Rights Restoration
Workshop
by The Jacksonville
Advocate
Jacksonville, FL - Blacksonville.com and
American Civil
Liberties Union of Greater Jacksonville hosted a free
workshop to assist individuals with a past felony
conviction in applying for restoration of their civil
rights, including the right to vote. The workshop took
place on Saturday, October 1, 2005 at Hope Plaza in
Jacksonville. The workshop was free of charge and no
appointment was necessary.
Workshop participants were provided with one-on-one
assistance and all the information they needed to apply.
Community activist Richard Burton talked briefly about
Florida’s unjust voting and civil rights ban, and about
what steps every person can take to correct it, prior to
assisting applicants. “ Voting privileges being restored
need to be one of our top priorities,” says Burton of
the National NAACP Pioneer Rights Sub-Committee. “In
taking away the right to vote from thousands of
citizens, Florida is completely out of line with the
rest of the country, ” said Ken Hurley of the
Jacksonville Chapter of the ACLU. “It’s time for our
state to put this shameful vestige of the Jim Crow era
behind us. It is not only unfair and reprehensible but
fiscally irresponsible too.”
Michael Vernon, wants to
establish a prison ministry until rights are
restored. He has been out of prison for 12
years.
-----------------------------
ACLU Holds Annual Meeting
by Greg Miller
The Jacksonville Advocate
Originally posted 12/15/2005
Jacksonville, Fl- The Jacksonville Chapter of the
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Held it’s annual
meeting on Wednesday, November 30, 2005 at the Radisson
Hotel.
Ken Hurley reviewed some of the current Civil Liberties
issues facing the Jacksonville community. His
presentation touched upon the opt out provision of the
No Child Left Behind legislation which provides the
names of high school students to military recruiters,
students being forced to say the pledge of allegiance in
school, gay marriage, tasers in the school system, the
U.S. Patriot Act sec. 215 gag order and the expansion of
the use of National Security Letters to include domestic
investigations.
Mr. Hurley, then introduced
Robert K. Cromwell, Special Agent
in charge of the Jacksonville Division of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Robert
Cromwell’s topic was “How the FBI Has Changed Since
911”.
Mr. Cromwell
stated that the mission of the FBI has shifted from
crime investigation to crime prevention in countering
terrorism. The top 5 missions of the FBI are:
• Counter Terrorism
• Foreign Counter Intelligence
(includes industrial espionage)
• Cyber Crime (fraud, cyber terrorism
and sabotage, and child molesters)
• Public Corruption
• Civil Rights
Special Agent Cromwell stated that the role of the CIA
(Central Intelligence Agency) is to gather information
to effect policy and the role of the FBI is to gather
information and evidence that will stand up in court,
i.e., to prosecute.
Cromwell stated that it is against FBI regulations to
discuss ongoing investigations however he did cite some
of the accomplishments of the Jacksonville Division...
A cache of rison (a highly poisonous substance) was
taken off of the streets of Ocala; over $90 million
dollars of assets were seized with convictions;
$14,000,000 was seized when J. R. Parker was convicted
of real estate related crimes.
He also stated
there will be some interesting developments unfolding in
the near future regarding public corruption. Mr.
Cromwell completed his presentation by entertaining
various questions from the audience.
(read more about the ACLU Annual
Meeting)
(L-R)- Robert K.
Cromwell, Special Agent in Charge Jacksonville, FBI
Division, Allison Burrell, Blacksonville.com, Ken
Hurley, President, Greater Jacksonville ACLU.
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