Date: Mon, 07  Apr  2003 16:55:28 -0400
From: "The American Civil Liberties Union" <belmonte@MIT.EDU>
To: "The American Civil Liberties Union" <belmonte@mit.edu>
Subject: oppose Amber Alert riders

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Message sent to the following recipients:
Sen. Kennedy
Sen. Kerry
Rep. Capuano
Message text follows:

Matthew Belmonte
[address]


April 7, 2003

[recipient address was inserted here]


 [recipient name was inserted here],

I am writing to urge you to reject the popular Amber 
Alert legislation unless the unrelated anti-rave and judicial discretions 
measures  are removed.  These two measures should not be allowed to 
piggyback on the more popular, yet unrelated, Amber Alert legislation and 
should instead proceed through a normal legislative process of full 
hearings and debate.

If the anti-rave provision becomes law, property owners may be too afraid 
to rent or lease their space for events rightly or wrongly perceived as 
attracting drug users -- essentially any event that attracts a young 
crowd. Out of fear of massive fines and prison sentences, law-abiding 
business owners may stop hosting raves and other musical events, driving 
them further underground and away from public health and safety measures.

The other unrelated measure currently attached to the Amber Alert bill 
affects judicial discretion in sentencing.  This measure would require the 
Justice Department to report to Congress virtually every time a judge 
chooses not to follow federal sentencing guidelines.  This provision is a 
calculated attempt to intimidate federal judges into being less willing to 
use common sense in sentencing.

Congress should remove these unrelated anti- civil liberties provisions 
from the Amber Alert measure, and allow them to proceed through a 
separate, normal legislative process of full hearings and debate.

Once again, I urge you to reject the Amber Alert legislation unless the 
unrelated anti-rave and judicial discretions measures  are removed.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this issue.

Sincerely


Matthew Belmonte