Man Given Civil Citation for Being Gay and Disorderly in New London, Wisconsin

No gays allowed? Water Street Vintage, LLC, (New London,
Wisconsin), antique clerk accosts Madison man; phones police
who arrive and then cite John Quinlan with a disorderly
conduct citation, apparently for being gay and
living in Madison.

Update: Madison man's Facebook page, (not linked here because of privacy and safety concerns), is now populated by hate-filled, anti-LGBT bile and defamation by Wisconsin Christian fundies.

Anyone doing business with Water Street Vintage, LLC, (New London, Wisconsin), is supporting hate.
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Madison, Wisconsin—In Madison, most everyone is two degrees away from at least having met social justice activist, John Quinlan.

There's John Quinlan doing his weekly show on WORT-Radio, (Madison, Wisconsin).

There's John Quinlan receiving the Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award.

There's John Quinlan working for marriage equity, and on and on.

Quinlan the gentle soul that he is visited his hometown in northeastern Wisconsin, New London, (pop. 7,295), and visited an antique store, Water Street Vintage, LLC, this week.

As reported by Quinlan, a fundamentalist, anti-choice Water Street Vintage clerk caught up with Quinlan while shopping and accosted the man about Donald Trump, Scott Walker, going to hell, being a "heathen" and so forth.

Quinlan complained to the owner, while the clerk phoned the New London, Wisconsin Police who arrived with three cops, including one chief Jeffrey A. Schlueter, and cite Quinlan! for disorderly conduct.

This municipal-citation bomb is a new tactic and now frequent occurrence by small-town Wisconsin fundamentalists and less-than-gifted police who tend to be corrupt, authoritarian and rightwing Trumpists.

An attempt to contact Water Street Vintage, LLC by phone was unsuccessful.

The registered agent of Water Street Vintage, LLC is Kelly Rickert, according to the Wisconsin Dept of Financial Institutions.

A Linked-in search of Rickert lists Rickert as "Business Owner at Water Street Vintage."

Quinlan has contacted the ACLU of Wisconsin and plans to contest the bogus disorderly conduct citation.

In a Facebook post this week, Quinlan recounts the experience, reproduced below.
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POLICE ABUSE AND PERSONAL HATE-FILLED HARASSMENT I EXPERIENCED MONDAY, (MARCH 19, 2018), IN AN ANTIQUE STORE IN SMALL-TOWN WISCONSIN.

Yesterday, while visiting an antique store in downtown New London (one of my hometowns), the store clerk, a rabidly righteous self-identified "pro-lifer" started ranting and raving about Trump (he was her hero because he didn't take crap), Walker (a traitor because he didn't do enough to punish Planned Parenthood) and her rigidly dogmatic faith ("I can tell you're a hell-bound heathen, I can see it in your eyes," she shouted getting right up in my face). I managed to escape, but after a few minutes on the street I doubled back to inform the owner, with whom I'd had a decidedly friendlier interaction, that this was not a way to win over customers.

The ranting woman retaliated by calling the New London Police on me, and they detained me, frisked me and interrogated me in a cold and windy riverside parking lot for over an hour. I'd done nothing to provoke her, but they believed her and not me (probably because I was living now in Madison) and issued a citation for disorderly conduct, with a fine of $250, telling me I should be happy it was not more. No due process, abject humiliation, and blatant disrespect, all delivered with sarcasm and a smile. Spent this morning at the ACLU seeking recourse, and plans are coming into place. They're not getting away with this, and I'm not about to let this happen to anyone else. I have deeper roots in New London than anyone working in that store and in comparison with all 3 of the police involved, and there are countless people there who remember me and respect me, and loved my parents.

This was outrageous, and I'm still shaking and my back is spasming as this toxic moment replays itself in my thoughts and feelings again and again. The obnoxious "Christian" smarmily righteous ignorant paranoid demon-spawn woman (who's not even from New London herself) thinks she's clever and she's won; nothing could be further from the truth. I don't know how Kelly, the store's owner, let this happen. Too bad, because it's really a wonderful store, in my experience, one of the best of its kind in Wisconsin.

New London and its wonderful people are better than this, and the behavior displayed by this woman and the police as their police chief belligerently looked on, and in the end, justice shall prevail. They have no idea who they're dealing with, and the story is just beginning.

By the way, this woman brags that, working with bands of other "pro-life" extremists, she forcibly prevents women seeking health care from entering Planned Parenthood clinics, and that its doctors (and the police who protect them) deserve to die and face eternal damnation. But the police fell for her theatrics without thinking twice about her history or motivations. She was a whining conspiracy-minded hypocrite who claimed the world was out to get her, and who despised all authority. How's that for irony?

Many of my best friends are police officers, including a close friend who recently retired from the New London police force. Following their chief's shortsighted lead, these officers deeply dishonored their profession yesterday, staining the integrity and reputation of a beautiful town I'd been proud to call home. I'm not the only one there who feels this way, and with any luck, cooler heads will win the day. New London deserves better. We all deserve better.

Milwaukee Cops Harassed Wisconsin State Rep, He's Now Co-Plaintiff in ACLU Suit Against Cops

Wisconsin State Rep. David C.
Crowley, (D-Milwaukee), was
pulled over by Milwaukee
cops with guns drawn, searched
and frisked. Crowley is a
black human being.

Updated - Armed police stopping anyone, invading homes, harassing, issuing bogus citations, and arresting is now public policy in Wisconsin, and one surmises other states as well.

This is a fact of American society that remains hidden to many.

In the class-action suit filed in federal court in Milwaukee, Collins v. City of Milwaukee, et al, citizens are pleading their liberties under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution. See ACLU press release.

The following piece was first published in The Pontiac Tribune by Isiah Holmes.

By Isiah Holmes, (via Cop Block)

Wisconsin’s ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) just amended their lawsuit against the Milwaukee Police Department. The action, filed at the beginning of 2017 blasting problematic stop and frisks, increased its plaintiff list. Now, Representative David Crowley, (D-Milwaukee), is joining as a victim of harassment in the troubled city.

Milwaukee-local TFC, (The Fifth Column), writers were notified of these developments by Wisconsin ACLU Associate Director Molly Collins. The notification was issued as a press release to TFC, and other local media outlets. According to the release, Rep. Crowley–of Wisconsin’s 17th Assembly District–was subjected to an unnerving MPD stop.

ACLU recounted Crowley’s experience, taking place before he’d been elected to his current position. While walking with his god brother, the pair heard distant gunshots and opted to walked away. Gun violence can be quite common in some parts of Milwaukee, particularly during the summer. "A patrol car stopped in front of us," says Crowley, "and two officers jumped out with guns drawn and pointed right at us. I was terrified."

He then states officers took their wallets and I.D’s as the pair stood with hands up. "The officers drew their guns on us, searched us without our consent, and never explained why," Crowley states. The pair were then asked if they’d discarded a gun in the field they were walking in. Rep. Crowley feels MPD "treated us like suspects, yet we had done nothing wrong." As many with similar experiences feel, Crowley states officers "decided the Constitution didn’t apply to us."

ACLU’s lawsuit also added other new plaintiffs, both with similar tales. 19 year old Jeremiah Oliver says he was stopped without reasonable suspicion, ACLU’s statement reads. Yet another, Jeremy Brown, claims an officer stopped him because he didn’t recognize his face. According to ACLU, Brown was then ordered to drop everything, and stand against a fence for questioning. Upon returning from the police station, Brown was issued a $185 disorderly conduct ticket.

The Milwaukee Police Department has been routinely interfering in the lives of tens of thousands of Black and Latino residents, stopping them, searching them, and worse—all without reasonable suspicion and as if the Constitution didn’t exist – Karyn Rotker, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Wisconsin.

Rotker goes onto state the MPD’s routine harassment of minority citizens has deeply eroded trust. Without it, the department’s ability to effectively investigate crime is inherently crippled. Ultimately, ACLU hopes to help improve MPD’s oversight, and community discourse. Not only that, but–as Collins expressed to the author in March–the nonprofit hopes other departments take notice. In Milwaukee County, this may be necessary, as MPD isn’t the only concerning department.

In a nearby suburb, which borders Milwaukee, officers have long been accused of racially-biased policing. The Wauwatosa Police Department, although largely overshadowed by MPD, has left lasting negative impressions in some residents. Such feelings boiled over last summer, when an officer shot his second person in 11 months.

The circumstances surrounding Jay Anderson’s shooting continue to bounce around the community. Namely, many residents were disturbed at WPD’s lack of transparency in the case, and pushback against protests staged by Anderson’s family. These actions, in fact, were provoked by WPD’s reluctance to disclose any information regarding the killing. Prior to the shooting, which the author covered extensively, WPD’s transparency issues became the subject of a documentary, also produced by the author.

When the lawsuit was first filed in Febrary, MPD Chief Ed Flynn defended his department’s stop and frisk procedure. Specifically, Flynn pointed to a lack of citizen complaints despite increased stops. As Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported, most stops don’t produce tickets, or even arrests. That fact, however, does not remedy the level of distrust the policy has generated throughout Milwaukee.

It’s difficult to predict exactly how MPD will eventually respond to any success the lawsuit might have. Last year, MPD consented to a DOJ practices probe during a time ripe with protests and investigations. The move was encouraging, as other departments reviewed at that time didn’t consent to probes. MPD also went the extra mile, with Chief Flynn attending a massive public forum to hear grievances. The audience choked with dissatisfied citizens victimized by stops, beatings, searches, and even more serious offenses like rape.

Confidence in the meeting, however, waned after MPD was then caught using Stingray cell data surveillance to illegally monitor citizens. The surveillance operations were so sketchy, in fact, that they were hidden from courts. Wauwatosa PD also collects and analyzes cell data, though how they achieve this isn’t currently known.

As the lawsuit develops, it’s becoming increasingly clear that something must give. In the last year, Milwaukee has had massive riots, several police shootings, including routine practices. The playing field is primed for ACLU’s lawsuit to make headway of some kind. If not, then the public’s resentment and frustration will simply manifest again.
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Below is the ACLU of Wisconsin press release:

State Legislator Joins ACLU Lawsuit Against MPD Stop-and-Frisk Program

MILWAUKEE — Last night, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Wisconsin, and the law firm of Covington and Burling filed an amended complaint in their class-action lawsuit against the city of Milwaukee over its police department’s vast stop-and-frisk program. The revised complaint adds three named plaintiffs to the lawsuit, one of whom is Representative David Crowley, a state legislator representing Wisconsin’s 17th Assembly District. Like the other named plaintiffs and tens of thousands of other Milwaukeeans of color, Rep. Crowley has been subject to an unconstitutional stop and frisk by the Milwaukee police without reasonable suspicion of criminal activity and based on racial profiling.

One evening before he was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly, Rep. Crowley was walking with his godbrother in Milwaukee. “We heard gunshots in the distance, so we walked in the other direction to avoid trouble. A patrol car stopped in front of us, and two officers jumped out with guns drawn and pointed right at us. I was terrified,” said Rep. Crowley.

He and his godbrother put up their hands. The police frisked them, taking their wallets from their pants pockets and pulling their IDs from the wallets. One officer asked if the two men had thrown a gun into the field where they had been walking.

“The police treated us like suspects, yet we had done nothing wrong. The officers drew their guns on us, searched us without our consent, and never explained why,” said Rep. Crowley. “As young Black men, we were presumed guilty. The police decided that the Constitution doesn’t apply to us.”

Another new plaintiff in the suit is Jerimiah Olivar, a 19-year-old Latino Milwaukeean, who was stopped and frisked by police without reasonable suspicion while riding his bike in the early afternoon. The third new plaintiff, Jeremy Brown, is Black, and a police officer stopped him while he was walking one morning because the officer didn't recognize his face. The officer ordered Mr. Brown to drop what he was carrying and stand against a fence while he questioned him. Mr. Brown was eventually taken to the police station and released with a $185 ticket for disorderly conduct.

“The Milwaukee Police Department has been routinely interfering in the lives of tens of thousands of Black and Latino residents, stopping them, searching them, and worse—all without reasonable suspicion and as if the Constitution didn’t exist,” said Karyn Rotker, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Wisconsin. “The department’s practices have caused Black and Latino Milwaukeeans to deeply distrust and fear police, crippling its ability to investigate crime.”

The Milwaukee Police Department conducts far more stops and frisks in neighborhoods that are predominantly Black or Latino than in other parts of the city.

Collins v. City of Milwaukee seeks reforms of the Milwaukee Police Department that protect constitutional rights through bias-free and evidence-based policing, transparency, and accountability. These reforms include an end to conducting stops and frisks without reasonable suspicion and to stopping people based on race or ethnicity. The lawsuit also seeks improved training, supervision, and monitoring of officers who conduct stops and frisks, and the collection and semiannual release to the public of data on all stops and frisks to permit analysis for evidence of constitutional violations.

For the amended complaint and more information about the lawsuit:

ACLU:https://www.aclu.org/cases/collins-et-al-v-city-milwaukee-et-al
ACLU of Wisconsin: http://aclu-wi.org/issue/collins-v-city-milwaukee
For more information about Covington & Burling:https://www.cov.com/

PDF Download: 

2017_5_23AmdedCmplt.pdf

Civil Rights Activists Petition High Court to Halt Wisconsin Photo Voter ID Law

Ruthelle Frank of Brokaw, Wisconsin
fights for her right to vote against Scott Walker
and Republican efforts to obstruct non-GOP
voting Wisconsin citizens in Frank v. Walker

It's 2015 and the major white-dominated political party—the Republican Party—continues its voter obstruction efforts against blacks and Latinos and other voters likely to cast votes for non-GOP candidates.

Civil rights activists are fighting back.

After successfully halting Wisconsin's photo voter ID law intended to stop non-Republican voters from voting, Wisconsin's Voter ID law remains unenforceable to the chagrin of the Republicans who passed it on a party-line vote in 2011.

So corrupt are the Republican Party of Wisconsin's purposes, even after the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the Voter ID law halted on October 9 in Ruthelle Frank, et al., Applicants v. Scott Walker et al, the Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen told the Wisconsin press Voter ID would become the law anyway for the November 2014 election.

"We will be exploring alternatives to address the court’s concern and have voter ID on election day," Van Hollen said the day after the Supreme Court's order that contained no "concerns" or reasoning but was a terse order of what Wisconsin was ordered to do. (Hall, Wisconsin State Journal)

Van Hollen lied in asserting the Court had issued concerns when Van Hollen knew perfectly well the 107-word Supreme Court order was an order (with Justices Thomas, Alito and Scalia dissenting) lacking concerns or conditions other than the timely filing of a Petition for Writ of Certiorari as was done yesterday by litigants for voting rights in this case.

Van Hollen did successfully confuse some voters on whether they needed voter IDs to vote, and then backed down in the face of the ludicrous spectacle of a state attorney general defying the U.S. Supreme Court.

So nonsensical in the Republican Party's legal position that Judge Richard Posner of the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit took the extraordinary step of requesting a rehearing on behalf of the five judges dissenting from Judge Frank Easterbrook’s [a member of the radical right wing Robert Bork-founded, Koch Brothers-funded "Federalist Society"] opinion in September that had temporarily reinstated Wisconsin's Voter ID law in September 2014, after absentee voting had already begun. [See also Canning, Freidman's Posner's Penance: Revered Reagan-Appointed Jurist's Plea to SCOTUS to Overturn His Own Landmark Ruling on Photo ID Voting Laws.]

As the more GOP jurists become entrenched in the judiciary, the rule of law and rights of citizens begin to dissipate and nonsensical rulings from the GOP justices become routine.

If the U.S. Supreme Court denies the petition to hear this case, Wisconsin's Voter ID law will be reinstated. If the Court hears the case, the law remains enjoined pending the judgement of the Court.

Numerous other challenges to state Photo Voter ID laws enacted by Republicans could also be heard before the Court singly or in consolidation.

The ACLU's press release on its and other litigants' petition before the Supreme Court is reproduced below:

WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a federal appeals court ruling upholding Wisconsin's voter ID law. The ACLU is challenging the law, which a federal judge struck down as unconstitutional and in violation of the Voting Rights Act last April. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that decision, but in October the Supreme Court placed the law on hold as the case winds its way through the courts.

Dale Ho, director of the ACLU's Voting Rights Project, said:

"Efforts to restrict access to the ballot demand a full and thorough hearing, which is why we are asking the Supreme Court to review this case and ultimately strike down Wisconsin's voter ID law. Throughout years of litigation, Wisconsin has failed to identify a single instance of the type of fraud this law purportedly seeks to prevent. At the same time, it is absolutely clear this law would prevent thousands of voters from exercising the most fundamental right in our democracy. The Supreme Court has an opportunity now to help protect the right of all Americans to vote free from undue burdens."

Karyn Rotker, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU of Wisconsin, said:

"We will continue to take all possible steps to ensure that all Wisconsin voters can exercise the right to vote - even if they are poor or homeless or disabled or for whatever other reason lack ID."

The ACLU challenged the law on behalf of numerous Wisconsin voters, charging the measure violated the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

The ACLU, the ACLU of Wisconsin, the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and Dechert LLP are co-counsel in this case, Frank v. Walker. The Supreme Court petition was jointly filed with the League of United Latin American Citizens, represented by Arnold & Porter and the Advancement Project.