John Colby's Freedom of Information Campaign against Human Rights abuse in Santa Cruz [link]
* Santa Cruz retaliates against Human Rights advocate John Colby [link]
* Human Rights abuse in itty-bitty Santa Cruz [link]
"CPRA request on Ms. Wenzell's behalf for Downtown tickets/citations/notices"
2014-02-19 message from Dr. John Colby to Jacqueline Drechsler, Records Supervisor, and Debbie Lentini, Records Supervisor, of the Santa Cruz Police Department:
Dear Ms. Drechsler; Ms. Lentini:
I am writing on behalf of Ms. Katherine Wenzell — who I represent and advocate for — to submit a California Public Records (CPRA) request for previously provided records, together with additional requested records.
Specifically, soon after you responded to my CPRA request copied below, my computer was hit with a cyber-attack (which according my Internet Service Provider still continues) temporarily taking out all my incoming/outgoing email and my online fax service. With some effort on my part, I regained email and then online fax service last week, only to lose access again to my web domain email servers for docktorcat.com again. Your email response is forever lost.
Whoever is doing this interfered with and continues to interfere with a number of federal law enforcement complaints (as well as several anticipated ones) — which I believe carries a penalty of up to 20 years in federal prison.
Considering all of this, under the CPRA I request — as Ms. Wenzell's representative/advocate — the records you provided me as PDFs for the CPRA request (made on my own behalf) which is copied below. I also noticed that your response omitted the reverse side of the one blank ticket/citation/notice to appear (which only had the front side while saying "SEE REVERSE").
The reverse side of this blank ticket/citation/notice to appear is fundamental for me filing color of law complaints and gathering evidence for Santa Cruz County District Attorney Bob Lee to prosecute Santa Cruz Police Department (SCPD) officers, SCPD Community Service Officers (like Bradley Barnett) and responsible parties in the City Attorney's office for committing criminal harassment under color of law.
As I understand it, the SCPD received a U.S. Department of Justice Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance grant with Federal Award ID 2012DJBX0055 for $60,750 from October 01, 2011 to September 30, 2015.
I would also like copies of telephone bills or some alternative log of outgoing telephone calls from the SCPD Records Section from January 18, 2014 to February 18, 2014.
I ask:
* if you determine that any or all or the information qualifies for an exemption from disclosure, to note whether, as is normally the case under the Act, whether the exemption is discretionary, and if so whether it is necessary in this case to exercise your discretion to withhold the information.
* in case you decide that any of the information is exempt, please explain how the interest in not disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in disclosing it.
* if you determine that some but not all of the information is exempt from disclosure and that you intend to withhold it, that you redact it for the time being (while citing the statutes exempting the redacted elements) and make the rest available as requested.
* if there is any information in these records which is private and you decide it is exempt information, yet it is in an otherwise disclosable document, please segregate the private information by redacting it (citing the statutes exempting the redacted elements), while providing me the rest of the unredacted record.
* If these records are available in an electronic format such as standard video, audio and image formats, MS Power Point (PPT), Apple Keynote, Portable Document Format (PDF), standard spreadsheet formats like MS Excel File Extension (XLS), MS Word Document (DOC), Hypertext Markup (HTM), any standard database format (like those listed here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_file_formats#Database), Rich Text Format (RTF), plain electronic text (TXT) or native email formats — like AOL for Windows, Apple Mail, Claris Emailer, Compuserve, EML, Entourage, Eudora, Maldir, MBOX File, Mulberry, Neoplanet, Outlook, Outlook Express, Outspring, Powertalk, Quickmail Pro, Thunderbird, Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail and Yahoo Archive! — or as links to the Internet then I ask that they be provided to me in one of those forms, preferably in their native format.
* I am willing to pay a fee of up to $10 for this request. If you estimate the cost of completing this request will exceed that amount, please contact me first before completing it with a fee estimate. If this request would entail special searches which would incur search fees to me, please contact me first with a fee estimate.
In the public interest — because I plan to provide these records to the news media, Santa Cruz County District Attorney Bob Lee, Congress, Governor Jerry Brown, the California state legislature, state and federal agencies and investigators, as well as posting them on these Facebook groups:
* [https://www.facebook.com/groups/OpenTransparentAccountableGovernment/]
* [https://www.facebook.com/groups/SantaCruzWhistleBlowers/]
* [https://www.facebook.com/groups/DisabledHomelessAdvocacy/]
* [https://www.facebook.com/groups/CitizensForPositiveChangeinSC/]
I ask you to waive all applicable exemptions and applicable fees (for search, retrieval, redaction and duplication). I especially ask you to waive all fees because discriminatory acts by the City of Santa Cruz and its contractors forced me to pay about $300 from my January SSDI payment to house Ms. Boyd and her daughter Portia — both disabled — in a disabled guest room at the Pacific Inn on Ocean Street. As of mid last month, I only had about $6 in my checking account — I was forced to borrow a payday loan to cover these costs, placing my finances is debt. Last week I borrowed another payday loan for food, medicines, supplies for my emotional assistance cats and to pay my delinquent medicaid premiums.
Please confirm receipt of this CPRA request via email.
Thank you for fulfilling my CPRA request to enable me to gather evidence to help exercise Ms. Wenzell's civil rights under federal law as well as helping me provide local, state and federal law enforcement agencies evidence for criminal complaints against the SCPD and responsible parties within the City Attorney's office.
Sincerely yours, [signed] John E. Colby, Ph.D.
"Request immediate disability accommodation SC City/County for safe sleep zone"
2014-02-14 letter from Dr. John Colby to Santa Cruz City Attorneys, Santa Cruz City Council and County Board of Supervisors:
I am writing because Katherine Wenzell — who I represent and advocate for — has a serious emotional disability while receiving no government benefits (which she has currently applied for). Because of her disability her sole means of support is peddling her wares in the Santa Cruz Downtown Hospitality District.
As copied below, I asked City Attorney John Barisone for an immediate, reasonable disability accommodation because Community Service Officer (CSO) Bradley Barnett served her with a (fraudulent) citation meant to drive her out of Downtown Santa Cruz, even out of the City of Santa Cruz. That is all described below.
Retaliating against someone because of their association with someone advocating for others' disability rights — in this case Laura and Portia Boyd which has revealed serious fraud and public corruption by the City of Santa Cruz owning the Santa Cruz National Guard Armory — is illegal (and even criminal). Also, retaliating against someone for their representative making a disability accommodation request is also illegal. Trying to drive them from where they live and work, and also out of town, is criminal — an abuse of authority under color of law.
Point:
The campaign of retaliation against Ms. Wenzell seems to haven commenced last night with Santa Cruz Police Officer Jeff Auldridge citing Ms. Wenzell for being in a parked car because a neighbor — who never complained before — allegedly claimed she was conducting surreptitious (drug related) activity when she was sleeping. Then today CSO Barnett singled out Ms. Wenzell, telling her without citing any ordinance — that she would have to move within an hour because if he came back he would cite her. This was not legal warning and I don't believe the ordinance about moving applies (evenly) to street vendors (nor has it been evenly applied to them before).
CSO Barnett knows he is a respondent in my U.S. Department of Justice discrimination complaint against the Santa Cruz Police Department (SCPD) for his previous misdeeds against Ms. Wenzell. If he was smart, he would steer clear of Ms. Wenzell to remove any question of retaliation. But instead, he seems to be going out of his way to harass her.
As the representative and advocate for Ms. Wenzell, I am writing to request an immediate disability accommodation on Ms. Wenzell's behalf under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Note:
* Ms. Wenzell is homeless primarily because she is disabled and the Santa Cruz rental market is about the third most expensive place to live in the nation. See the Santa Cruz Sentinel news article: http://tinyurl.com/9lrcxcx
* Ms. Wenzell's income is far less than what is required to rent in unsupported housing primarily because she is disabled and has no government assistance, while the Santa Cruz Downtown is an attractive locale for street vendors (asides from SCPD harassment)
Santa Cruz criminalizes the homeless using a number of different city ordinances, county ordinances and the state law 647(e).
* Ms. Wenzell cannot afford to legally park her vehicle while staying in a local homeless shelter.
In brief:
While the City and County of Santa Cruz criminalize homelessness, this is a condition Ms. Wenzell suffers from primarily due to her (emotional) disability, and thus the City and County of Santa Cruz are criminalizing her (emotional) disability.
Ms. Wenzell's emotional disability can be verified with the Homeless Persons' Health Project and the Emeline Medical Clinic.
My immediate disability accommodation request:
Please establish a safe zone in the City and County of Santa Cruz — preferably in a centrally located safe space with free parking — where Ms. Wenzell can sleep in her vehicle where City, County and state laws criminalizing homelessness will not be enforced against Ms. Wenzell during the day/night so she receives adequate rest. I also ask that the SCPD patrol Ms. Wenzell's safe sleeping zone every hour to ensure she sleeps safely, unmolested by criminals
Thank you for seriously considering this immediate disability accommodation request made on Ms. Wenzell's behalf as her legally sanctioned representative and advocate . I ask you to fulfill this request in whole or communicate with me in writing by email or facsimile how to fulfill this request in its entirety under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
I appreciate an immediate confirmation that this disability accommodation request has been accepted or denied or what further information is required, by fax or email, because Ms. Wenzell's need for a safe zone — free from criminalization — to sleep is immediate.
Sincerely yours, [signed] John E. Colby, Ph.D.
"SCPD and SC Criminal Court systematically attacking Katherine Wenzell's emotional disability"
2014-02-12 letter from Dr. John Colby to John G. Barisone, Santa Cruz City Attorney:
Dear Mr. Barisone:
For your information, I have already named Ms. Katherine Wenzell as a victim to my U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ) complaint against the Santa Cruz Police Department (SCPD). Moreover, I also named Community Service Officer (CSO) Bradley Barnett as an additional respondent to this USDOJ complaint for his actions against Ms. Wenzell.
I took testimony from Ms. Wenzell. I examined her citation for violating a municipal ordinance (which I believe to be 5.40.030 because the citation is in such small print and illegible). As executed by CSO Barnett, other CSOs and SCPD officers, I believe this ordinance is illegal — it cannot be reasonably nor objectively enforced as it was explained to Ms. Wenzell. The ordinance is linked to below: [http://www.codepublishing.com/CA/SantaCruz/?SantaCruz05/SantaCruz0540.html#5.40.030]
Moreover, after studying "hospitality districts" like the one established in Downtown Santa Cruz, I believe their intent is to cleanse these places of people deemed undesirable by established merchants. By intent, design or mere disproportionate impact, enforcement of ordinances like the one cited against Ms. Wenzell discriminates against disabled people, essentially driving them out of town.
The evidence suggests CSO Barnett's intent was to do just that to Ms. Wenzell (as he has done to others). Moreover, I believe these actions are institutionalized by the SCPD after examining the citation issued to Ms. Wenzell. Worse, I believe very strongly that the SCPD is issuing fraudulent citations, whose wording is intended to scare emotionally vulnerable people, e.g. emotionally disabled persons, out of the Downtown Hospitality District and even out of town.
This is akin to ethnic cleansing, except against disabled people — I believe it violates their civil rights as an abuse of power under the color of law; I believe it is criminal.
That said, I left voice messages for you and Ms. Drecshler on the night of Monday, February 10, 2014, because the SCPD's and the Santa Cruz Criminal Court's handling of Ms. Wenzell's citation — for a mere infraction — is driving her to an emotional breakdown. I informed you both:
* Ms. Wenzell was never given notice of the fine for the cited violation. She has never been told that she can pay off this ticket, leading her to believe that she must appear in court.
* Ms. Wenzell feels coerced to pay a fine, if allowed, because she cannot bear to live in Santa Cruz much longer under the oppressive regime here, while she believes she is innocent of the charges against her.
* The (fraudulent) wording of the citation has terrorized Ms. Wenzell. She believes that if she leaves town without appearing in court that she will not only be incarcerated for up to a year, but will lose both her driver's license and her vehicle.
Given that Ms. Drecshler and the City Attorney's Office are impeding me from representing and advocating for Ms. Wenzell to assist her in exercising her disability rights, as well as impeding me from gathering evidence for an anticipated court appearance, once more I ask — as I did last Monday night in my voice messages — for the following immediate, reasonable disability accommodation on Ms. Wenzell's behalf:
Immediately waive citation P–792386 issued to Ms. Wenzell by CSO Bradley Barnett on January 18, 2014 at approximately 11:40 AM. Drop all charges against Ms. Wenzell for this incident without her waiving any rights available to her under the law for just remedy either through administrative or legal action.
If this disability accommodation is not granted in writing by the end of business hours on this coming Monday, February 17, 2014, I will name Ms. Drecshler, you and the Office of the City Attorney as respondents to my USDOJ complaint against the SCPD and the City of Santa Cruz. Moreover, I will ask District Attorney Bob Lee to file criminal charges against the aforementioned parties (and against additional yet to be named parties). If Mr. Lee declines to prosecute, I will take my case to California Attorney General Kamila Harris for the State of California to prosecute this matter.
Thank you for responding, one way or another, in writing by end of the business day next Monday, February 17, 2014.
Sincerely yours, [signed] John E. Colby, Ph.D.
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