Marijuana.com

Suetaz · 10-10-2004, 09:20 AM

Loretta Nall Leads Protest of Inmate Death

by bhildy62 | 08 Oct 2004 | DC IndyMedia

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington, D.C. - October 07, 2004 - U.S. Marijuana Party founder Loretta Nall is in Washington, D.C. organizing a vigil to protest the death of Jonathan Magbie.

Magbie, a 27-year-old quadriplegic who had been unable to breathe on his own since he was 4, died in custody while serving a 10-day sentence for Marijuana possession. As this was Magbie's first conviction, and his condition required an extreme degree of medical attention simply to keep him alive, the fact that he was sentenced to any jail time at all was considered unusual.

Unfortunately, the corrections system was unable to provide Magpie with the care he needed. He was transferred several times between separate facilities until he died on September 24th.

The vigil, which began Tuesday at the H. Carl Moultrie I Courthouse, will be maintained through Friday and possibly into next week. The vigil follows Tuesday's arrest of 14 Medical Marijuana activists and patients in front of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services headquarters. The focus of Tuesday's protest was to demand that HHS reschedule Marijuana to allow physicians to prescribe it without federal interference.

Jonathan Magbie's death could have been prevented in this context. He used the Marijuana that earned him a jail sentence to help him feel better. Many patients with nerve damage find that Marijuana is more effective than other medicines, and with fewer side effects.

“This was a completely avoidable tragedy,” said Ms. Nall. “There are so many ways in which this could have been handled differently. We need to act now to change our policies, to make sure nothing like this happens again.”

Ms. Nall will be available for comment on Friday outside the courthouse at 500 Indiana Ave, NW from 11 AM to 5 PM.

Loretta Nall
President Alabama Marijuana Party
http://tv.alabama.usmjparty.com
http://www.sos.state.al.us/cf/electi....cfm?pacno=800
President United States Marijuana Party
http://www.usmjparty.com
4633 Pearson Chapel Rd
Alexander City AL 35010
Cell: (334)-415-9174
Email: cnall1 (at) charter.net

Report From Loretta - Friday, Oct. 7, 2004

Today turned out to be very interesting. I picked up my banner and went to the courthouse and waited for my friends Erin, Trista, and Gooey (from the Cannabis Culture forums)to show up.

Gooey got there first and we unfurled the banner out in front near the sidewalk.

People immediately began looking at it and talking about it.

Erin and Trista arrived shortly thereafter and took their positions with us. Gooey got the camera rolling.

Men in business suits that screamed "PROSECUTOR" began to come up and talk to us. They said we shouldn't say that the judge is responsible because the guy died in jail.

Of course my argument was that she had the option to not send him to jail and she even had the US Attorney's Office recommendation of probation. If she hadn't sentenced him to jail then he would not have died. So she is responsible.

They continued to ramble and say "she had no choice but to enforce the law" and basically we were wrong in calling her a murderer.

One of them said that she is a very fair judge who always tries to do the right thing for all parties involved. I told them I found that hard to believe considering Mr. Magbie's sentence.

When they left they said they were going to arrest us for slander and libel.
It didn't occour to me at that moment that they were not cops and so I got an attorney on backup and carried on with my business.

Most of the black community knew immediately who we were talking about and that it was about the Magbie case. Well, let me rephrase that. Most of the black people coming out of the courthouse who were most likely defendants of some sort understood who and what we were talking about.
The black men and women in suits either didn't know or knew and didn't acknowledge.

One older obviously republican woman came up to me. I think she was an attorney. She said she understood that we and many others were upset over what happened. She said that she was too. But she said Judge Retchin was a really good lady who made a bad decision that day. She also said the Rufus King's office is the one we should picket because they are the ones that told her office that the jail could meet Magbies needs. She gave me the address to write a complaint to Mr. King's office and I will. She was very polite and I could see that she really believed that Judge Retchin was a really good person. And maybe aside from this she is.

But, if she is then she needs to do the right thing here and step down. A written "my deepest! sympathies" bull**** just isn't enough.

A conservative Arab gentleman who was probably in his late 30's came over and said that he and I probably would disagree on everything but he was glad to see people exercising their right. He knew about the Magbie case.

He said he doesn't believe in legalization for medical or recreational purposes...there are pharma drugs people can take...it's just a front for legalization....

But as we talked and he openly listened to what I had to say and what the others who were there had to say he began to consider our viewpoint. I know that if we could have spent a few hours together that even an admitted "Bush Republican" like him could have been brought over to our side.

DC Indymedia came by and talked to us and took pictures. They will have or may already have a story up on it now. I haven't checked yet.

A gentleman named Geroge McDermott who produces Secret Justice, a public access TV program about the injustices in the American court system, came by today as well. We are getting together next week to film for his show.

Later in the day Karen O'Keefe from MPP came down and joined us.

Neither the attorney or Magbie's family showed up today and I have been unable to establish contact with them as they are not listed in the phone book and the online search has turned up nothing. I am still working on it though.

Today was productive. I feel good about the people who stopped by and gave us feedback and opened the dialogue on this issue. I am glad the suits and ties in that building were riled enough to walk over and say aomething. We got a reaction from them and I bet tonight and maybe for a few days they will ponder the information we exchanged and maybe in some way that will make a positive difference.

[Suetaznote: Notice that the article is from an IndyMedia website?]

MANY INDYMEDIA SITES WORLDWIDE HAVE JUST BEEN CLOSED BY THE FBI!

The FBI shut down a host of Indy Media sites world
wide by demanding the hard drives for these sites.

FBI Seizes IMC Servers in the UK

Thursday morning, US authorities issued a federal order to Rackspace ordering them to hand over Indymedia web servers to the requesting agency. Rackspace, which provides hosting services for more that 20 Indymedia sites at its London facility, complied and turned over the requested servers, effectively removing those sites from the internet.

Since the subpoena was issued to Rackspace and not to Indymedia, the reasons for this action are still unknown to Indymedia. Talking to Indymedia volunteers, Rackspace stated that "they cannot provide Indymedia with any information regarding the order." ISPs have received gag orders in similar situations which prevent them from updating the concerned parties on what is happening.

It is unclear to Indymedia how and why a server that is outside the US jurisdiction can be seized by US authorities.

At the same time an additional server was taken down at Rackspace which provided streaming radio to several radio stations, BLAG (linux distro), and a handful of miscellanous things.

The last few months have seen numerous attacks on independent media by the US Federal Government. In August the Secret Service used a subpoena in an attempt to disrupt the NYC IMC before the RNC by trying to get IP logs from an ISP in the US and the Netherlands. Last month the FCC shut down community radio stations around the US. Two weeks ago the FBI requested that Indymedia takes down a post on the Nantes IMC that had a photo of some undercover Swiss police and IMC volunteers in Seattle were visited by the FBI on the same issue. On the other hand, Indymedia and other independent media organisations were successfull with their victories for example against Diebold and the Patroit Act. Today however, the US authorities shut down IMCs around the world.

The list of affected local media collectives includes Ambazonia, Uruguay, Andorra, Poland, Western Massachusetts, Nice, Nantes, Lilles, Marseille (all France), Euskal Herria (Basque Country), Liege, East and West Vlaanderen, Antwerpen (all Belgium), Belgrade, Portugal, Prague, Galiza, Italy, Brazil, UK, part of the Germany site, and the global Indymedia Radio site.

[Suetaznote: Below is a poster that was designed by a member at the Cannabis Culutre forums:]

xxdr_zombiexx · 10-10-2004, 03:37 PM

REAL Activism.

Thank you for protesting this indefensible tragedy.

You rock, Ms. Nall!

Bellatrix · 10-10-2004, 04:34 PM

Thank you Loretta! Not only does she organized and lead the protest but she manages to convert and inform while she does it. Right on!!

Thank you Suetaz! This story should be splashed on the front page of every newspaper in the country. Jailing a quadrapelegic! Yeah, a really dangerous guy. This judge might be a "nice lady" but she certainly isn't a smart one. She should resign over this, certainly.

And thank you, Global Indymedia! Check out a discussion complete with even more information at the SmirkingChimp. Thankfully our Canadian servers remained mostly unscathed, but I was interested to find out that so much information available to AMERICANS is what was seized.

I also found this interesting bit on the front page of Indymedia today;

Quote:

According to Italian news agency reports and an Agence France-Presse (AFP) interview with FBI spokesman Joe Parris, the FBI acted on Italian and Swiss requests. "It is not an FBI operation," Parris told AFP. "Through a legal assistance treaty, the subpoena was on behalf of a third country." (1)

Interesting. Who do you guys think it was, Saudi Arabia or Israel?

As a residual effect, some local Indymedia supporters seem to be distancing themselves from the popular media outlet...

Quote:

Victoria and Vancouver IMCs need your help

posted by editorial staff VAN-IMC - Saturday September 25, 2004

KEEP INDYMEDIA ALIVE ON CANADA'S WEST COAST

VANCOUVER AND VICTORIA INDYMEDIA NEEDS YOUR HELP

Vancouver and Victoria Indymedia are in danger of disappearing. We are a victim of our own success. The amount of traffic on our website generates a band width cost of approximately $400.00 a month for Vancouver and $100.00 a month for Victoria. Until recently, all bandwidth costs were covered by one kind, anonymous donor, who does not want to be the sole supporter anymore, and really who can blame them.

To donate, please visit the Vancouver IMC donation page. Please give generously.

Cheques can be sent to:

Vancouver IMC c/o #510-207 West Hastings St Vancouver, BC, V6E 4L5

Ugh...I need to smoke one. A guy in a wheelchair dies for touching a plant, meanwhile Dick Cheney walks the earth a free man.

10-10-2004, 09:20 AM	#1
Suetaz Seasoned Activist Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 1,079 Grams: 2,607.75 Groans: 0 Groaned at 0 Times in 0 Posts Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post Stock Portfolio Total Value: 0.000 Gain/Loss: 0.000%	Loretta Nall leads protest of Jonathon Magbie's death Loretta Nall Leads Protest of Inmate Death by bhildy62 \| 08 Oct 2004 \| DC IndyMedia FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Washington, D.C. - October 07, 2004 - U.S. Marijuana Party founder Loretta Nall is in Washington, D.C. organizing a vigil to protest the death of Jonathan Magbie. Magbie, a 27-year-old quadriplegic who had been unable to breathe on his own since he was 4, died in custody while serving a 10-day sentence for Marijuana possession. As this was Magbie's first conviction, and his condition required an extreme degree of medical attention simply to keep him alive, the fact that he was sentenced to any jail time at all was considered unusual. Unfortunately, the corrections system was unable to provide Magpie with the care he needed. He was transferred several times between separate facilities until he died on September 24th. The vigil, which began Tuesday at the H. Carl Moultrie I Courthouse, will be maintained through Friday and possibly into next week. The vigil follows Tuesday's arrest of 14 Medical Marijuana activists and patients in front of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services headquarters. The focus of Tuesday's protest was to demand that HHS reschedule Marijuana to allow physicians to prescribe it without federal interference. Jonathan Magbie's death could have been prevented in this context. He used the Marijuana that earned him a jail sentence to help him feel better. Many patients with nerve damage find that Marijuana is more effective than other medicines, and with fewer side effects. “This was a completely avoidable tragedy,” said Ms. Nall. “There are so many ways in which this could have been handled differently. We need to act now to change our policies, to make sure nothing like this happens again.” Ms. Nall will be available for comment on Friday outside the courthouse at 500 Indiana Ave, NW from 11 AM to 5 PM. Loretta Nall President Alabama Marijuana Party http://tv.alabama.usmjparty.com http://www.sos.state.al.us/cf/electi....cfm?pacno=800 President United States Marijuana Party http://www.usmjparty.com 4633 Pearson Chapel Rd Alexander City AL 35010 Cell: (334)-415-9174 Email: cnall1 (at) charter.net Report From Loretta - Friday, Oct. 7, 2004 Today turned out to be very interesting. I picked up my banner and went to the courthouse and waited for my friends Erin, Trista, and Gooey (from the Cannabis Culture forums)to show up. Gooey got there first and we unfurled the banner out in front near the sidewalk. People immediately began looking at it and talking about it. Erin and Trista arrived shortly thereafter and took their positions with us. Gooey got the camera rolling. Men in business suits that screamed "PROSECUTOR" began to come up and talk to us. They said we shouldn't say that the judge is responsible because the guy died in jail. Of course my argument was that she had the option to not send him to jail and she even had the US Attorney's Office recommendation of probation. If she hadn't sentenced him to jail then he would not have died. So she is responsible. They continued to ramble and say "she had no choice but to enforce the law" and basically we were wrong in calling her a murderer. One of them said that she is a very fair judge who always tries to do the right thing for all parties involved. I told them I found that hard to believe considering Mr. Magbie's sentence. When they left they said they were going to arrest us for slander and libel. It didn't occour to me at that moment that they were not cops and so I got an attorney on backup and carried on with my business. Most of the black community knew immediately who we were talking about and that it was about the Magbie case. Well, let me rephrase that. Most of the black people coming out of the courthouse who were most likely defendants of some sort understood who and what we were talking about. The black men and women in suits either didn't know or knew and didn't acknowledge. One older obviously republican woman came up to me. I think she was an attorney. She said she understood that we and many others were upset over what happened. She said that she was too. But she said Judge Retchin was a really good lady who made a bad decision that day. She also said the Rufus King's office is the one we should picket because they are the ones that told her office that the jail could meet Magbies needs. She gave me the address to write a complaint to Mr. King's office and I will. She was very polite and I could see that she really believed that Judge Retchin was a really good person. And maybe aside from this she is. But, if she is then she needs to do the right thing here and step down. A written "my deepest! sympathies" bull** just isn't enough. A conservative Arab gentleman who was probably in his late 30's came over and said that he and I probably would disagree on everything but he was glad to see people exercising their right. He knew about the Magbie case. He said he doesn't believe in legalization for medical or recreational purposes...there are pharma drugs people can take...it's just a front for legalization.... But as we talked and he openly listened to what I had to say and what the others who were there had to say he began to consider our viewpoint. I know that if we could have spent a few hours together that even an admitted "Bush Republican" like him could have been brought over to our side. DC Indymedia came by and talked to us and took pictures. They will have or may already have a story up on it now. I haven't checked yet. A gentleman named Geroge McDermott who produces Secret Justice, a public access TV program about the injustices in the American court system, came by today as well. We are getting together next week to film for his show. Later in the day Karen O'Keefe from MPP came down and joined us. Neither the attorney or Magbie's family showed up today and I have been unable to establish contact with them as they are not listed in the phone book and the online search has turned up nothing. I am still working on it though. Today was productive. I feel good about the people who stopped by and gave us feedback and opened the dialogue on this issue. I am glad the suits and ties in that building were riled enough to walk over and say aomething. We got a reaction from them and I bet tonight and maybe for a few days they will ponder the information we exchanged and maybe in some way that will make a positive difference. [Suetaznote: Notice that the article is from an IndyMedia website?] MANY INDYMEDIA SITES WORLDWIDE HAVE JUST BEEN CLOSED BY THE FBI! The FBI shut down a host of Indy Media sites world wide by demanding the hard drives for these sites. FBI Seizes IMC Servers in the UK Thursday morning, US authorities issued a federal order to Rackspace ordering them to hand over Indymedia web servers to the requesting agency. Rackspace, which provides hosting services for more that 20 Indymedia sites at its London facility, complied and turned over the requested servers, effectively removing those sites from the internet. Since the subpoena was issued to Rackspace and not to Indymedia, the reasons for this action are still unknown to Indymedia. Talking to Indymedia volunteers, Rackspace stated that "they cannot provide Indymedia with any information regarding the order." ISPs have received gag orders in similar situations which prevent them from updating the concerned parties on what is happening. It is unclear to Indymedia how and why a server that is outside the US jurisdiction can be seized by US authorities. At the same time an additional server was taken down at Rackspace which provided streaming radio to several radio stations, BLAG (linux distro), and a handful of miscellanous things. The last few months have seen numerous attacks on independent media by the US Federal Government. In August the Secret Service used a subpoena in an attempt to disrupt the NYC IMC before the RNC by trying to get IP logs from an ISP in the US and the Netherlands. Last month the FCC shut down community radio stations around the US. Two weeks ago the FBI requested that Indymedia takes down a post on the Nantes IMC that had a photo of some undercover Swiss police and IMC volunteers in Seattle were visited by the FBI on the same issue. On the other hand, Indymedia and other independent media organisations were successfull with their victories for example against Diebold and the Patroit Act. Today however, the US authorities shut down IMCs around the world. The list of affected local media collectives includes Ambazonia, Uruguay, Andorra, Poland, Western Massachusetts, Nice, Nantes, Lilles, Marseille (all France), Euskal Herria (Basque Country), Liege, East and West Vlaanderen, Antwerpen (all Belgium), Belgrade, Portugal, Prague, Galiza, Italy, Brazil, UK, part of the Germany site, and the global Indymedia Radio site. [Suetaznote: Below is a poster that was designed by a member at the Cannabis Culutre forums:] __________________ Marijuana.com Community Posting Guidelines & News Submissions Know Your Rights!**

10-10-2004, 03:37 PM	#2
xxdr_zombiexx Blogger Join Date: Sep 2001 Posts: 1,088 Grams: 3,101.62 Groans: 0 Groaned at 0 Times in 0 Posts Thanks: 16 Thanked 33 Times in 14 Posts Stock Portfolio Total Value: 0.000 Gain/Loss: 0.000%	REAL Activism. Thank you for protesting this indefensible tragedy. You rock, Ms. Nall! __________________ Alien Space Signal There's no money for your issue so long as we're squandering $50 billion a year on the DrugWar. Ben Masel Fear became the ultimate tool of this government - V.

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