The Libertarian Party of Atlanta Affiliate issues a Press Release on the Atlanta Eagle Bar Raid

Hot outta the inbox from the guys and gals over at the Libertarian Party of Atlanta Affiliate:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, December 9, 2010

CONTACT
Brad Ploeger at (404) 939-0367

ATLANTA – The Libertarian Party of Atlanta hails the settlement of a
lawsuit filed against the City of Atlanta and officers of the Atlanta
Police Department stemming from the unlawful search, detention and/or
arrest of patrons of the Atlanta Eagle Bar on September 10-11, 2009.

“We are very satisfied with the settlement and hope it sends a message
to other law enforcement agencies in Georgia that government agents do
not have the right to use their positions of authority to intimidate
and harass innocent citizens,” said Josiah Neff, Chairman of the
Libertarian Party of Atlanta. “The only negative aspect of the
settlement is that the citizens of Atlanta must bear the
responsibility of paying for the misdeeds of the officers in
question.”

Under the terms of the agreement approved Wednesday by U.S. District
Court Judge Timothy C. Batten, Sr. the City of Atlanta will pay
$1,025,000 to the plaintiffs in the suit. Also as part of the
agreement the City agrees to revise standard operating procedures for
the Police Force to meet Constitutional requirements.

“The patrons were yet another victim of the government’s misguided
‘War on Drugs,’ which frequently violates our civil liberties, while
doing little to stem the drug trade,” Neff added.

The case is Calhoun et. al. vs. Pennington et. al., No. 1:09-CV-3286-TCB

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The Libertarian Party of Atlanta is committed to the establishment of
liberty as the central focus of political debate. As citizens of
Atlanta, we primarily concentrate on the issues that directly affect
our city, striving to bring liberty and individual freedom into focus
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