[CIMC-work] FW: [Imc-legal] the Urbana mayor physically
assaulted me this morning -- we need legal help!
Chris Kaihatsu
ckaihatsu at myrealbox.com
Tue May 13 20:00:42 PDT 2003
Sure, fine by me. Anyone like to do the copy on this one?
Chris
on 5/12/03 5:36 PM, Elizabeth Fraser at ehf@bookbeast.com wrote:
> 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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