[ACLU-CU ALERT] Patriot Act Forum Wed 7:00PM

[Announce at aclu-cu.org]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 13, 2005

Contact:
Rachael Dietkus, Champaign County ACLU
312-720-7004 – cellular
rachael.dietkus at gmail.com

Durl Kruse, AWARE
217-328-2789
jandurl at insightbb.com

Critical Issues Surrounding the USA PATRIOT Act to be
Addressed at the Urbana Free Library on Wednesday, June 15
at 7:00 p.m. Ed Yohnka, Director of Communications for the
ACLU of Illinois, to be the featured speaker

Champaign-Urbana, IL (June 13, 2005): The Champaign County
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Anti-War,
Anti-Racism Effort (AWARE) will host a forum on the USA
PATRIOT Act at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, June 15, 2005, in
the newly renovated Urbana Free Library. Ed Yohnka,
Director of Communications for the ACLU of Illinois, will
be the main speaker.

The Patriot Act contains more than 150 separate sections
outlined in 10 major titles. About a tenth of the law
expires or "sunsets" at the end of this year unless
Congress votes to reauthorize it in the coming weeks. Even
though many sections raise serious civil liberties
concerns, the ACLU feels that the Patriot Act contains a
handful of truly radical expansions of criminal and
intelligence search and surveillance authority, only some
of which sunset. These changes represent the most dangerous
sections of the law and will discussed at the forum.

A recent Chicago Tribune editorial endorsed renewal of the
USA PATRIOT Act, suggesting that Congress has "good reason"
to renew even the most controversial portions of the Act.
However, despite broad public concern, some in Congress and
the Bush Administration are rushing to make the Patriot Act
permanent and to expand the already broad authority it gave
federal agents to seize private records like those held by
hotels, libraries and doctors without proper court review
or probable cause.

AWARE and the Champaign County ACLU ask that members of the
community attend this timely educational forum and
encourage Congress to use the debate over the sunsets to
highlight the more radical provisions in the Patriot Act.

For more information about this event, please contact
Rachael Dietkus from the Champaign County ACLU at
rachael.dietkus at gmail.com or 312-720-7004.


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