Think the papers will find it at all interesting to be reminded of the incumbent Governor's brutal past at the height of his reelection campaign? No, I didn't think so, either.
Don didn't ask me to do this, but they always, always need help with their legal bills. Financially, the last seven years have taken an inhuman toll on the both of them. If you care to help out, donations can be sent to:
The Adams Legal Defense Fund
P.O. Box 306,
Cheltenham, PA 19012
Most Recent articles:
DON AND TERI ADAMS UPDATE: RENDELL'S "CLOSED CIRCUIT" MANEUVER
Don Adams Update: Third Circuit Asked to Recuse Itself in Suit Against Rendell
Don Adams Update: Urgent Help Needed on Appeal
Don Adams Update: Teamsters File Motion to Recover $62,673.46 in Fees and Costs
Summary of the 8/6/2003 Don Adams Decision, U.S. District Court
Anti-Clinton Protesters Lose in Suit Against Rendell
Who-what-where:
There was I time on FreeRepublic when I didn't have to introduce the topic of Don Adams. Other than Whitewater, it was FreeRepublic's first cause celebre.
In as few words as I can bear to muster, this is what happened. On October 2, 1998, Don and his sister Teri were beaten by members of the Teamsters Union for the crime of protesting against Clinton in Philadelphia.
(I myself had been attacked by the same mob earlier in the day, and I witnessed the Adams incident. I reported the events on FreeRepublic. One famous result was that it prompted Jim Robinson to call for a march on Washington, DC, which drew around 4000 people on October 31, 1998, to demand Clinton's impeachment.)
The DA filed no charges, so Don and Teri Adams pursued private criminal complaints against two of the Teamsters (Kevin McNulty and Marc Nardone), along with Teamster Local 115 boss Johnny Morris. In response, the Teamsters filed charges against Don Adams. McNulty and Nardone copped a plea and got probation. Morris walked. Don Adams was subjected to the indignity of a trial, and was acquitted in July, 1999. Meanwhile, three other Teamsters were identified from video: Charlie Davis, Mark Hopkins, and Norma Bottomer. Don and Teri Adams filed another private criminal complaint, to which the defendants copped pleas and received probation.
In November of 1999, IBT President James Hoffa ordered that Teamsters Local 115 be placed into trusteeship, and that Johnny Morris be stripped of his powers, partly as a result of the Adams beating incident. Morris contested this bitterly until the end of his life.
The civil phase has been lurching along slowly since the end of the criminal phase.
Why you should care:
It is the business of Freepers to exercise our rights under the First Amendment. When we talk back to power, we have an expectation of being secure in our persons, in our property, and in our liberty. If Don and Teri Adams lose, none of these expectations are valid. It will mean that the men in power can silence us at will, without serious consequences. Five foot-soldiers of the totalitarians have received probation. That's something. But unfortunately Don and Teri have been made to pay a long series of terrible prices over the last five years, and much more lies ahead. I expect it to get worse for them before it gets better.
Would YOU be up to it?
Here is the Don Adams Page, back again in its full glory!
Civil Case:
Johnny Morris criminal case:
Davis, Hopkins, Bottomer criminal case:
McNulty and Nardone criminal case:
Panel weighs reviving lawsuit against Rendell
By Joseph A. Slobodzian
Inquirer Staff Writer
Gov. Rendell has not been Mayor Rendell since 1999, and legendary Teamsters boss John "Johnny" Morris has been dead four years.
But yesterday the content of two conversations between the men eight years ago continued to fuel a civil-rights lawsuit filed by Cheltenham siblings who contend that their free-speech rights were violated when they were beaten by Teamsters for heckling President Bill Clinton at an Oct. 2, 1998, appearance in Center City.
At issue before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit yesterday was whether a federal judge properly dismissed the suit by Don and Teri Adams.
Don Adams, 46, and sister Teri, 47, contend that members of Teamsters Local 115 ended their anti-Clinton demonstration with a beating because Rendell had earlier called Morris, asked for a union presence at Clinton's appearance, and said the Teamsters should "drown out" anti-Clinton protesters.
"How are we supposed to decide what drown out means?" asked Judge Louis F. Oberdorfer, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
"It's not for anybody in this room to decide what drown out means," replied the Adamses' attorney, Earl N. Mayfield 3d.
Mayfield argued that question should have been left to a jury to decide, not to U.S. District Judge William H. Yohn Jr., who dismissed the Adamses' lawsuit in August 2003.
Jane E. Istvan, a deputy city solicitor representing Rendell and the Teamsters union in the appeal, argued that Yohn made the right decision because the Adamses had not found any corroborating evidence to show the phrase drown out was a tacit agreement between Rendell and Morris to use force to silence anti-Clinton protesters.
Istvan added that, in that same telephone call, Rendell also told Morris he wanted the crowd greeting Clinton to be "extremely peaceful and extremely positive."
The judges held the case for further review and gave no indication when they might rule.
All three judges were specially named to hear the appeal after Mayfield asked the Third Circuit's own judges to recuse themselves because Rendell's wife, Marjorie O. Rendell, is a Third Circuit judge appointed by Clinton in 1997.
Clinton, then embroiled in the scandal involving his sexual contacts with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, was to be in Philadelphia on Oct. 2, 1998, for a Democratic fund-raiser hosted by Rendell at City Hall.
According to court documents, Rendell wanted to buoy the president's spirits and called 15 to 20 groups urging them to line Clinton's motorcade route with a strong show of support.
Among those Rendell called was Morris, then 72, the fiery, strong-willed secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 115.
At Clinton's visit, Local 115 members wearing "Teamsters for Clinton" T-shirts were on hand at City Hall, as were the Adamses and sign-carrying anti-Clinton protesters who chanted "Impeach Clinton now."
At one point, according to court documents, Don Adams and Morris exchanged words. Morris then put his own hat on Adams' head, and several Teamsters rushed forward and began beating him.
Teri Adams, a probation officer, jumped in to try to protect her brother. Both were injured, Don Adams more seriously, with a concussion and broken ribs.
Later that day, court records say, Rendell called Morris again to "console" the union leader and assure him "nothing is going to happen to these guys," referring to Teamsters videotaped attacking the Adamses.
Mayfield argued that Rendell knew of Local 115's history of violent confrontations, and that "drown them out" was code for using force.
Mayfield said Rendell's second call to Morris was further proof, because the mayor was guaranteeing Morris his members would not be prosecuted.
Istvan, however, told the judges that the second conversation was "one of consolation, not concealment," and that it would be improper to infer a conspiracy by the men to violate the Adamses' free-speech rights.
In any event, Istvan noted, five Local 115 members were charged with the assault, pleaded guilty in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, and were sentenced to probation.
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Contact staff writer Joseph A. Slobodzian at 215-854-2985 or jslobodzian@phillynews.com.
Thanks for the update.
Thanks so much for the ping, Physicist.
and Teri, I sure hope something comes of this for you and Don. I think of you often and wonder how you're doing. You certainly didn't deserve all the lousy things that happened to you.
Please, God, let there be justice for these two.
Mare
5.56mm
Please read post #75!