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Begin forwarded message:<br>
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Dear friends,<br><br>
We have been relatively quiet these days and wanted to update you on
things going on with Daniel's case. <br><br>
At a March 2nd court date, sentencing dates were set for all defendants.
The sentencing dates for the non-cooperating defendants in the case are
as follows:<br><br>
June 1 - Joyanna Zacher and Nathan Block's sentencing. 9 AM<br>
June 4 - Daniel McGowan's sentencing. 9 AM<br>
June 5 - Jonathan Paul's sentencing. 9 AM<br><br>
We are encouraging people to attend these dates and support the
defendants. Be sure to arrive early (only 42 seats!), dress well for
court and please behave during the proceedings. Oregon Federal Court is
located at 405 East 8th Avenue. (Be careful crossing Franklin Boulevard).
<a href="http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?searchtype=address&country=US&addtohistory=&searchtab=home&formtype=address&popflag=0&latitude=&longitude=&name=&phone=&level=&cat=&address=405+East+8th+Avenue&city=eugene&state=or&zipcode=">
View map.</a><br><br>
There is also a very important court date coming up in May. At a May 15th
hearing, Judge Aiken will hear arguments on the "terrorism
enhancement" the government wants to have applied on all defendants
in the case. You can read an update on this aspect of the case in today's
Eugene Weekly
<a href="http://eugeneweekly.com/2007/03/29/news.html#2">here</a>.
(Below)<br>
Letters to the Eugene Weekly regarding this important issue can be sent
to <a href="mailto:editor@eugeneweekly.com">editor@eugeneweekly.com</a>
(Letters to the Editor (to be published in the paper) should be clearly
labeled as such, be no more than 250 words and must include your full
name, address and phone number.<br><br>
We are happy to announce that we are starting a matching grant campaign
for Daniel's tuition. We have a donor that will match your donation
dollar for dollar up to $12,000. This means we will be able to double
your donation i.e. Your $25 donation means we get $50. Thanks to this
generosity we are in a position to cover Daniel's masters degree tuition
in full. Please consider contributing and help Daniel earn his masters
degree while he serves his sentence. You can donate online through the
paypal button on
<a href="http://www.supportdaniel.org/">www.supportdaniel.org</a> or send
a check/money order made out to "Lisa McGowan", POB 106, NY, NY
10156.<br><br>
Finally, we are organizing a massive book sale in New York City on May
5th at the
<a href="http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?searchtype=address&country=US&addtohistory=&searchtab=home&formtype=address&popflag=0&latitude=&longitude=&name=&phone=&level=&cat=&address=astor+place+and+third+avenue&city=new+york&state=ny&zipcode=">
Book Thug Nation book table</a> on Astor Place between 3rd and 4th
Avenues at 12 noon. Please save the date and start looking through
your shelves now to see what you can donate. When the sale is closer, we
will announce a book drop off location. If you don't live in NYC
and want to help, you can peruse our book stock and buy books from our
amazon.com shop
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/shops/index.html/104-8431116-8638343?ie=UTF8&sellerID=A2I8H2A447NK2A">
here</a>.<br><br>
Thanks for all your support!<br>
<a href="http://www.supportdaniel.org/">Family and Friends of Daniel
McGowan</a><br><br>
<br><br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4 color="#FF0000"><b>SABOTAGE
OR TERRORISM?<br><br>
</b></font><font size=3>On May 15 federal Judge Ann Aiken will decide
whether the Oregon eco-saboteurs are arsonists or terrorists.<br><br>
Oral arguments on the application of sentencing guidelines for the
"terrorism enhancement" will take place starting at 10 am. This
enhancement could add up to 20 years to the sentences for all District of
Oregon "Operation Backfire" defendants. <br><br>
Sentencing of the eco-sabotage defendants will begin on May 22, one week
after the decision is made on the enhancement. All hearings will take
place in Judge Aiken's courtroom in the Wayne L. Morse U.S. Courthouse in
Eugene.<br><br>
According to attorney Lauren Regan, whose Civil Liberties Defense Center
(CLDC) is involved in the cases, "The enhancement's application will
be affected by whether the property damaged or destroyed was government
owned or private."<br><br>
If the judge decides the terrorism enhancement applies to the cases, then
each defendant will argue individually against the enhancement. U.S.
sentencing guidelines state that for the terrorism enhancement to apply,
the defendant or his or conduct must be "calculated to influence or
affect the conduct of the government by intimidation or
coercion."<br><br>
The CLDC contends that the government is seeking to label these
defendants as terrorists in order to justify the amount of money it has
spent pursuing so-called terrorists. And if activists become labeled
terrorists, the CLDC expects a chilling effect upon progressive
movements. <br><br>
Sentencing dates for the defendants begin with Stanislaus Meyerhoff on
May 22, and continue each day except May 28 until the last defendant,
Jonathan Paul, is sentenced June 5. Identification will be required to
enter the courtroom, and if the courtroom fills, the hearings will be
relayed to another room via closed-circuit TV. <br><br>
Three Operation Backfire cases will be dealt with in Washington: Briana
Waters, Jen Kolar and Lacey Phillabaum. The terrorism enhancement is not
being sought in those cases. Waters, the only defendant to continue to
plead not guilty, will go to trial on Sept. 17. Kolar and Phillabaum both
pled guilty and await sentencing. Phillabaum self-reported to federal
prison on Jan. 29. <i>Camilla Mortensen<br><br>
<br><br>
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<font size=3 color="#FF0000">The Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br>
(415) 863-9977<br>
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