I report here only
those where I spoke with an eyewitness participant.
People are frightened that some fool will do something foolish and we
end up with terrible results. Most people onsite think these Leo's
are just anxious for that to happen so a calamity can be precipitated
to spoil the event.
The Sandoval County Sheriffs drive by, walkabout and so do the State
Patrol. But with them it's "Hey how are you doing?" "How's your
Gathering?" "Keeping dry?" A wave and a smile and they are talking
with people who are parking volunteers, radio volunteers, C.A.L.M
(medical) volunteers, etc. getting to know these people so that if
there is some real emergency or security issue we can work together.
The FS Leo's have made no working connections with the emergency
Rainbow crews.
Town Meeting Review
connecting talk between fire, health, emt, store owners, citizens and
rainbow participants. The fs resource did apowerpoint presentation
about the gathering in tp in '95 that was wonderfully positive. They
said what a good cleanup we did, how we worked with local folks,
ranchers, merchants and kept the environmental impact to a minimum.
they praised the cleanup and had great pictures of rehabs crews at
work. The dvd disc with the merchants and townspeople from previous
years that was cvompiled and sent to us was a big hit. We showed it
on a big screen and the packed house applauded at the end. It's a
really well-done and effective video. Thanks to all who helped put
that together.Lots of people spoke. the Cuba citizens asked really
good sensible questions. About a dozen or more Rainbow participants
spoke. C.A.L.M., Shanti Sena, Firewatch, Parking, Hygeine were all
discussed. Many more mingled with everyone before a!
nd after answering questings, doing the meet and greet . It was a
very good scene. Mayor Velarde (who ran the meeting and moderated)
kept the topic to the concerns of the town and away from Gatherers'
issues with the FS. One welcome home volunteer gave fair warning to
the townspeople that driving up 'there' they should watch their own
speed, seat-belt use, turn-signal use, open container issues because
there was a new kind of police up those roads that wasn't usually
there. He got a round of applause and thanks for that.
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