The Anderson City Council will consider tonight the Citizens for Responsible Government's statement calling on agencies to refrain from practices that could infringe on individuals' constitutional rights.

Similar resolutions will be brought to the Redding and Shasta Lake city councils and the county Board of Supervisors in coming weeks, said Doug Milhous of Mountain Gate, the group's chairman.

"We're going to gauge ourselves as successful whether they pass it or not," Milhous, a Shasta College computer skills instructor, said Monday. "We're engaging the issue. We're proposing a resolution, but if they want to modify it or tone it down, that's all right with us."

The group's resolution calls on law enforcement to work with federal authorities "in a manner consistent with the Bill of Rights in the Constitution," Milhous said.

The resolution stops short of requiring law enforcement agencies to defy the two-year-old Patriot Act, which gives the federal Justice Department sweeping powers to gather information and crack down on suspected terrorists.

Passed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Patriot Act expanded the government's powers for searches, wiretaps, electronic and computer eavesdropping and access to personal and business information.

Peace activists in Mount Shasta proposed this summer that their police department refuse to cooperate with federal authorities in imposing the Patriot Act's provisions, but the City Council there declined to consider the proposal.

The Citizens for Responsible Government was formed in 2002 in light of concerns over the war on terror and has established an e-mail list of about 200 people, Milhous said. The group sponsored several peace rallies in Redding in the months leading up to the war in Iraq.

The organization now wants Shasta County's local governments to join Hawaii, Alaska, Vermont and more than 150 cities and counties nationwide in passing resolutions against the Patriot Act. Santa Cruz was the first of about 33 cities in California, including Arcata, to pass such resolutions.

The group's presentation is on tonight's agenda in Anderson under citizen requests to address the council. The group will go before the Board of Supervisors and Redding City Council on Nov. 4 and address the Shasta Lake City Council on Nov. 18, Milhous said.

In addition, the group plans a "Bill of Rights Celebration" from noon to 1 p.m. Nov. 3 in front of the Shasta County Courthouse. The rally will include a dramatized reading of the Bill of Rights, musical performances and speakers.

Reporter Tim Hearden can be reached at 225-8224 or at thearden@redding.com.

Tuesday, October 21, 2003