For Immediate Release:
February 29, 2007
Contact: Mary Moore 707 874 2248
Karen Saari 707 876 3502
SEBASTOPOL VIGIL TO REMEMBER JEREMIAH CHASS
March 12, 2008, will mark the first anniversary of the tragic killing of
Sebastopol teenager Jeremiah Chass at the hands of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s
Department. The community will observe this sad event with a vigil in the
Sebastopol Plaza beginning at 6 p.m. People are invited to express their
feelings about all those who lost their lives in 2007 at the hands of law
enforcement.
This event is sponsored by the Advocates for Police Accountability, a local
coalition of 28 groups as well as several individuals that came together in 2007
as a result of these deaths. Because there is no independent oversight in
Sonoma County, one police department investigates another. This reciprocal
arrangement does not serve the public’s need to know and no reports have yet
been released to the public.
GROUPS: American Indian Movement (AIM)-Sonoma County; American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Sonoma County; Bay Area Police Watch; C.A.S.A. CALPULLI; Citizens for a Better Sonoma County; Committee for Civil Rights CCR; Committee for Immigrant Rights; Concerned Citizens for S.W. Area Youth; Families of the Stolen Lives; Free Mind Media; Idriss Stelley Foundation-San Francisco, NAACP of Sonoma County; Not in our Name; Peace and Freedom Party of Sonoma County; Peace and Justice Center of Sonoma County; Petaluma Copwatch; Por Vida Death Row Art; Round Valley Indians for Justice; Santa Rosa Copwatch; Self-Esteem Living Foundation Inc.; Sonoma County Democratic Central Committee; Sonoma County Food Not Bombs; Sonoma County Latino Democratic Club; Sonoma County Free Press; Sonoma County Womens Political Caucus; Voces de Mujeres Radio Collective. INDIVIDUALS: Ali & Sabriyah Abdullah; Patrick Band; Rev. Ann Gray Byrd; Marylou Hadditt; Dian Hardy; Elbert "Big Man" Howard; Willie Garrett; Barry & Robin Latham Ponneck; Omar Malfavon; Patricia Robles Mitten; Mary Moore; Lois Pearlman; Peter Phillips; Alicia Sanchez; Mark Schlosberg; Pat Thurston