Issues in Civil Liberties in Pinellas County Florida

The Legal Panel Report
The Pinellas ACLU legal panel is a group of volunteer cooperating attorneys who meet each month to receive and discuss cases in the form of written complaints received either directly by mail or through the state ACLU office. These volunteer attorneys investigate and take on cases pro se based on their own experience and interests.

The cases selected by the legal panel are typically cases where the civil or constitutional rights of individuals have been unduly restricted by government action, where a large number of individuals may be affected, where the issues are legal rather than factual, and where the complainant has no other recourse or remedy. In those cases which are not "ACLU cases," we attempt to put the individual in touch with an attorney or agency that can help.

Highlights for this year:

We have consulted with representatives of the Veterans for Peace, including Dwight Lawton, in their efforts to gain admission to Pinellas County public high school campuses to counsel students on alternatives to military service. There is an ongoing debate with the school board and its attorney concerning the qualifications the Veterans for Peace are required to meet in exchange for access to students.

We also consulted with the Veterans for Peace when brochures they had distributed on parked cars at the Tyrone Gardens shopping center were methodically collected and destroyed by military recruiters who occupy a storefront office there.

We obtained trial and appellate counsel for an individual arrested for trespass during a protest at Baywalk Plaza in St. Petersburg. The Pinellas ACLU persistently maintains that the sidewalks around Baywalk constitute a public forum, despite efforts by the owners and the City to move protesters out of the area.

We consulted with supporters of voter-initiated referenda on development control in St. Pete Beach and Belleair when both cities acted to enjoin these initiatives from being placed on the ballot.

We have implemented the new guidelines for acceptance of cases promulgated by the Florida ACLU.

We are currently assisting in an injunctive action to prevent implementation of a new state statute prohibiting petitioning and electioneering within 100 feet of a poll station entrance, even when it occurs on private property or at a public forum.

Thanks to the following attorney members of the Legal Panel for their time and efforts: Marcia Cohen, Karen Doering, Rick Escarraz, Nancy Gorman, Mark Kamleiter, and Bill Penrose. Thanks also to Becky Steele, Carol Steele, Dwight Lawton, Ray Arsenault, Jeanie Blue and Thom Foley who regularly attend legal panel meetings. Special thanks to Jerry Moore who makes telephonic threats to attorneys so they'll attend meetings.

Bruce G. Howie

Bruce Howie, of Piper Ludin Howie & Werner, P.A., St. Petersburg, is the chair of the ACLU legal panel, where he coordinates cases and the work of our cooperating attorneys.

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