http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/overridemandatoryminimumsveto/x8gxid4rdxmbx8?
Bishop Farrow 401.785.1760
http://www.ri-familylifecenter.org
nonviolenceinstitute.org
ProJo Article below about push for an override
When a government is locking up your children is'nt time we protect them from the Government? Or as Howard Zinn states to disobey with civil disobedience.
The General Assembly did not override the Governor vetoed. We have concerns that bill 5127, a bill that will eliminate mandatory minimum drug sentences, is not on their list for the overrides. We need your help today to get it on their list. Please call the numbers below to make sure your voice is heard!
House bill 5127 and its Senate companion bill 207 restores discretion to judges in drug related cases so that judges can match people with a sentence that makes sense to their individual situation, and paves the way for more effective solutions like treatment and rehabilitation. Over the past five years over 27 states have either amended or completely reversed their mandatory minimum drug laws.
Across the nation and in Rhode Island there is a growing recognition that we need to transition from a "tough on crime" approach to a "smart on crime" approach. It was in this spirit that the General Assembly showed overwhelming support for and passed bills H5127 and S207 in June and it is in this spirit that we call on the legislature to override Governor Carcieri's veto. Please make these call now!
Representative Murphy 222-2466
Representative Fox 222-2447
Senator Montalbano 222-6655
Senator Paiva-Weed 222-3310
Voices rise against drug sentencing
01:00 AM EDT on Friday, October 26, 2007
By W. Zachary MalinowskiJournal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- Civil-rights leaders and politicians made a last ditch
effort yesterday to get the General Assembly to override Governor
Carcieri's veto and abolish the state's minimum mandatory drug sentencing
laws.
The big question remains: Will the issue be presented for an override
at Tuesday's special session of the General Assembly?
House Finance Committee Chairman Steven M. Costantino, D-Providence,
said yesterday that the leadership had not committed to an agenda for the
special session. Translation: It's anyone's guess whether the issue of
minimum mandatory drug sentencing will be heard next week.
Rep. Joseph S. Almeida, the Providence Democrat who sponsored the House
version of the bill, said that Carcieri was not listening to the wants
of the people when he vetoed the lawmakers' decision to eliminate
mandatory minimum sentencing for drug crimes.
"Why doesn't he listen to the people," Almeida said. "Isn't this the
house of the people?"
Almeida, Sen. Harold Metts, D-Providence, and other supporters of the
override, including representatives from Direct Action for Rights and
Equality, held a low-key rally on the Smith Street side of the State
House late yesterday afternoon.
Steven Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island Affiliate of the
American Civil Liberties Union, called the nation's war on drugs "a
fiasco" and that Rhode Island should follow the lead of many other states
that have repealed tough mandatory drug laws that were adopted in the
1980s.
Brown said that every public official, "but our governor," has seen the
light. He said the drug laws have led to overcrowding at the Adult
Correctional Institutions and placed a strain on the state budget.
Since 1988, the state's prison population has more than doubled from
about 1,500 prisoners to more than 3,500.
Metts, the Providence senator, emphasized that Rhode Island residents
need better schools and property tax relief instead of locking more
teenagers up with Draconian drug sentences.
Metts, who is a minister and assistant principal at Central High School
in Providence, said that teenagers make mistakes and should be given
second chances -- not long-term prison sentences.
"As a society, we have to give people a chance to redeem themselves,"
he said. "Instead of more punishment, we need more love."
bmalinow@projo.com
Mimi Budnick
Organizer, DARE
Direct Action for Rights and Equality
340 Lockwood Street
Providence, RI 02907
401-351-6960
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R.i.p Father Farrow. <3 You are missed.
Mariah010100 1 month ago
rip bishop farrow you will be truly missed
mzreesie75 1 month ago
paiva weed supports police corruption
crookedcopssuk 3 years ago