Text Box: What is needed now are fewer Patriot Acts, and more acts by patriots. Transgressions against our precious constitution should be challenged by all freedom loving citizens. Text Box: Eternal Vigilance Text Box: Volume 16 No. 1 Text Box: Page # Text Box: By Thom Foley, President Now in its thirty-sixth year, the Pinellas County chapter of the Florida ACLU continues to serve as a champion of civil liberties and a defender of the freedoms embedded in the Bill of Rights. From last December’s annual awards banquet to this month’s board meeting, the “eternal vigilance” aspect of our work remains as vital as ever. It has been said that civil libertarians have three primary tools – litigation, negotiation, and education – with which to defend the Bill of Rights. Your Pinellas ACLU board makes vigorous use of all three of these tools. The ACLU’s public image often reflects the first of these, especially when courtroom battles are accompanied by emotional debate and controversy. As others have noted, however, the tool of litigation becomes necessary only when education and negotiations have failed. Bruce Howie and the stalwart lawyers of the chapter’s legal panel handle litigation issues and also guide the chapter’s negotiations with government agencies when their actions imperil civil liberties. Education and outreach activities remain the chapter’s primary focus. We have had some successes this year (as reported within this issue of CLIP) and are currently involved in several on-going negotiations, including the right of community organizations, such as Veteran’s for Peace, to enjoy the same access to public schools that military recruiters are routinely granted. We are also seeking to negotiate a resolution to a “God Bless Our Troops” sign displayed on a public school marquee. Our educational efforts have included providing speakers for community groups and schools, as well as setting up information tables and ACLU banners at community events and venues related to civil liberties. Thus we have “tabled” at voter-rights forums, at this summer’s Juneteenth celebration, at last fall’s Circus McGurkis, and at the St. Petersburg Times Festival of Reading, where the ACLU “banned books” exhibit continues to be a favorite. Our annual presence at the St. Pete Pride event this summer was enhanced by teaming with the West Central Florida ACLU office, and with members of the Tampa ACLU chapter, to present a visually striking float for the parade, replete with a living statue of liberty. In May we teamed with the Tampa chapter to co-host a reception for the State ACLU board, and also joined the Tampa chapter at their forum at USF, titled “Presidential Powers in Fighting Terrorism: Are There Any Limits?” Approximately 300 people attended this invigorating public debate which featured an expert panel comprised of representatives from the ACLU, the FBI and from CAIR (Council of American Islamic Relations). Georgetown Law Professor David Cole was the keynote speaker. Additionally, individual Pinellas ACLU board members perform “watchdog” functions for a diverse range of issues related to civil liberties. Board members monitor such issues as the use of tasers by law enforcement, the potential threat of “intelligent design” based curriculum in the schools, voter’s rights issues, and a variety of LGBT concerns in the community. Does all this educational effort have an impact? As state ACLU president Jeanne Baker recently reported, “Florida remains a hotbed of constitutional violations.” The upside is that between the increased threats to civil liberties and the ongoing public education efforts, membership in the Florida ACLU has more than doubled since 2001. Statewide, Baker reports, there are now some 30,000 members and supporters. The number of Pinellas ACLU members is above 1500 and continues to rise. Maybe it’s the litigation, the negotiation, or the education. Or maybe it’s just the eternal vigilance. But we all owe the ACLU, and the persistent Pinellas board and legal panel, a salute for all that they do in their efforts to preserve freedom for us all.

The Pinellas ACLU is an affiliate chapter of:

ACLU of Florida
4500 Biscayne Blvd. Suite 340
Miami, FL 33137 (305) 576-2336
General ACLU e-mail: aclufl@aclufl.org

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In a democracy, the Balance of civil Liberty rests on the fulcrum of public oversight over governmental action.