cannabisnews.com: Ukiah Protesters Win Right To Sue Wal-Mart Ukiah Protesters Win Right To Sue Wal-Mart Posted by CN Staff on February 14, 2004 at 08:09:56 PT By Steve Hart, Staff Writer Source: Press Democrat Eight Mendocino County activists who were arrested at a protest in front of Ukiah's Wal-Mart four years ago can sue the retail giant, which they accused of violating their constitutional rights, a state appellate court ruled.The 1st District Court of Appeal, based in San Francisco, reversed a Mendocino County Superior Court ruling that said Wal-Mart was within its rights when a store manager had the protesters arrested for trespassing. "The court said this is false arrest," said Mark Merin, a Sacramento attorney who represents the protesters.Unless Wal-Mart appeals the decision to the state Supreme Court, the case will return to Mendocino County for a trial.Christi Gallagher, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart in Bentonville, Ark., said the company hasn't seen the Feb. 10 ruling and can't comment on it.The 19-page opinion written by Presiding Justice Anthony Kline said there's little evidence the protesters broke any laws.The dispute began in February 2000, when Ukiah-area resident Richard Johnson asked Wal-Mart customers to sign a petition for a ballot measure to decriminalize the personal use of marijuana in Mendocino County. Wal-Mart officials called police and had Johnson arrested for trespassing in the store's parking lot.Four days later, about two dozen activists showed up at the Ukiah store to protest Johnson's arrest, solicit signatures for the marijuana initiative and register people to vote.Wal-Mart manager Donald Estes called police, who observed the protesters but didn't make any arrests.After talking with police, Estes asked the protesters to leave. When eight of the protesters refused, he placed them under citizen's arrest for trespassing.Officers took them to the Ukiah police station, where they were booked and released.The protesters included Dan Hamburg, a former North Coast congressman and Green Party candidate for California governor.District Attorney Norman Vroman decided not to prosecute the protesters, saying they didn't violate any laws.In 2001, the group sued Wal-Mart, alleging they were falsely arrested and their civil rights were violated.Wal-Mart responded that the protesters didn't follow its rules for public gatherings on company property and that they were harassing customers. The company said some customers complained about the group.In 2002, Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Richard Henderson dismissed the case, ruling the group didn't comply with Wal-Mart's rules.The three-judge appellate panel disagreed with Henderson, saying the protesters weren't subject to citizen arrest just because they didn't follow Wal-Mart's rules. They said Wal-Mart must show protesters interfered with its ability to do business by obstructing or intimidating its customers.The protesters admitted they didn't follow Wal-Mart's regulations, but denied interfering with customers.The appeals court said Estes never saw the protesters harass any customers, so he didn't have a good reason to arrest them.The judges said Wal-Mart must prove that its manager arrested the protesters for violating the trespassing law "and not for the purpose of suppressing protected speech."Note: State appeals court overturns Mendocino judge's upholding of arrests of 8 demonstrators.Source: Press Democrat, The (CA)Author: Steve Hart, Staff WriterPublished: February 14, 2004Copyright: 2004 The Press DemocratContact: letters pressdemo.comWebsite: http://www.pressdemo.com/Related Article:Eight Sue Wal-Mart Over Protest Arrests http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8711.shtmlCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #9 posted by breeze on February 15, 2004 at 12:23:43 PT TRUTH Thank you! [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by Truth on February 15, 2004 at 10:33:31 PT Breeze Good post.. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by breeze on February 14, 2004 at 23:00:43 PT Freedom in AMERIKA The site is VERY misleading, the advetisement on the television was very misleading- you can tell by just listening to what the spokesperson is mumbling in the background.This type of brainwashing is occuring at a light speed rate, and its taking more casualties as it goes. I was glad I saw the ad because I see now where the nation is heading ever more clearer.I hate to say this, but there may not be a "land of the free" in the next twenty years if people don't start waking up to the police state we are living in NOW. There is no police state being formed, its already in action- and this is very apparent.The drug laws are merely a front. In South Carolina a bill has been passed that allows law enforcement investigate doctors and pharmacies, and most definitely patients for their prescription use. Since when does a police man get to decide I am breaking the law just for being sick? And it passed with little or no protest. http://www.boycott-riaa.com/article/10396Citizens of the US, in general, have turned into something of compassionate nazi's. There are but a few with the inteligence to understand the necessity to fight for freedom, and what it means to continue to fight for freedom. The expression give them an inch and they will take a mile comes to mind.We live in an age where if one speaks against the political figures in charge, that person is a communist. When I was in ROTC program, I learned a lot about politics, thanks to a few rebellious retired commanders. I was once told by a bird colonel that communism in its pure practice was not nessecarily an evil thing, but a utopia- though due to the chances for corruption, it made it indeed what we were being taught- that it was indeed evil. We were taught to tell others the reason communism was evil, that was because it suppressed some people while giving prestige and privelege to others. That colonel is now dead of old age, and I can assure you that he would be spinning in his grave if he saw what is happening in our nation today.Ashcroft is asking for records of all women who have had abortions, under cover of trying to find who in the nation has violated the federally mandated late term abortion laws, regardless of the danger to the health of the mother or child- he wants those records. Doctors are questioning why does he want these records, because it will break down the client/patient privelege.http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=22178So- what does this have to do with the legalisation of cannabis? Think about it like this, the more that legislative whores want to know about you and what you do, the more they can control what you do. This is the true definition of FACISM. Next comes genocide. And it will happen in this nation in the next 30 years by the very people who are electing these official into office. I am not paranoid, I am attentive.The government desires to know everything about you in every aspect of your private life. There will come a day soon that paper money will be obsolete, and it is due to the development of technology. Corporations are already introducing this technology into the market place, and primarily due to the threat of Identity theft (the fastest and largest crime being commited today per some reports)- and so, your thumb print will identify you when you wish to make a purchase of any sort. You will no longer have to fumble with checks, you will simply have all of your bills deducted from your account each month. If you wish to purchase something over the internet- you simply have to put your thumb on a little device that will be attatched to your internet connection. Buying anything off the street will be a thing of the past, as all purchases will be monitored via this "incredible" technology to keep tax evasion from occuring, thus ending any black market.Cash will be obsolete- there will be no use for it. If you think I am making a prediction, just remember these words as technology and big government come in a wave to crash individual freedoms. Its not a conspiracy theory- its a revolution against the people who make this nation what it was. There was an incredible wave of patriotism a few years ago that made many teens join the armed forces to go to a war that is now becoming known as not neccesary- there were no WMD's , no need to look for any per the leaders who said they were there to begin with.But people are blind and stupid, and they make it obvious. They complain about a womans tit while in the middle of one of the most violent activities one could imagine being played out on television. Go to any museum and you will see a lot more than just boobs. Congress even held a special hearing over this issue of obscenity. Meanwhile, professional wrestling is one of the most financially powerful entertainment venues available and is equally violent. Football is violent like it or not. If you disagree, then you have yet to attend some of the games where fans beat one another simply because they don't like the others team. It does insite violence, and it teaches kids to do violent acts while off the field of play. Look at the kid that almost went to death row for performing a wrestling move he saw on TELEVISION!!!And yet- society complains about a womans boob? They did not complain when bush won by electorial vote but lost by popular vote. To quote MadTv on this one- You have 9 people in a house voting for a leader. The leader that wins only got 3 votes. The guy that got 6 votes lost. The reason the guy with the 3 votes won was because those three who voted for him were standing in the kitchen and not anywhere else in the house at the time the vote was cast.This alone should be a directive for vote reform- but how do we start this?I know that this post may seem of little relevance to the movement of cannabis legalization- but it in fact has a great deal of relevance. Because as long as people are stupid and held in a state of control by others, with priviledge and preference going to the few- this nation is no longer free. That day is now. I have to look to other countries to provide me with news about my own, I have to read about legal wrangles that are observed from outside my own state, I have to seek information in this "information age" that matters to the masses, but isn't told to the masses. Imagine someone who doesn't have the time to research this information, how can the masses discover this knowledge? And its a known fact that most people do not care to watch the news on television, as it "complicates their lives" or they "simply do not have the time." Little do they know that most information there is sterilized for viewer consumption. Opinions are formed by the very method information is distributed- as in the AD coucil web site that spawned this post to begin with. And if most people believe that 99% of the nation has a personal computer in the home, that 99% is mistaken. The politicians are counting on those people who aren't informed, namely the elderly- who are frequently afraid of technology. The words virus, and crash is used frequently when news reporters describe computers, and this makes older people fearful of the machines. But elderly people vote in mass numbers, and they believe whatever the local newspapers and news stations tell them. I saw this when I went to vote for Kucinich, I asked a few people if they had heard of DK, and no one had even heard of him. They were simply voting for the guy that was from their state, SIMPLY because the local news channel said he was from this state- not because of any issues, but locality and loyalty to neighbors. We have to focus on a local level as well as a national level to get our goals accomplished. But it requires local first and foremost, otherwise no one will be informed to the necessity for change. Its easy to scream we need change- its getting the majority to understand what needs to be changed and how to change it thats the problem. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by Petard on February 14, 2004 at 19:28:26 PT Breeze and FoM The following quotation from Mark Twain 100 years ago seems appropriate to the times again in America, The Land of the Free (offer void where prohibited), Home of the Brave (who cower when faced by baby powder spilling from envelopes but will gladly send your sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, off to foreign lands to face bullets and bombs). The current popular definition of Patriotism regards freeing foreign citizens from their own governments, uninvited by those citizens, as the "duty" of freedom loving Amurikkkans. Where in reality it is the obligation of said foreign peoples to at least begin their own revolutions and to ask for assistance if needed or desired. History is littered with governments overthrown by their own peoples once those peoples have taken all the crap they are willing to take, they don't need U.S. troops to start the conflict at the behest of corpo-rats.And now for that aforementioned quotation:"We teach them to take their patriotism at second-hand; to shout with the largest crowd without examining into the right or wrong of the matter--exactly as boys under monarchies are taught and have always been taught. We teach them to regard as traitors, and hold in aversion and contempt, such as do not shout with the crowd, and so here in our democracy we are cheering a thing which of all things is most foreign to it and out of place--the delivery of our political conscience into somebody else's keeping. This is patriotism on the Russian plan." - Mark Twain, a Biography [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by Wecre8it on February 14, 2004 at 18:23:28 PT Re: Wal-Mart = Evil Is that why evil is live spelled backwards? The antithesis of live... [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by FoM on February 14, 2004 at 12:12:12 PT breeze That web site is very misleading. It seems like a drum roll to go fight in wars. I guess that's how they think that we are suppose to feel free. Maybe I'm wrong but that was my first impression of the web site. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by breeze on February 14, 2004 at 11:51:22 PT FREEDOM I just saw this site advertise on the tube- The way that they presented the ad was almost threatening, go to the site, and you got to realize that this is an insult in the very face of "Freedom" because they have sponsership from big money corporations that frankly my dear, don't give a damn about freedom. Brought to you by the ad council...http://rememberfreedom.org/ [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by FoM on February 14, 2004 at 09:35:37 PT Happy Valentine's Day Everyone! I was checking out a board I go to that is not related to our issues and found this link. Is there a movie available?http://www.hempstersthemovie.com/ [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by TroutMask on February 14, 2004 at 08:31:59 PT Wal-Mart = Satan Note: Wal-Mart is evil. Sam's Club is also owned by Wal-Mart and so is also evil.-TM [ Post Comment ] Post Comment