Aclu

The Hagerstown Suns will expand a church bulletin discount promotion to accept bulletins from civic and nonprofit groups under a settlement that ends the baseball club's legal battle with the state and the American Civil Liberties Union, both sides said Tuesday. cont. from front page The promotion now will be called Sunday Family Bulletin Day. As with those who present church bulletins, a family of up to six people will be admitted for the discounted price of $6 if they present a bulletin from a civic or nonprofit group at a Suns' Sunday home game.

ACLU will pay protest defense By STEVEN T. DENNIS Staff Writer The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland will defend the Hagerstown man arrested last month while protesting the Washington County Commissioners on a park bench outside the county administration building. Lawrence H. Freeman has a Feb. 19 trial date in Washington County District Court on a charge of trespassing at a public building during business hours. At the time of his Dec. 23, 1997, arrest, he was holding up a sheet of paper that read: "Washington County Commissioners won't hire black men. " Dwight Sullivan, chief lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, said Freeman was protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution.

The American Civil Liberties Union and a Maryland commission are taking another swing at the Hagerstown Suns Church Bulletin Day promotion. As expected, the ACLU and the state Commission on Human Relations are appealing a ruling by state Administrative Law Judge Georgia Brady. Last month Brady ruled the promotion, which offers discounted admission to fans who bring church bulletins to Sunday baseball games, is permitted under Maryland law because the team offers the discount to all fans at the ticket window.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland is representing a Washington County woman who last month invoked her privilege not to testify against her same-sex spouse in an assault case. The Washington County Circuit Court trial of Deborah Snowden, 50, of Williamsport on a second-degree assault charge came to a halt in April when Sha'rron Snowden invoked her spousal privilege not to testify against her spouse. The couple were married in August 2010 in Washington, D.C., where same-sex marriages are legal.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - The American Civil Liberties Union has dropped the case of a Gerrardstown, W.Va., missionary who is suing the state of West Virginia over his refusal to have his picture taken for his driver's license. [cont. from news page ] Benjamin David Daniel Cyrus, 63, said he believes the photo requirement by the state's Division of Motor Vehicles is a violation of the Ten Commandments. The ACLU in Charleston, W.Va., had been handling the lawsuit but dropped it Aug. 30 after Cyrus expressed concerns about the way the case was being handled.

BALTIMORE (AP) -- The Maryland chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union says it will file public information requests to determine if state police surveilled activist groups other than those it has already admitted to tracking. ACLU attorney David Rocah said Tuesday that the requests cover groups that advocate for a variety of issues, including two that have learned that they were under police surveillance. Rocah says the other groups may have been surveilled based on the reasons state police gave for the surveillance of the anti-war and death penalty opposition groups.

Flush tax a fiasco To the editor: For the yo-yos responsible for this trifling legislation of a flush tax, I have neither regard nor respect. This is total robbery of the citizens and I would like an accounting of our money for this - if you have the courage to be honest with us. Tell the taxpayers how much you are collecting and how it's being spent. How many hundreds of thousands of dollars for studies? Are the big industries dumping sludge and filth into the waterways paying anything, or are they being fined for it as they should be?

Washington County Democrats announce two committee changes The Washington County Democratic Central Committee has elected Larry Barron to take over as vice chairman in place of N. Linn Hendershot, who died May 1. Barron became vice chairman on May 19. On June 16, the committee picked Willie E. Conyers to fill an open seat. Hoover is officially Libertarian candidate for Congress Gary William Hoover Sr. of Clear Spring officially has became the Libertarian Party's candidate in this year's race for Maryland's 6th District seat in Congress.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland has asked the state to examine an online petition-signature system that's driving an effort to overturn a new law granting in-state college tuition to illegal immigrants. In a letter sent May 31 and released to the public on Friday, the ACLU told Linda Lamone, Maryland's elections administrator, that the online system invites fraud and violates a law prohibiting "pre-filled" petition forms. But Del. Neil C. Parrott, the petition drive's leader, said organizers shared their plan with the Maryland State Board of Elections in advance.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland is representing a Washington County woman who last month invoked her privilege not to testify against her same-sex spouse in an assault case. The Washington County Circuit Court trial of Deborah Snowden, 50, of Williamsport on a second-degree assault charge came to a halt in April when Sha'rron Snowden invoked her spousal privilege not to testify against her spouse. The couple were married in August 2010 in Washington, D.C., where same-sex marriages are legal.

ACLU will protect Christian right's religious freedoms To the editor: Quoted initially in 1878 by the United States Supreme Court and used as a general precedent in following years, the term separation of church and state originates in a letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptists in 1802, in which he refers to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution as creating a "wall of separation" between church and...

DARGAN -- An Election Day squabble at the Potomac Valley Fire Co. near Dargan has attracted the interest of state civil liberties advocates and raised a call for a fresh interpretation of a state election law. Paul Thompson Jr., 44, who lives across the street from the fire hall, says a Washington County election judge cut up and tore down political signs on his property the day of the presidential election in November. The judge cited state law that calls for a 100-foot "no-electioneering" zone around the entrance to each polling place, which in this case included the part of Thompson's property bearing the signs.

BALTIMORE (AP) -- The Maryland chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union says it will file public information requests to determine if state police surveilled activist groups other than those it has already admitted to tracking. ACLU attorney David Rocah said Tuesday that the requests cover groups that advocate for a variety of issues, including two that have learned that they were under police surveillance. Rocah says the other groups may have been surveilled based on the reasons state police gave for the surveillance of the anti-war and death penalty opposition groups.

"I know that the Washington County school system takes great pride in the fact that teachers in this district do not offer 'one size fits all' instruction to their students, but rather they differentiate their instruction to meet the unique learning needs of their diverse learning population. That's why I find it very ironic that the board of this same district does accept a 'one size fits all' in regards to its transportation policy, and chooses to ignore and deny the diverse needs of its parental population, or the stakeholders, as they're always called.

BALTIMORE (AP) -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland claims in a court filing that Maryland State Police officials have not released all documents related to the 14-month infiltration or monitoring of anti-death penalty and peace activist groups. The ACLU filed a Public Information Act lawsuit against the state police in June that first detailed the surveillance operation. The state police's attorney, Sharon Benzil, says the suit is moot because all documents have been released and the plaintiffs waited too long to sue. However, ACLU attorney David Rocah says only summaries of the surveillance logs were released, not actual reports.