After September 11th, some really scary things happened. Just a few days later, Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act, a hastily put together piece of legislation containing all sorts of scary provisions for turning the US into a police state and taking away civil liberties. I heard about it, and I heard stories about the horrible things that could happen under it, and I thought: "No, that can't happen. This is America and we're not going to stand for it." I went on my way, living a post-9/11 life and getting back to normalcy, a little scared about wars and terrorists and not sure my government was doing the right thing. But I wasn't scared that the police and the FBI would come beating on my door, or that the Constitution might be suspended.

Then I heard a story from the county Sheriff back in Maine, where I grew up. His office was asked by the INS to take a local man, an immigrant, into custody for visa problems. Very well, quite normal so far. But then the INS told the Sheriff's office that, under the provisions of the PATRIOT Act, they were required to keep this detention completely secret. Why? They weren't allowed to know.

The Sheriff and his office made a decision. They decided, on their own, that the INS was asking them to do something unconstitutional, not to mention just plain wrong. They did arrest the man, since the visa problems were real. But, against the direct orders of the INS, they told his family that he had been arrested, and where they were holding him. And they told the papers that they had arrested him, and where he was being held --- understand, the arrest wasn't even supposed to appear in the police logs. In response, the INS sent in federal agents immediately, who removed the man and took him elsewhere.

Right now, today, the Sheriff doesn't know where the man is, or even if he's still in prison. Neither does his family. He disappeared.

This isn't supposed to happen in our country, and it makes me angry. Angry, and frustrated, because I feel powerless to change the laws. Angry, because I can't change what John Ashcroft orders the FBI to do.

But right here, where I live, maybe I can make a difference. I can't change what's going on in Los Angeles, or Chicago, but I can take a stand here in Somerville. And you can take a stand with me. We can say: "Not here, you can't. Somerville won't stand for it." It's happening all over the country. If our national government won't listen, our local governments will, and if the cities and the towns won't fall into line, then maybe they'll hear us in Washington. Do you know what Somerville's motto is? "Municipal Freedom Gives National Strength"

If we, right here in Somerville, make our city a Civil Liberties Safe Zone, then I will be proud to live here once again, and I will have hope that I still live in the America I grew up in. Come and join: we can make a difference.

  Jake Beal