State College Protests continue...

For the past 102 weeks most every thursday at noon, a person or persons have stood in front of the PSU gate to protest the various facets of the so called war on drugs. Today marked the last protest of the 1900's. There was no bullhorn, no pot smoking, a single man held a sign which read Petitioning for a redress of grievances Our Right Our Duty, a simple statement, covering the embodiment of the first amendment. I was that man. Several people stopped to take a picture, a few to talk. An older man stopped by surveyed the scene and asked me, " is this about smoking pot?" I replied," yes and no," and as I began to explain as Dr. Heicklen has so many times that Marijuana is not the message, just a messenger. He rudely interrupted me halfway through my first sentence, "oh I thought you were doing something important", then with a wave of the hand he turned his back and walked away... While I am the first to admit that there may be other issues, like the destruction of the environment, which are more important, why stick to a single issue? I guess this man felt that those other people in the streets, who were either building ice sculptures or watching the process, for the year end festivities were doing more important things then I. Perhaps they are they are trying to draw tourist dollars into town, to make up for the money that the students don't spend while away...
I guess that man doesn't think the erosion of of civil rights is important. I guess he doesn't think that the invasion of our homes and bodies by the government is important. I guess he doesn't think that the fact that at least once a week, that innocent citizens are being gunned down in their homes and bedrooms by over jealous officers in the middle of the night is important. His actions proved to me once again, that there is no way to reach those who are deaf and blind by choice. There will come a day when the war on drugs touches him, it could be the arrest of one of his children or grandchildren on drug charges, or it may be when an officer of the law confiscates his cash and ruins his vacation. It may be when a DEA agent with the wrong address busts through his door at 3am and blows him away, when he finally does decide to protest something. Perhaps then he will realize what is important!


Heicklen declares marijuana legal in State College

Well it's April 2000 and it's been three months since I last reported on the on going saga in State College Pa. It's about 12:15 on a thursday afternoon and Professor Julian Heicklen is doing what he does most every Thursday afternoon. "Marijuana is legal in State College Pa. from noon until 2pm at the Penn State University Gates" Declares the Professor, as his mysterious sometimes sidekick John Galt jr gives him a light. "We have taken the first step, total legalization is only a matter of time". He continues his monologue into a portable bull horn"Behold the torch of Freedom, the lighted marijuana weed"

In the beginning only the doctor and a few others smoked, now it's not uncommon for someone to stop by and light one up for the cause. (the event is bring your own buds) In the beginning the police were a constant reminder of what the war on drugs has come down to, now there have been no arrests for over a year and a half. The police haven't even shown up since last July.

The weekly smoke- in rallies have changed in character quite a bit since the beginning, the television cameras are gone, but at least once a month a student of photography will show up to do a school report on the odd weekly event. In the first months hundreds of people showed up each week to watch the Doctor light "the torch of freedom". Now the crowd seldom exceeds a dozen, but the faces are so familiar. Who is going to be there each week? Nobody really knows, but now that hundreds of people have participated, and most return occasionally, it makes every week feel like some kind of reunion.

So what the Doctor have in mind for 2000? Well this will be the third year for setting up at the Central Pa Arts festival. So it's Thursday afternoon drive on down to State College and Join the pot smoking professor " Because Marijuana is legal in State College Pa. from noon until 2pm at the Penn State University Gates"

4/6/2000 The Marijuana Smoke Out, consisted of 6 demonstrators with signs. Two State College police officers in uniform and one in plain clothes were stationed across the street in full view of the demonstrators.

Heicklen addressed the passersby, using his bullhorn, to urge them to stop the war on drugs. He then lit a marijuana cigarette in full view of the police and smoked it completely. While he was smoking, he announced on the bullhorn that he was smoking a marijuana cigarette, and that it was his right to do so. He mentioned that he was defying the anti-marijuana law, because the government had no right to tell him what to eat, drink, or smoke.

The police watched from across the street, but never moved from their observation point. At 1:00 PM, after Heicklen was through smoking, the police left the scene. The protest continues...

6/29/2000 Feds show up dressed as bikers

7/6/2000 Feds back as golfers State Police Honks for Hemp

6/13 - 6/16 2000 3rd annual Art's Festival Protest

The weekly gathering at the gates continued until a week past 9/11/2001. President Bushed rushed through something called the Patriot act, I had a meeting with the professor about the patriot act and what happened at rainbow farms. I asked what we would do next? He said to me "did you read this?
According to this document, "our new label is domestic terrorist" and the FBI, CIA and the military, have the right to shoot on site or hold terrorists for years with out discourse, I'm too old for jail and too young to die. I'm out.

Update But the good doctor couldn't stay idle and after a short hiatus continued his activism.

2012 HEICKLEN FLEES UNITED STATES

Julian Heicklen arrived in Israel on May 22, 2012 as a political exile. He was granted Israel citizenship at customs. There is a warrant for his arrest in Santa Ana, CA because he distributed pamphlets on the sidewalk in front of the U. S. District Courthouse in Santa Ana. Also he was arrested for the same offense, but the cases were dismissed, in Springfield, MA, Newark, NJ, and 11 times in Manhattan, NY. However the Department of Homeland Security refuses to return his confiscated property.
He was dragged out of his bed at home at 6:00 am by 11 law enforcement officers and placed in jail in the federal courthouse in Manhattan. He was arrested by New York City police for standing on the sidewalk in front of the Isaiah wall across from the UN building in New York City and holding two signs which read STOP HATING JEWS. As a result he was incarcerated for two weeks in the Riker’s Island jail before his case was dismissed in the interest of justice. However New York City refuses to return his confiscated property.


He has been convicted for criminal contempt of Court in Orlando, FL and sentenced to 145 days in jail for distributing jury information on the sidewalk connecting the county courthouse to the parking lot. The conviction has been appealed, though Heicklen already has served 22 days in the Orange County (Orlando) jail.

In Manhattan, NY he was on trial based on a grand jury indictment forged by the U. S. Attorney. Title 18 USC § 3161(c) states: “In any case in which a plea of not guilty is entered, the trial of a defendant charged in an information or indictment with the commission of an offense shall commence within seventy days from the filing date (and making public) of the information...”
Judge Kimba Wood colluded in the forgery by purposely violating 18 USC § 3161(c) to give the U. S. Attorney time to produce a witness. On at least 2 occasions, undercover agents posed as jurors to entrap Heicklen into jury tampering. Both attempts failed.
Heicklen has copies of the recordings. After 18 months with no success, Judge Wood dismissed the charges on April 19, 2012. THE PRICE OF JUSTICE IS ETERNAL PUBLICITY
The situation described above is the 21st century version of the Watergate scandal of the Nixon administration. Yet the U. S. and world press mostly have ignored this story and refuse to publicize it. Without publicity there will be no justice.
All of the above happened because Heicklen told the truth. The United States is now Nazi Germany of the mid 1930s. Hitler is in the White House. The press is afraid to report the news. The American people are in denial. The United States is the number 1 prison state in the world.


Good Luck Doc

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