"Halt, we're going to clip you!"

Date: Wed, 14 Aug 2002 19:54:02 -0400
From: bfulkerson@planevada.org (Bob Fulkerson)
Subject: I almost ended up in jail just now!

If you want to support workers' rights to organize as well as register people to vote, don't go to Reno's Citifare bus terminal. About 20 minutes ago I came within seconds of being carted off to jail for doing just that. If I still had the gumption I did in my late 20's when I was arrested at the military's Bravo 20 and the Groom bombing ranges, I would have been arrested instead of backing down.  

We (NEW Project Director Brenda Carerra and NV Young Activist Project's Inger McDowell) went down to the bus depot to register voters in 98-degree heat. Armed with clip boards and a chest full of ice cold bottled water and a sign that read "PLAN and NEW Project Support Striking Bus Drivers",  Brenda and Inger went off to register voters. I offered Teamsters Local 533 bus drivers on the picket line cold water and carried my sign as I walked the picket line for about 10 minutes.

I left my sign with the picketers and went to find Brenda and Inger, when I was confronted by several Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) Security. They told me either to get back on the picket line or leave the property. I told them I was registering voters and would continue to do so. They said if I didn't leave immediately they would call the Reno Police to have me arrested.  I said so be it.

When the police arrived, they told me to get off the property or get arrested. I asked where the property line ended. They pointed to a median sidewalk west of the station, about 10 feet from where I had been standing. I said fine, I'll go there. The police left. About three minutes later, as I was talking to Gary Peck and Jo Nell Thomas of the ACLU in Las Vegas to determine my rights, RTC security again confronted me and told me I was still on the property.  As the security guards were angrily yelling at me to leave, Gary very carefully explained to me on my cell that this was a very gray area, did I have any witnesses, etc.  I was getting cold feet.  

Just then the Police arrived. I started walking further east when one of the police told me to "Halt! We're going to clip you." I told Gary it sounded like I was going to get arrested and I'd call him later. He urged me to find witnesses and gave me strong support.

I told the police officers my side of the story. I felt alone with no Brenda or Inger or other witnesses or supporters in sight. I finally told the Police I would leave and they escorted me off the property.

As I was talking with a reporter on my cell in the parking lot, Inger and Brenda walked up. They told me while they were talking to bus riders and registering them to vote, RTC security stood uncomfortably close to them and eavesdropped on their conversations.

We decided to send out an email to the rest of PLAN member groups and supporters asking for advice aboutwhat to do next. We'd like to see more support for the Teamsters picket line. We'd also like to continue registering voters there. Anybody for a mass arrest?!  

ACLU Director Gary Peck and President Rich Siegel are investigating our rights in this matter; they will have further information next week.

On a very positive note: In just one hour, Inger and Brenda registered several new voters, recruited three new low income women for the NEW Project, recruited an African American volunteer for PLAN who just moved here from Chicago where he ran a progressive non-profit, and assisted two ex-felons who didn't know they could have their voting rights restored.

Bob Fulkerson
State Director
Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada
1101 Riverside Drive, Reno, Nevada  89503
(775) 348 7557
www.planevada.org
_________________
8-21-2002

Reply from Deputy Chief Weston

Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002 14:50:41 -0700
From: "Jim WESTON" <WESTON@ci.reno.nv.us>
To: <barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us>
Cc: "Ronald Donnelly" <DonnellyR@ci.reno.nv.us>,
"Tom Robinson" <Robinson@ci.reno.nv.us>

Subject: Re: Police threat to shoot at Citicenter bus transfer station

I am unaware of any complaint by Mr. Fulkerson. If he has a complaint, please ask him to contact our Internal Affairs Office at 334-2106 so we can investigate.

Jim Weston

___________________

8-21-2002

3:46 p.m. PDT

Dear Readers:

I am uploading this specifically to those few of you who were on Bob Fulkerson's list from last week. Some of you have already received this material, so I apologize for the duplication.

Bob just told me by phone that he did not consider himself in any danger, that he interepreted "clip" to mean handcuff, not fire a weapon at someone.

He needs to watch Law & Order. In the American vernacular, "clip" means shoot, as in "empty my gun's clip into you."

If a cop used that term, he or she is in serious need of sensitivity training, beginning with watching more episodes of Law & Order to find out what words mean out on the street.

I will be uploading all this material to the Citifare workers website at
http://www.nevadalabor.com/unews/citistrike02.html

I am also looking into a report about Citifare's new expando bus running a red light today.

Be well. Raise hell.

Andrew

ec: RPD
===========
2:30 p.m. PDT

8-21-2002

James Weston, Deputy Chief
City of Reno Police Department
weston@ci.reno.nv.us (Deputy Chief Weston)
Greg Krause, Executive Director

Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County
Gkrause@rtcwashoe.com (Greg Krause)

Dear Chief Weston and Mr. Krause:

Along with some of the locked-out Citifare employees, I plan to attend the RTC Citizens Advisory Committee meeting this evening at 6:30 p.m. at the Citilift building at Sixth and Sutro in Reno.
We further plan to attend and comment at Friday's regularly scheduled meeting of the Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County at the RTC office building and garage complex on Villanova, under US 395 South next door to Wooster High School.

We intend to conduct ourselves in a polite and informative manner. I understand that nothing bars the aggrieved workers from attending a meeting legally noticed under the Nevada Open Meeting Law.

I am concerned about reports from some of the locked-out employees that they have been physically barred from entering the premises at RTC's headquarters on Villanova. I do not have a copy of Judge Breen's injunction, but from press reports and Mr. Krause's advertisement in the Sunday, August 18, 2002, Reno Gazette-Journal (page 5e), the order does not seem to apply to any non-picketing activity.

Please advise me if you see it otherwise, as I want to both establish and maintain smooth communication between the various parties, especially in light of the following, of which I have only become aware within the past two hours.

So that there is no misunderstanding as to who I am, please be advised that I am a 31-year resident of Reno; a member of Communications Workers of America Local Union 9413; the editor of NevadaLabor.com; a 14-year columnist for the Daily Sparks Tribune; on the political action committee of the Reno-Sparks NAACP; and have been engaged by Teamsters Local 533 to work on its current dispute with the Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County and its subcontractor, British-owned Transit Management of Washoe, Inc.

I have a call in to Chief Weston regarding the incident with Mr. Fulkerson and am hereby requesting a complete report. I will keep you apprised and copied.

If you have any intent to bar myself, other members of the general public, or locked out union members, from either this evening's CAC meeting or Friday's RTC meeting, please let me know as soon as possible.

Thank you.

Andrew Barbano
(775) 786-1455

ec:
Media, community organizations, unions

[CWA 9413/AFL-CIO]

__________________

8-21-2002

5:09 p.m. PDT

From: "Greg Krause" <Gkrause@rtcwashoe.com>
To: "Andrew Barbano" <barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us>,
"Deputy Chief Weston" <weston@ci.reno.nv.us>
Cc: "Directors" <Directors@rtcwashoe.com>, "Stan Peck" <speck@mhcl-law.com>

Dear Mr. Barbano,

All public meetings conducted by the RTC, including the Citizens
Advisory Committee meeting this evening and the RTC Board meeting this
Friday, are open to all members of the public. The Temporary
Restraining Order issued by Judge Breen on August 9 forbids picketers
from obstructing, blocking or impeding Citifare passengers ingress and
egress to the bus. It also forbids picketers from obstructing or
impeding Citifare buses entering and exiting CitiCenter and other
transit facilities.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions regarding this matter.

Sincerely
Greg Krause
348-0400

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