Posted on 08/24/2007 11:35:15 AM PDT by chicagolady
The controversial Illinois Minuteman Project canceled its weekend seminar on illegal immigration in Crystal Lake after a McHenry County judge Thursday issued a restraining order barring the group from holding the event at a local hotel as planned.
At the urging of the Crystal Lake Holiday Inn's owners, Judge Maureen McIntyre ordered the Minuteman Project not to appear at the hotel and to notify its guest speakers and about 100 ticket holders that the seminar would not take place there.
The ruling left the Minuteman Project no option but to call off the event, Director Rosanna Pulido said.
"There's a lot of outrage out there that American citizens cannot have a meeting," she said. "But this might be a blessing in disguise. People have to see what we're up against."
The group, which says its mission is to educate Americans about the negative effects of illegal immigration, was planning a seminar featuring guest speaker Sheriff Dan Beck of Allen County, Ohio. Beck has won national attention for his efforts to deport illegal immigrants living in his county.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailyherald.com ...
Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Assembly have just taken a BIG hit!
So much for the right of the people to peaceably assemble...
On what grounds? Geez, this seems a bit severe.
“At the urging of the Crystal Lake Holiday Inn’s owners, Judge Maureen McIntyre ordered the Minuteman Project not to appear at the hotel...”
What!?!? That makes no sense. It’s like they Minutemen were set up.
Public Safety.
The Crystal Lake Police used scare tactics with the hotel.
And but what authority can the judge bar a private group from renting a function hall?
WTF? The Minutemen may be a bunch of nutbars, but they’ve got as much right to gather publicly as anyone else.
What’s the justification for shutting them down?
We WERE set up.
Straight from the Police Chief to me:
He said we asked the Hotel to give the protesters a place on their private property and they Said NO WAY!!
Why didn’t the Police advocate for the Illinois Minuteman Project and get65 us a free room to have Sheriff Beck come and speak? Why did they advocate for the pro-illegal groups??
The Police set us up and pressured the hotel
The Holiday Inn's attorney, Rita Alliss Powers, said Crystal Lake police told hotel management they would need 17 armed officers on the site and a SWAT team stationed nearby to ensure a peaceful environment.
In any case, the hotel's management should fulfill their contract with the Minutemen.
Police scare tactics and the Police told the Hotel we will charge you 3,500 dollars for the extra police on duty.
The Hotel said NO WAY
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Evidently the Constitution has no jurisdiction in Illinois.
“right of the people peaceably to assemble”
Sounds like the police department there has a pretty poor opinion of it’s citizens if the cops expect them to riot and cause violence because some folks are having a meeting. Wht’s becoming more common is cops stifling the rights of law-abiding citizens as not to upset the criminal class.
It’s called mob rule.
Just lovely. All they would have needed is one ICE van parked in front of the Holiday Inn.
There is no mechanism for oversight on judges who ignore law and act like little hitlers.
Where is the ACLU when you need them?
So much for the right of free assembly, unless its a liberal moonbat assembly.
This is worse than racial profiling.
“or the right of the people peaceably to assemble....”
ping
It was the hotel that asked to stop the meeting. They claimed the organizers lied on their application and that the hotel would not have originally approved the use of their facilities for a meeting that might attract a large crowd of protesters.
When the police told the hotel what the bill would be for security, the hotel balked.
I don’t think that there is really a constitutional issue here.
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