SLRC UPDATE:
13 February 2004

SLRC Weekly Update

Greetings Compatriots:

Hello.  I hope that all of you are doing well and are planning on having a wonderful Valentine’s Day weekend!  I just wanted to take the time to thank you for the donations; it has been very encouraging and as we all know, it is much easier to do work with a light heart than a heavy one.  Thank you and please keep it up.  We have a lot to report on in our cases.

Curtis Story

Kirk flew to Philadelphia on Sunday night.  The hearing at the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit was held on Monday morning at 9:30.  The hearing was only supposed to last for fifteen minutes but lasted for an hour and a half.  The three-panel judge made up of Judge Roth, Judge Scirica and Judge McKee was very interested in the religion claim.  The panel continued to ask many questions.  Kirk thought the hearing went better than he could anticipate and the panel was extremely courteous.  Judge McKee seemed to concur with the national origin argument.  We expect to hear their ruling in two months.  Their ruling will be to either uphold the dismissal of the case or to reinstate the case to US Federal Court in Pittsburgh.  We will let you know as soon as possible.

For those of you that do not know the background information.  Curtis Storey was a security guard for Burns International Security Services at the Sony Plant near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  He was fired after many loyal years of service and all because he displayed Confederate bumper stickers on his car and the Confederate flag on his personal lunchbox.

Curtis said the essence of his continued refusal to remove the stickers was this, “Our forefathers paid heavily, even with their lives, to make secure for us certain rights, one of which Burns was attempting to intimidate me into surrendering.  I will not surrender any right valiant men and women gave so much to protect for me!”

Lawrence County

Seven students in Lawrence County schools in Alabama have decided to stand up for their First Amendment rights to display Confederate symbols.  Discovery is due at the end of this month and Kirk and I are scheduled to be in Alabama next weekend to wrap discovery up.  This is a most important case and deserves your support.

Racist Food Case

SCV member Richard Smith was placed on probation for having crackers, barbeque sauce and the SCV logo on display in his office at Bechtel Savannah River Site.  Smith has chosen to file suit against this injustice.  We will be taking depositions in this case in March and we will keep you posted as the details unfold.

The Houston Chronicle contacted Kirk this week for an upcoming article this weekend.  Access to the article can be found online.  Do read it, as the reporter seemed to be interested in printing the truth.

Please visit our website at www.slrc-csa.org and click on the "How You Can Help" tab.  We accept Visa , MasterCard, Discover http://www.slrc-csa.org/site/helpus.php and paypal: https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=slrc%40slrc-csa.org

Please send in your pledge or donation today.  ALL PLEDGES OR DONATIONS ARE TAX-DEDUCTIBLE!

Our address is SLRC, P.O. Box 1235, Black Mountain, NC 28711. Phone:  828-669-5189

For more background on the plaques see our Texas Plaques webpage at:

http://www.slrc-csa.org/site/misc/txplaques/txplaques.php

If anyone has received this who does not wish to be on our distribution list, please let us know.

Allison Schaum
Case Manager SLRC
slrc@crystalink.com

PLEDGE TODAY!

PLEASE SEND YOUR TAX-DEDUCTIBLE CONTRIBUTION TO:

SOUTHERN LEGAL RESOURCE CENTER
PO BOX 1235
BLACK MOUNTAIN, NC 28711