Yet another assault on our First Amendment right to free speech...

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State criminalizes shouting about I-69
Politics | Interstate 69 | Activism
State criminalizes shouting about I-69
by Steven Higgs
May 3, 2009

Standing on a table and shouting at public meetings is a felony in Indiana and amounts to “Racketeering” if the offender is a member of an organized citizens group, according to arrest warrants issued April 17 in Pike County for two anti-NAFTA Highway protesters.

In the documents, Pike County Prosecutor Darrin McDonald and a state police officer allege that direct actions by members of the Roadblock EarthFirst! group between June 2007 and August 2008 are felonies under the Indiana Corrupt Business Influence Act, punishable by up to eight years in state prison. The law is Indiana’s version of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a.k.a. RICO.

Two activists -- Hugh F. Farrell and Gina A. “Tiga” Wertz -- were arrested on April 24 and charged with four misdemeanors and felony racketeering for anti-Interstate 69 actions in Petersburg, Oakland City, Evansville and Bloomington. Farrell was released April 28 on bond. Wertz remained in jail as of May 1.

According to the warrants, the state believes that citizens organized to discourage public projects like I-69 are organized criminals.

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http://www.bloomingtonalternative.com/node/9936

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In other words, DON'T YOU EVEN DARE TO GET IN THE WAY OF CORPORATE INTERESTS!!!

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Indiana is getting stranger by the year.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. Don't commit civil disobedience if you're not prepared for the consequences.

And knock off the martyr shit.

[Towlie]

4. That "Racketeer" crap is clearly an abuse of the legislature's intention in creating the law.

[JDPriestly]

3. The countryside around Bloomington, Indiana used to be so beautiful.

It would be tragic to destroy it with a freeway. That they are even contemplating a road through that country is just so sad. We used to drive from Indianapolis to Bloomington way back in the 1950s. Progress -- doesn't always improve things.

The specific actions at the meeting sound like they are probably protected by the First Amendment. The charges are just harassment. Now, some of the other conduct described in the article might actually have some merit.