Occupy Des Moines protester, jailed for 30 days, pens letter
One of the Occupy Des Moines protesters who’s been arrested several times in the past three months has written a letter from the Polk County Jail. It was distributed via email by one of his “Occupy” colleagues this morning. Read (nearly all of) it below (I left off the request for donations to the commissary/inmate funds for Frank Cordaro, author of the letter, and Eddie Bloomer, Cordaro’s “Occupy” jail-mate):
WHOSE JAILS? OUR JAILS!
by Frank Cordaro, February 2, 2012
It was bound to happen sooner or later. A person can’t keep collecting trespassing convictions, get fined plus court costs and refuse to pay any fines before a judge will eventually send you to jail. My arrest at the state capitol Sunday night was my fifth arrest with Occupy Des Moines. I already plead guilty to two of those charges and was fined (which I will not pay in solidarity with the poor, who cannot). So after a long night in the Polk County Jail “fish bowl”, Des Moines Catholic Worker and fellow Occupy Des Moines member Eddie Bloomer and I decided to take our chances when the jail court judge, who offered to roll all of our 3 outstanding trespass charges into one guilty plea. After reviewing our past records, the judge sentenced Ed to 15 days and me to 30 days in jail.
Just before sentencing, I told the judge it was a great honor and a privilege to be arrested at the state capitol standing up for free speech and everyday she gave me in jail only helped to enhance that honor and privilege…and I meant it.
The Occupy Wall Street movement is a social movement. And like all social movements, our ideas follow our bodies, whether we are occupying public space to exercise our free speech rights, or protesting in the streets at the G8/NATO, or risking arrest at presidential candidate offices. We lead with our bodies, willing to put a little human equity and personal sacrifice on the line for what we believe. We are what democracy looks like in a political system completely bought, owned, and scripted by the corporate elites – the 1 percent.
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table border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 style=vertical-align:top;trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serif/font/tdtd valign=top font style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbr /div style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1 //divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=tamp;fd=Ramp;usg=AFQjCNGRuNIKCSNAecZK32b6mE9dVYwZNgamp;url=http://www.cedartownstd.com/view/full_story/18385841/article-Recent-Polk-County-arrest-reports?instance%3Dhome_local_newsbRecent bPolk County arrest reports/b/b/abr /font size=-1bfont color=#6f6f6fCedartown Standard/font/b/fontbr /font size=-1The following people were arrested on the listed dates and charges according to the bPolk County/b Jail docket book. The following people remain in the bPolk County/b Jail according to brecords/b. Ricky Lee Bradford Jr., 31, of 4192 Collard Valley Road, b.../b/fontbr /font size=-1 class=p/fontbr /font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news/more?pz=1amp;ned=usamp;ncl=dsII9b7Oqh0O5hMnobrb/b/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table
table border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 style=vertical-align:top;trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serif/font/tdtd valign=top font style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbr /div style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1 //divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=tamp;fd=Ramp;usg=AFQjCNHY8U86PWkKfaTb4Oq2WDvImenxCgamp;url=http://www.goupstate.com/article/20120508/WIRE/120509666/1002/sports04?Title%3DFormer-Polk-County-NC-sheriff-accused-of-credit-card-theft-usebFormer bPolk County/b, NC, sheriff accused of credit card theft, use/b/abr /font size=-1bfont color=#6f6f6fSpartanburg Herald Journal/font/b/fontbr /font size=-1By John Harbin HENDERSONVILLE, NC - Former bPolk County/b Sheriff Chris Abril landed on the wrong side of the law once again when he was arrested and charged Saturday with theft and unlawful use of a credit card, according to court brecords/b./fontbr /font size=-1 class=p/fontbr /font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news/more?pz=1amp;ned=usamp;ncl=dpDRWvjUiEM_X5Mnobrband morenbsp;raquo;/b/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table
table border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 style=vertical-align:top;trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serif/font/tdtd valign=top font style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbr /div style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1 //divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=tamp;fd=Ramp;usg=AFQjCNG-GMp_4OCODBR1a2YJTSoBiRFyHwamp;url=http://www.theledger.com/article/20120520/NEWS/120529999bReport: TRC Folded In Inquiry/b/abr /font size=-1bfont color=#6f6f6fThe Ledger/font/b/fontbr /font size=-1By Kyle Kennedy HAINES CITY | When Technology Research Consultants landed in bPolk County/b in 2003, the company shined with promise. But about five years later, the celebrated defense contractor abruptly shut down. Until now, the reason behind its exit b.../b/fontbr /font size=-1 class=p/fontbr /font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news/more?pz=1amp;ned=usamp;ncl=drfgVs1T8u7hXjMnobrb/b/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table
table border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 style=vertical-align:top;trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serif/font/tdtd valign=top font style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbr /div style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1 //divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=tamp;fd=Ramp;usg=AFQjCNEsUdynniZc82OaqlpUlhtgRVvbNwamp;url=http://www.theledger.com/article/20120507/NEWS/120509428/1410?Title%3DFlorida-Clerks-Pushing-to-Go-Paperless-bFlorida Clerks Pushing to Go Paperless/b/abr /font size=-1bfont color=#6f6f6fThe Ledger/font/b/fontbr /font size=-1Richard Weiss, bPolk County#39;s/b clerk of courts, displays in February the brecords/b from George Trepal#39;s death penalty case from 1991 that are still stored at the bPolk County/b Courthouse. What if lawyers didn#39;t have to mail documents or hire someone to b.../b/fontbr /font size=-1 class=p/fontbr /font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news/more?pz=1amp;ned=usamp;ncl=dBF9pQXmPAyAXMMnobrb/b/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table
table border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 style=vertical-align:top;trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serif/font/tdtd valign=top font style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbr /div style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1 //divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=tamp;fd=Ramp;usg=AFQjCNEs-LExv5ltY-8fHPqUTsnVxr1TdQamp;url=http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20120517/NEWS01/305170052/0/VALENTINES/?odyssey%3Dnav%257CheadbDes Moines police unveil system to flag officers with potential issues/b/abr /font size=-1bfont color=#6f6f6fDesMoinesRegister.com/font/b/fontbr /font size=-1bPolk County/b Jail booking photo. (bPolk County/b Jail photo) / bPolk County/b Jail A 2001 National Institute of Justice report found about one-quarter of US law enforcement agencies had some type of early warning system in place./fontbr /font size=-1 class=p/fontbr /font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news/more?pz=1amp;ned=usamp;ncl=d7tpB9HPyCAHUXMnobrband morenbsp;raquo;/b/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table