Community Resolution for Conway, MA

Town of CONWAY, Massachusetts
5 Academy Hill Road – Telephone: (413) 369-4773 and
32 Main Street – Telephone: (413) 369-4235 – Fax: (413) 369-4237
P.O. Box 240 – Conway. Massachusetts 01341-0240

29 .July 2004

I, Virginia A. Knowlton, duly elected Town Clerk for the Town of Conway, do certify that at an annual Town Meeting held on 12 April 2004, in the Town of Conway, called and convened in accordance with Town Bylaws, the following action was taken under Article 25 of the warrant:

ARTICLE 25: Moderator required a hand count and declared the following passed:

Whereas Several Acts and Orders recently enacted at the Federal level, including sections of the USA PATRIOT Act and several Executive Orders, now threaten many of our fundamental rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and by the United States Constitution Bill of Rights, including
· Freedom of speech, religion, assembly and privacy;
· The right to counsel and due process in judicial proceedings; and
· Protection from unreasonable searches and seizures; and

Whereas these civil liberties are now threatened by

A. The USA PATRIOT Act, which
· All but eliminates judicial supervision of telephone and Internet surveillance:
· Greatly expands the government’s ability to conduct secret searches;
· Gives the Attorney General and the Secretary of State the power to designate domestic groups as “”terrorist organizations””; and
· Grants the P131 broad access to sensitive medical, mental health, financial and educational records about individuals without having to without having to show evidence of a crime and without a court order; and

B. Federal Executive Orders, which
· Establish secret military tribunals for terrorism suspects;
· Permit wiretapping of conversations between federal prisoners and their lawyers;
· Lift Justice Department regulations against illegal COINTELPRO-type operations by the FBI (covert activities that in the past targeted domestic groups and individuals); and
· Limit the disclosure of public documents and records under the Freedom of information Act;

Therefore We the people of Conway, Massachusetts, honoring those who have sacrificed their lives to protect these rights and liberties, do hereby request:

1. That local law enforcement, to the extent legally permissible, continue to preserve residents’ freedom of speech, religion, assembly, and privacy; rights to counsel and due process in judicial proceedings; and protection from unreasonable searches and seizures, even if requested or authorized to infringe upon these rights by federal law enforcement, acting under new powers granted by the USA PATRIOT Act or orders of the Executive Branch;
2. That our local officials, the U.S. Attorney General’s Office, the Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Massachusetts State Police report regularly and publicly to the to the Town of Conway the extend to and manner in which they have acted in Western Massachusetts under the USA PATRIOT Act, new Executive O,’ders, or COINTELPRO-cype regulations, including disclosing the names of any Conway area residents detained in Western Massachusetts or elsewhere;
3. That our United States Congressman and Senators monitor the implementation of the Acts and Orders cited herein, vote against any attempt to make the USA PATRIOT Act permanent, and actively work for the repeal of the parts of those Acts and Orders that violate our fundamental rights and liberties as stated in the ConstilutioflS of the Commonwealth and the United States.

Vote by actual hand count wasl24 for vs. 73 against

A true copy of the record,
Attest:

Virginia A. Knowlton
Town Clerk