[CIMC-work] FW: [Imc-legal] the Urbana mayor physically assaulted me this morning -- we need legal help!

Elizabeth Fraser ehf at bookbeast.com
Mon May 12 20:36:12 PDT 2003 

This would seem to call for a tie-in with the hot-house issue in
chicago.  Seems like we could have something on the hothouse followed by
a link to urbana's coverage block. No? -- eliz

-----Original Message-----
From: imc-chicago-working-admin@lists.indymedia.org
[mailto:imc-chicago-working-admin@lists.indymedia.org] On Behalf Of
Chris Kaihatsu
Sent: Monday, May 12, 2003 12:29 PM
To: imc-chicago-working@indymedia.org
Subject: Re: Re: [CIMC-work] FW: [Imc-legal] the Urbana mayor physically
assaulted me this morning -- we need legal help!


All,

The Urbana site now has a center-panel block of their own on this topic.
Perhaps we could just put in a thin block on ours to point to theirs...?
Or swipe theirs with links intact...?


Chris




-----Original Message-----
From: Ian Bicking <ianb@colorstudy.com>
To: Chris Kaihatsu <ckaihatsu@myrealbox.com>
Date: 12 May 2003 05:29:52 -0500
Subject: Re: [CIMC-work] FW: [Imc-legal] the Urbana mayor physically
assaulted me this morning -- we need legal help!

Should we put up a feature?  (Well, it seems obvious to me we should)

There doesn't seem to be any update on the UC site yet.  Perhaps we
should wait for them to post a new or revised feature, then paraphrase
that.


On Sat, 2003-05-10 at 10:02, Chris Kaihatsu wrote:
> ----------
> From: Sascha Meinrath <sascha@ucimc.org>
> Date: Fri, 9 May 2003 11:54:39 -0500 (CDT)
> To: Sheri Herndon <sheri@speakeasy.org>
> Cc: cindy@eff.org, David Burman <burmd@perkinscoie.com>, Lee Tien 
> <tien@eff.org>, <imc-legal@indymedia.org>, <imc-emergency@ucimc.org>
> Subject: [Imc-legal] the Urbana mayor physically assaulted me this 
> morning
> -- we need legal help!
> 
> hi all,
> 
> i met with the urbana mayor this morning. attached is the account that

> i sent out to city councilmembers after our meeting.  briefly, the 
> mayor screamed at me, was physically intimidating, and then threw a 
> chair at me hitting me in the leg.
> 
> needless to say, i have no idea how to proceed.
> 
> --sascha
> 
> ***
> 
> This morning after I sat down in Tod's office [the Urbana mayor], he 
> opened our meeting by screaming, "What the fuck is wrong with you!"  
> He then proceeded to slam his fist on the table in a threatening way, 
> he then grabbed his tea mug and slammed that on the table with enough 
> force to launch the tea strainer clear off the table.  By this time I 
> was quite concerned for my physical safety; as it turns out, I had 
> very good reason to be.
> 
> He then grabbed the chair at the end of the table and threw it too.  
> As I was seated at the table already, the chair hit me in the leg.  
> So, what do you think I should do?  I have been threatened and 
> physically assaulted by the mayor in his office in the city building.

> I certainly was fearful for my safety throughout the meeting -- his 
> secretary was in the other room and heard both his yelling and the 
> commotion of his slamming and throwing things.
> 
> This is so far beyond what is acceptible behavior -- physical assault 
> is a serious criminal offense -- that I feel quite out of my league as

> to how to proceed.  I can be reached via phone at (217) 328-3856.  The

> IMC's Emergency Response Team will be going to the national media 
> beginning this evening, so plese be in contact before then.
> 
> Sorry to burden you all with this, but I really have no idea how to 
> proceed.
> 
> --Sascha
> 
> 
> On Fri, 9 May 2003, Sheri Herndon wrote:
> 
> > hi friends,
> >
> > can someone please advise us?  urbana is the imc who is the conduit 
> > for all funds in the network, is the only imc with nonprofit status,

> > has one of the
> most
> > organized collectives (semi-professional you might even say), have a

> > vital physical space, are active in funding imcs all over the world,

> > and play a significant role in the network.
> >
> > thanks everyone,
> > peace,
> > sheri
> >
> >
> > ====== Forwarded Message ======
> > Date: 5/9/03 1:34 AM
> > Received: 5/9/03 6:38 AM
> > From: sascha@ucimc.org (Sascha Meinrath)
> > To: imc-legal@indymedia.org
> >
> > Hi all,
> >
> > The Urbana-Champaign IMC was shut down this evening by fire 
> > inspectors. They claim that the violations are an incredible danger 
> > to public safety
> > -- however, the same space was inspected last year without incident.
> > Basically, we're still piecing together what is going on, but there
was a
> > secret meeting this afternoon between the mayor, fire chief, and
building
> > inspectors and they decided to shut down the Urbana-Champaign IMC.
> >
> > This is breaking _right now_ -- we have a group of folks that have 
> > had an emergency meeting this evening and will be working over the 
> > next 48 hours to get the word out.  We're still attempting to work 
> > with local politicians -- I talked with the mayor this evening, but 
> > he ended up screaming at me on the phone; the fire marshall stated 
> > he was willing to meet with me (several city councilmembers have 
> > been calling city officials on our behalf), but he cancelled at 
> > 9p.m. (one hour before our scheduled 10p.m. meeting).
> >
> > So, it's looking like there's a concerted effort being made to shut 
> > down the Urbana-Champaign IMC and we're trying to figure out a way 
> > to fight this.  I'll have more information tomorrow after I meet 
> > with various city officials.
> >
> > We're holding off releasing the story throughout the Global Network 
> > until we get a chance to meet face-to-face with local officials, but

> > it's not looking likely.  Below is a copy of our initial press 
> > release.
> >
> > --Sascha Meinrath
> > Urbana-Champaign IMC
> >
> > Press Release
> >
> > Community Center Unexpectedly Shut Down by City of Urbana
> >
> > On Thursday, May 8, 2003, at approximately 6 PM, the performance 
> > space at the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center (UCIMC) at 
> > 218 W. Main St. was closed by the City of Urbana under highly 
> > irregular circumstances.
> >
> > The UCIMC was first inspected three days earlier, on Monday, May 5. 
> > At that time, the UCIMC was given notice of six violations of the 
> > Urbana fire code and informed that a follow-up inspection would be 
> > conducted on May 29, 2003.
> >
> > On Thursday evening after business hours, the Division Chief of the 
> > Fire Rescue Services Department returned unannounced with a building

> > official to close the performance space.  It is extremely unusual 
> > for an inspection to occur after business hours and with little 
> > notice. Furthermore, the city has thus far given no reason why the 
> > space was suddenly shut down instead of reinspected on May 29, as 
> > stated in the original notice.
> >
> > The UCIMC has already made significant progress in addressing the 
> > violations listed by the Fire Department, and plans to continue 
> > addressing these concerns. It is unclear why the decision to close 
> > the performance space was made after it was determined at the 
> > initial inspection that the organization would have 24 days to fix 
> > the problems.
> >
> > The performance space at the UCIMC is Champaign-Urbana's only all 
> > ages, volunteer operated, not-for-profit, non-smoking venue for 
> > regularly scheduled touring and local music performances.
> >
> > FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
> >
> > Zach Miller         Meghan Krausch
> > 217-367-4678        217-390-6051
> > 217-265-8458        217-244-4682
> > zach@ucimc.org      meghan@ucimc.org
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Imc-legal mailing list
> > Imc-legal@lists.indymedia.org 
> > http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-legal
> >
> > ====== End Forwarded Message ======
> >
> 
> 
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