Local
Saturday, December 10, 7-10pm
Old First Presbyterian Church, 1101 Bryden Rd.
Limited parking in side lot, alley, and street parking
Theme: Human Rights Day
Food, drink, and music
Featuring
Lorraine Moore, author of book on the Universal Declaration of Human RIghts
Tekla Lewin on prisoner rights and free speech
Live Jazz music
Friday, December 9, 6-7:30pm, this on-line event requires advance registration
The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) Legal Observer program is part of a comprehensive system of legal support designed to enable people to express their political views as fully as possible without unconstitutional disruption or interference by the police and with the fewest possible consequences from the criminal justice system.
NLG Legal Observers (LOs) are not part of the demonstration. LOs observe and document interactions between law enforcement and demonstrators in anticipation of future civil or criminal litigation under the direction of NLG attorneys. NLG Legal Observers do not negotiate with law enforcement, provide legal advice, or serve as peace marshals.
For more information about the National Lawyers Guild’s Legal Observer program, visit nlg.org/legalobservers or email <ohio@nlg.org>.
Use this link to register in advance for this meeting.
The Red Oak Community School, located in the Unitarian Universalist Church in Clintonville, was the site for both a huge success and a huge failure for the Columbus police on Saturday morning. The school had attempted to host an annual fundraiser featuring three local drag artists reading holiday stories to students.
The brand new, blue-vested, de-escalation focused, Columbus Police Dialogue Team was out with a stunning presence, standing two by two among the Proud Boys keeping the confrontation with counter-protesters to a mild roar.
Eight specially trained officers and sergeants were on site to protect the protesters’ right to free speech while reducing the use of force, arrests, and injuries that protesters have experienced in the recent past.
Chief Elaine Bryant reported in a YouTube statement on Monday night that they had been successful in that goal. No use of force, arrests, or injuries were reported.
Just as City Council works against public safety and the Columbus Police—reducing the force, under-funding, spouting slogans instead of policy, and refusing to conduct serious gun buy-back programs; the natural environment by approving oversized developments; the public schools by tax abatements and worse; and the city’s publics in general, on Monday, Oct. 25, 2022 council acted out against art in the little city that can’t.
Like the Columbus Dispatch and OSU’s president, it is often too easy to caricature Columbus’ City Council and the mayor, “Mr. Opportunity—for some.” It is hard to parody self-parody, but we must persist. The fate of Columbus’ ever-slight democracy depends on it.
With no debate but unblushing exhortations purportedly about cities, art, economics, and whatever doesn’t fit--free of knowledge, understanding, or meaningful context, City Council approved $250,000 to “create its first-ever ‘Public Art Master Plan,’ for the development, improvement and enhancement of public art and cultural arts programs in the community.”
From ACLU Ohio
A sub-bill was introduced on November 17 for House Bill 294, which will harm Ohio voters and make it more difficult to vote. The new version of the bill no longer includes automated voter registration and verification – the most significant positive component of the original bill. Send your message to the House Government Oversight Committee here.
Last week I wrote a column for this publication in which I mentioned that I’m a member of the International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local Number 12. In it I exposed the association one of our members also had with the Proud Boys (PB) and that he’d been caught passing out PB propaganda at a worksite. He was removed from the worksite that weekend and, during an executive committee meeting a few days later, was justly and thankfully removed from our union altogether.
In the column, I called him “Andy.” His name isn’t “Andy.”
I also seemed to leave the impression in that column that those who choose to work as laborers at the Convention Center are somehow rougher than the theater crews.
Neither of those things are true. In the first place, the one Andy that’s in our local, can (and has) walked intellectual circles around the “Andy” I mentioned in the last column; in the second, many of those who primarily work the Convention Center are higher up on the food chain than anyone who prefers the theater.
Wednesday, December 7, 6:30am-9pm, using your telephone
Will you help protect Ohio families from radioactive oil and gas waste by making one phone call on Wednesday? Ohio has 226 Class II injection wells that accept 20-30 million barrels of radioactive oil and gas liquid waste every year.
Last month, Buckeye Environmental Network, Sierra Club, EarthJustice, and 30 grassroots organizations petitioned the United States Environmental Protection Agency, (US EPA) to revoke Ohio’s authority to manage Ohio’s Class II oil and gas waste injection program. The program, currently run by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), consistently fails to act against violations, allowing serious problems to continue unaddressed, posing threats to our drinking water and public health.
Ohio communities have lived with leaking class II injection wells, accidents, blowouts, and spills for years. And, Ohio does not have a way for impacted residents to file a formal complaint.
Please help protect Ohio families by taking five minutes to call US EPA Administrator Debra Shore on Wednesday.
As disturbing as it was to see the Proud Boys and their fringe groups marching through Clintonville in camo with long rifles slung over shoulders, it is equally as absurd.
One US military veteran on the Columbus Reddit page perhaps said it best.
“The mismatched gear and overall sloppiness of the ‘boots and utes’ of Y’all Qeada never fails to trigger me as a veteran,” they wrote. “How big of a snowflake do you have to be to be triggered by drag queens?”
Another head-scratcher was to see the Columbus police a bit too chummy with the Proud Boys. True, the police were following new “keep-the-peace” protocols, but Canadians would deem this absurd because their nation officially designated the Proud Boys a terror organization in 2021.
Tuesday, December 6, 2022, 11:30 AM – 4:15 PM
Join us for an in-person training featuring expert panelists and in-depth discussions on the upcoming 2024-2025 State Operating Budget. Sponsored by Community Solutions and Advocates for Ohio’s Future. Cost: $30. More information and registration here.
