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ACLU of Sonoma County
The Year In Review: 2008-2009
By Ann Gray Bird, Chair

This was a year of change and growth for the ACLU of Sonoma County. Just over a year ago, the chapter chair unexpectedly resigned and the chapter was in disarray. Eva Chu became interim chair through last year’s annual meeting. The board began to rebuild, getting our website up to date, and the chapter resumed its place in the community. As part of this rebuilding process, the board held a chapter retreat and four board members attended the October ACLU of Northern California Leadership Symposium, where board members re-set priorities and renewed commitment.

This year the Chapter is playing an active part of the Coalition Partners For Police Accountability, working with other community groups advocating for better training of law enforcement, new and different policing responses to those having mental health crisis, and working for the passage of S.B. 1019 which would support civilian review of law enforcement agencies in our county.

As far back as 2000, the California Advisory Board of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission recommended civilian review of the Sheriff Department, and the Santa Rosa and Rohnert Park Police Departments. In this past year alone, law enforcement in our county has killed five people - two of them during mental illness crisis. Five more have died in the Sonoma County Jails. In 2006, the effectiveness of civilian review boards was given a crushing blow by the California Supreme Court that ruled in Copley Press v. Superior Court that the work of civilian review boards had to remain secret.

In response to this ruling, the Senate passed S.B. 1019, which would allow civilian review boards to function in public. The bill is now pending in the Assembly. The Chapter has been asking our members and the community to call, write or to send free faxes from our website to their representatives in the Assembly asking them to support this important law. Although many law enforcement officials have supported its passage, none in our county support S.B. 1019.

In September, Rick Coshnear helped organize a community forum where members of our Latino community spoke about the racial profiling they experience from our county’s law enforcement agencies. Attorneys from ACLU-NC attorneys attended to discuss their rights.

In October, I served as facilitator of a day long Community Forum on Police Accountability, which the chapter co-sponsored with the help of Board Members Sheri Graves, Marty McReynolds, Nancy Palandati, Rick Coshnear and Steve Fabian, with support from ACLU-NC. Over 200 people attended and created a package of recommendations for change that is being pursued in smaller groups.

As part of this work, board members Marvin Pederson and Marty McReynolds, along with other community groups, met numerous times with representatives of the City of Santa Rosa and the Sonoma County Sheriff Department urging them to support S.B. 1019, civilian review boards, and establish different protocols for handling people with mental health problems and provide additional training to their officers. The meetings resulted in the agencies contracting to establish mental health training for a limited number of officers. Many other issues remain unresolved.

The Chapter printed and distributed thousands of Your Rights and Police cards in English and Spanish informing people of their rights and what to do if stopped by the police.

Additionally, the Chapter participated in the first annual Media Accountability Conference held at Sonoma State University, where Judith Volkart moderated a 2-hour discussion on Media Censorship & the Erosion of Civil Liberties. Project Censored produced a 55-minute interview with Judith discussing the Military Commissions Act that ran at the Conference and aired on Free Speech TV. The DVD is available at the Peace & Justice Center library.

Dave Henderson, Will Shonbrun, along with other ACLU chapter members in the City of Sonoma, with support of Marvin Pederson and ACLU-NC attorney Margaret Crosby, were able stop the city council from displaying a nativity scene on the city plaza.

Our Chapter helped Sonoma State University professors successfully fight the university’s attempt to stop protest of military recruiters on campus, co-sponsored a NARAL forum marking the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Last summer we co-sponsored the Sebastopol Art Center’s powerful exhibition, Immigration: Merging Cultures, which gave visual voice through art to the stories of California’s immigrants.

Be sure to check out our improved website, www.aclusonoma.org. Steve Fabian, along with Nancy Palandati, Judith Volkart and Tita White, our Webmaster, whose professional advice and kind support has been greatly appreciated, updated and redesigned the site On it you’ll find Action Alerts on upcoming events and important issues, an archive of our Chapter newsletters, nomination forms for our awards, links to other useful websites, and lots more.

The Chapter also provided numerous speakers to talk about civil liberties issues to schools, civic groups, juvenile hall, and governmental bodies; wrote Op-Ed pieces to media, and sent letters to governmental officials.

All was not work – we broke bread together during the Board Retreat and added Wine, Cheese & Chocolate to the December Board meeting agenda.

This report is “thank you” time for the Chairperson. So, for serving the cause of social justice and equality, I thank members of our board who have moved on since we last held an annual dinner: Wayne Gibb, who has served on the this board for over 30 years will be sorely missed, as well as Dr. Richard Redalia, and Eva Chu. My sincere appreciation to those who will be retiring from the board this year: Marvin Peterson for your many years of service; Sheri Graves, my best friend of 45 years, who served her term by applying her professional reporting skills to our newsletter, and other documents, and Adam Lane-Basler, our Treasurer, delightful to work with; always a smile and youthful energy that kept me moving forward.

We even have “silent partners” who support us – Former Board member Victor Chechanover, who dutifully returns calls made to our hotline; and Wayne Gibb, who although no longer on the Board, continues to monitor chapter e-mails.

Many ask, “What can I do to help?” A simple thing is to give us your e-mail address so the ACLU can communicate with you quickly. Contact your Assemblyperson and ask them to support S.B. 1019. There is much to do and there is a place for others on our Committees and on the Board as we become more diverse in community representation. Board Membership is not limited to attorneys. Other immediate needs for your chapter include someone to take over as Webmaster and someone with bookkeeping experience who can take over as Treasurer. You can help in making the Sonoma Chapter continue to be strong.