"$1,000 fine per night or afford to have a misdemeanor charge on their record."

[midnight]

Occupy Tucson has been camped out at Armory Park, just two blocks from the city's financial district, since October 15. Every night since, police enter the park at the 10:30pm curfew armed, not with riot gear and paddy wagons, but with a pad of citations or written arrests. Each citation amounts to a class one misdemeanor that carries up to $1,000 in fines, up to six months in jail, and up to three years probation. Occupy Tucson activists refer to these tactics as "financial and legal attrition to kill the movement."

Craig Barber, 28, an Occupy Tucson protester who describes himself as an "underemployed professional with unaffordable student debt," says the Tucson Police Department has issued over 400 criminal citations thus far. This includes protesters in the two nearby satellite camps at Veinte de Agosto Park and Library Park. There is a permanent presence of roughly 100 protesters every night, many of whom have received multiple citations.

"I think that the city of Tucson has been watching the national theater and has noticed that the physical reaction does in fact galvanize more support, so they're using the more insidious tactic of legally intimidating the occupiers as well as financially bleeding the movement and also overwhelming our legal support," said Barber, adding that the handful of attorneys volunteering their time to support the cause are swamped by the sheer volume of citations.

There is a growing concern that the potential for criminal charges is stifling participation. "If you're a teacher or somebody who needs to pass a criminal background check for your employment, a criminal misdemeanor charge is a real concern,” said Barber. “There is also the chilling effect that it has on people who would want to come and participate in the occupation, but can't necessarily afford a $1,000 fine per night or afford to have a misdemeanor charge on their record." http://www.alternet.org/story/152959/3_remarkable_occupations_you_haven%27t_heard_enough_about/

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bemildred]

2. Take them to court, take them all to court.

Choke the courts with these misdemeanors. Occupy the courts too.

[txlibdem]

3. Tucson Occupy Movement: we need you there!

You have our full support and our thanks for being able to do what the disabled community cannot do. I applaud each and every one of you.

Everyone in Tucson, please show up to their rallies. Show the dictators that they cannot intimidate us and we outnumber them 1 million to 1. Do whatever you can. Bring coffee, show up for an hour, clean up something in the park, whatever you can do will be appreciated!

We love you all!

[formercia]

4. Bills of Attainder

every one of those Citations.

[midnight]

6. Definition: A legislative act that singles out an individual or group for punishment without a trial

I had to look up a definition because I wasn't sure what this was, but this sure sounds like it....



Bill of Attainder

Definition: A legislative act that singles out an individual or group for punishment without a trial.

The Constitution of the United States, Article I, Section 9, paragraph 3 provides that: "No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law will be passed."

"The Bill of Attainder Clause was intended not as a narrow, technical (and therefore soon to be outmoded) prohibition, but rather as an implementation of the separation of powers, a general safeguard against legislative exercise of the judicial function or more simply - trial by legislature." U.S. v. Brown, 381 U.S. 437, 440 (1965).

"These clauses of the Constitution are not of the broad, general nature of the Due Process Clause, but refer to rather precise legal terms which had a meaning under English law at the time the Constitution was adopted. A bill of attainder was a legislative act that singled out one or more persons and imposed punishment on them, without benefit of trial. Such actions were regarded as odious by the framers of the Constitution because it was the traditional role of a court, judging an individual case, to impose punishment." William H. Rehnquist, The Supreme Court, page 166.

"Bills of attainder, ex post facto laws, and laws impairing the obligations of contracts, are contrary to the first principles of the social compact, and to every principle of sound legislation. ... The sober people of America are weary of the fluctuating policy which has directed the public councils. They have seen with regret and indignation that sudden changes and legislative interferences, in cases affecting personal rights, become jobs in the hands of enterprising and influential speculators, and snares to the more-industrious and less-informed part of the community." James Madison

http://www.techlawjournal.com/glossary/legal/attainder.htm

[ChazInAz]

5. Jack Kerouac

once referred to my city as "A rich man's whore". If you don't have wealth here, you're no one, and there's no way to earn more than bare subsistence in Tucson due to the lack of unions. TPTB know that arresting us wouldn't stop us, but fining us these absurd sums will thin our ranks.
A rich man's game.