Calif. Town Outlaws Compliance With Patriot Act
Let's hear it for Arcata, California. The Northern California town, not content to voice its disapproval of the Patriot Act, has gone further and made it a crime to comply with the Act.
Starting this month, a new city ordinance would impose a fine of $57 on any city department head who voluntarily complies with investigations or arrests under the aegis of the Patriot Act, the anti-terrorism bill passed after Sept. 11.
The town knows its ordinance is "mostly symbolic" since federal law takes precedence over state law. It doesn't care.
Home to about 16,000 and nearly 300 miles up the coast from San Francisco, Arcata made waves in the early 1990s as the first city with a Green Party majority. Greens now hold two of five seats on the council, which recently issued a proclamation against war in Iraq.
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