The "Racine 441" Appear in Court
Published December 03, 2002
Monday's session in Municipal Court was the first of three scheduled for people cited at the party. People cited also will appear Dec. 9 and 16.
The Uptown Theater Group said the party was a fund-raiser for the organization. Police said it was a rave — a techno dance party commonly associated with "club drugs" like Ecstasy and Ketamine. Sounds like jumpng to conclusions and gross overreaction on the part of the police.
The Electronic Music Defense and Education Fund is on the case:
- Chicago DanceSafe representative James Werdeniuk is thrown onto a pool table and arrested for standing up. After police raided the building, detainees were forced to sit on the ground for almost four hours while police issued citations. James has a metal rod in his leg and can not sit for long periods of time.
- DanceSafe, a national drug education program, today condemned the Saturday night police raid of a rave at the Tradewinds banquet hall in Racine, WI. Police, tipped off by US Customs officials, raided the event and ticketed 445 attendees and arrested only 3 people.
"While Detective Prudy called this action 'proactive law enforcement', we see the raid as an attack on the First Amendment rights of those present to peaceably assemble.", said Tim Santamour, DanceSafe's Executive Director. "The police had no prior knowledge that drugs were being used at the event before they infiltrated the party. They assumed that since, in their minds, drugs are typically associated with raves that there was illegal activity at this one. They had no proof and entered the premises under false pretext.", commented Santamour, "The fact that police only arrested 3 out of almost 500 attendees proves that drugs were not being used by the vast majority of ravers at this event."
DanceSafe also condemns the attitudes of law enforcement against attendees of electronic music events. "Local law enforcement agencies have been prejudiced by the DEA's actions and by proposed federal legislation, such as Sen. Joseph Biden's proposed R.A.V.E. Act", said Bryan Oley, a DanceSafe board member. Provisions of the R.A.V.E. Act (Reducing America's Vulnerability to Ecstasy) would punish anyone associated with a music event at which someone was using an illegal substance such as Ecstasy or marijuana. "The war on drugs has been a failure, yet police insist on ruining the lives of thousands", added Oley. "The government should be focusing on education and treatment, not incarceration."
....DanceSafe is a drug education program with groups in over 20 cities. DanceSafe provides youth with information about drug use by distributing material at raves and nightclubs. "People are very receptive to our literature" commented Jamie Smidt, DanceSafe's National Training Coordinator. "DanceSafe volunteers come from the rave community. They see drug use at events and want to do something positive to reduce the harms of drug use." DanceSafe not only provides harm reduction materials concerning drugs, "we provide people with a sense of community where they can ask questions they might not ask their parents or teachers.", said Smidt, "We also provide them tips on avoiding heatstroke, hearing loss, and sexual assault."
- The "Racine 441" Appear in Court
- Published: December 03, 2002
- Type:
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: DJ, Music: News
- Writer: Eric Olsen
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Comments on this articleComments
I seriously think that the City of Racine PD definitely
bit off more than they can chew. I went to this party to
listen to the music. It's not everyday you get to hear
16 DJ's in one place. The police make it out to sound that
everyone that listens to "electronica" music is in some form a druggie. They need to get there asses off their shoulders. Why don't they look up records. I'm sure most of the people that attended the fund raiser on December 2nd have pretty clean records. For some it may mean they just haven't gotten caught, but for those of us who ACTUALLY have clean records, don't need a drug violation. And all of this crap about reducing the fines... I think crap describes that very well. So what if it goes down to a disorderly conduct ticket. What happens if someone actually gets a disorderly conduct ticket in the future? It would make it their second offense and they get screwed. Either way I wished all 441 of us had pled NOT GUILTY. They're putting a bad name to techno music. That type of music does NOT always associate with drugs. Though X is a very common drug among raves. This was NOT a rave... and if it was, it was the weakest rave. It was the first time I'd ever even gone to an event like that (besides regular concerts and Summerfest). From what I hear of raves, this was nothing like it. I say if we're supposed to be the "Land of the Free" then why the hell are we treated like this! If we're so "free" then why does the so-called government voilate our rights? The police over stepped their boundaries and went too far with this one. In the end, they're only screwing themselves in the rear. They think they're going to make an example out of us? HA! Well, let me say that we're going to stand up for our rights. I'm sick of getting pushed around all the time. It's about time that a group actually stands up for something they love as a group. Freedom of Speech!! It's not individuals in this matter. For the 300 some odd people that do plead Not Guilty, I thank you! I pled Not Guilty as well, and I plan to battle this thing out until the end. And for those people who just sit back and have the nerve to call us stupid, or simple-minded fools, or whatever it is that you'd like to call us... we're actually the smart ones. Just remember, we're fighting for YOUR rights. The rights that YOU wont get off your fat, lazy, butt to fight for. The way they treated us was inhumane! Throwing people on pool tables. I heard tons of profanities out of a lady officers mouth. The same lady officer that said my friend must have been on drugs because she had to go to the bathroom and the only way they would let her go was to have another officer standing at her knees. I don't know about everyone else, but when you're in a situation like that, it's hard to pee infront of someone. It was rude of that officer to say that she was on drugs. The officer that wrote my ticket didn't even understand why we were getting them. She just suggested we appear in court and if we wanted to fight it, to do so at that time. Pardon me for ranting, but I'm sick of seeing this happen and nobody doing anything to prevent it from happening again. My word of advice to the Racine City PD is... Get your heads and asses wired together because you're in for a world of pain. Taxpayers are going to just love seeing their money wasted on your foolish actions! Long live America! United We Stand, my ass.
Sincerely,
Michelle Bohn
West Allis, WI
not a druggie...? HAH!!
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I seriously think that the City of Racine PD definitely
bit off more than they can chew. I went to this party to
listen to the music. It's not everyday you get to hear
16 DJ's in one place. The police make it out to sound that
everyone that listens to "electronica" music is in some form a druggie. They need to get there asses off their shoulders. Why don't they look up records. I'm sure most of the people that attended the fund raiser on December 2nd have pretty clean records. For some it may mean they just haven't gotten caught, but for those of us who ACTUALLY have clean records, don't need a drug violation. And all of this crap about reducing the fines... I think crap describes that very well. So what if it goes down to a disorderly conduct ticket. What happens if someone actually gets a disorderly conduct ticket in the future? It would make it their second offense and they get screwed. Either way I wished all 441 of us had pled NOT GUILTY. They're putting a bad name to techno music. That type of music does NOT always associate with drugs. Though X is a very common drug among raves. This was NOT a rave... and if it was, it was the weakest rave. It was the first time I'd ever even gone to an event like that (besides regular concerts and Summerfest). From what I hear of raves, this was nothing like it. I say if we're supposed to be the "Land of the Free" then why the hell are we treated like this! If we're so "free" then why does the so-called government voilate our rights? The police over stepped their boundaries and went too far with this one. In the end, they're only screwing themselves in the rear. They think they're going to make an example out of us? HA! Well, let me say that we're going to stand up for our rights. I'm sick of getting pushed around all the time. It's about time that a group actually stands up for something they love as a group. Freedom of Speech!! It's not individuals in this matter. For the 300 some odd people that do plead Not Guilty, I thank you! I pled Not Guilty as well, and I plan to battle this thing out until the end. And for those people who just sit back and have the nerve to call us stupid, or simple-minded fools, or whatever it is that you'd like to call us... we're actually the smart ones. Just remember, we're fighting for YOUR rights. The rights that YOU wont get off your fat, lazy, butt to fight for. The way they treated us was inhumane! Throwing people on pool tables. I heard tons of profanities out of a lady officers mouth. The same lady officer that said my friend must have been on drugs because she had to go to the bathroom and the only way they would let her go was to have another officer standing at her knees. I don't know about everyone else, but when you're in a situation like that, it's hard to pee infront of someone. It was rude of that officer to say that she was on drugs. The officer that wrote my ticket didn't even understand why we were getting them. She just suggested we appear in court and if we wanted to fight it, to do so at that time. Pardon me for ranting, but I'm sick of seeing this happen and nobody doing anything to prevent it from happening again. My word of advice to the Racine City PD is... Get your heads and asses wired together because you're in for a world of pain. Taxpayers are going to just love seeing their money wasted on your foolish actions! Long live America! United We Stand, my ass.
Sincerely,
Michelle Bohn
West Allis, WI