The "Racine 441" Appear in Court
Published December 03, 2002
Moreover, the application of this ordinance to these individuals violates due process. Due process requires that a statute "provide a person of ordinary intelligence a reasonable opportunity to know what is prohibited, so that he may act accordingly." Village of Hoffman Estates v. Flipside, Hoffman Estates, Inc., 455 U.S. 489, 498-99 (1982). Where First Amendment concerns are implicated, as they are here, the requirement of clarity is most stringent. Id. at 499. Given that the ticketed attendees could not have foreseen that their presence at a musical concert with nominal drug activity that was not openly conducted violated the ordinance, we believe that the decision to ticket them violates the due process clause. Innocent bystanders cannot be transformed into patrons of a disorderly house by their mere presence in a room where drugs are found.
In the interest of resolving this matter quickly and avoiding a tremendous waste of public resources in pursuing these meritless actions, we urge your office to dismiss all charges under the "disorderly house" ordinance against the disc jockeys and attendees. Please respond to this letter by Friday, November 29, 2002, to let us know what actions you plan to take in order to resolve the serious allegations raised by this letter. Think what you want about the ACLU, but if you are in trouble and no one else will help, they are your best friends in the world.
See, we have rules of procedure that all parties - including the police - are supposed to follow. When they don't, even if the cause is unpopular, the ACLU will stand by you. This role should not to be scoffed at, nor its importance underestimated.
- 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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- Eric Olsen's personal site
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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