"As Police Chief, I resent the ultimate spin doctoring of the facts,"
Butler wrote. "Instead, the Pacifica Foundation owes the men and women of the Berkeley Police Department heartfelt thanks for giving up days off, vacations, and other commitments in order to assist in
providing for peaceful dissent following Pacifica Foundation management decisions."On September 3, Chadwick wrote a letter to California Assemblyman Scott Wildman (D-Glendale), Chair of the Joint
Legislative Audit Committee, which is currently investigating Pacifica. In attempting to justify to the committee Pacifica's extraordinary expenditures for armed guards at KPFA, Chadwick wrote,
"Pacifica was advised by the Berkeley Police Department that it was unable to provide the level of security necessary to protect persons and property. As a result, Pacifica was required to retain its
own security and made other arrangements to allow it to continue to safely operate the stations [sic] and at the same time minimize the risks to persons and property. "
Chadwick also wrote to Berkeley
Mayor Shirley Dean, stating that she would be forwarding the bills for security to the mayor's office and requesting that the mayor "agree to pay for these costs we incurred due to the inability or
unwillingness of the Berkeley Police Department to provide adequate protection. "
Butler's letter dismissed Chadwick's claim. "[i]f anything, the Pacifica Foundation, should be offering to
reimburse the City of Berkeley for overconsumption of City services and apologizing for draining the City budget." Berkeley is a city of 125,000 people. Police overtime connected with the KPFA crisis
ran to approximately $200,000.
Chadwick asserted to Wildman that Pacifica's expenses "were clearly necessary and appropriate. It is ironic that those who caused Pacifica to have to spend these monies are
the very ones who condemn the expenditures."
According to Butler, "many labor disputes have taken place in the City of Berkeley during the last 25 years, and many companies have hired private security
to assist in maintaining the peace and providing additional security for their property. Each and every time, the Berkeley Police Department has maintained a neutral position. However, the Pacifica
Foundation's decision to turn a labor dispute into a mass arrest situation was a first.
"This occurred in spite of our advice to their management. How ironic that after ignoring the advice and
deciding to make so many arrests, they have NOW decided that they do not wish to follow through with the prosecution of those arrested.
"...Lynn Chadwick and the rest of Pacifica Foundation should
pull out an appropriate sized mirror and take a good look at the real culprits--those who made their decisions during the dispute."
On June 23, 14 people staged a peaceful sit-in in front of the
Pacifica National office, next door to the KPFA studios. The purpose of the protest was to block Lynn Chadwick's entrance into the office in order to get her to speak with them. Chadwick summoned the police
who, at first, refused to make any arrests because the protesters were on private property and were not committing any crimes. Chadwick was then compelled to make a citizen's arrest on each of the protesters
before the police would act. The arrests were made peacefully.
Several days later, Chief Butler received a phone call from Joe Brann, a former California law enforcement colleague and currently the No. 3
person in the US Department of Justice. The purpose of the "friendly" call was to inquire about the police handling of the sit-in. Brann is in charge of the federal program that provides money to
localities to put more police on the streets. Both Butler and the Justice Department confirmed that the call had been instigated by Pacifica National Board Chair Dr. Mary Frances Berry, who is also Chair of
the US Commission on Civil Rights, who contacted the Justice Department.
On the night of July 13, police arrested 52 people at the insistence of Chadwick's newly appointed special assistant, Garland Ganter
of Houston, when a protest arose after Ganter placed investigative reporter Dennis Bernstein on "indefinite administrative leave," allegedly for violating Pacifica's gag rule against reporting stories about
Pacifica's dispute with KPFA. Bernstein, this writer and several other reporters were peacefully arrested in the KPFA newsroom. But the police were on the scene in riot gear. Thus began the 23-day
lockout of KPFA.
The police stepped up their helmeted presence during rallies in front of the station on July 14 and 15, arresting and using billy-clubs against several protesters who attempted to hang a
banner from the station's second floor balcony on the 15 (the so-called "ladder incident"). Several arrests were also made in the ensuing days when police, in the middle of the night, rousted
protesters who set up Camp KPFA, a small tent city in the street in front of the station. With overtime costs growing, the Berkeley City Council, with the backing of Mayor Shirley Dean, unanimously
passed a resolution on July 27, supporting the staff of KPFA and ordering a police pullback.
On August 13, Lynn Chadwick sent a letter, followed up by a fax, to the Alameda County District Attorney's
office, stating that the Pacifica Foundation wished to drop all charges in order to heal the community. However, apparently not everyone in the D.A.'s office was aware or certain of Pacifica's intentions and
the arraignment of those arrested on July 13 and 15 proceeded on August 20. The following week, Chadwick took the stand in the trial of the protesters on which she had placed citizens arrest on June 23.
Under oath, Chadwick stated that she had sent a letter requesting that charges be dropped and that she was still of that opinion. The prosecutor then dropped the charges. Thereafter, as cases came up
for pre-trial conference, the assistant district attorneys working them dropped the charges. On September 9 , assistant district attorney Jim Panetta "regretfully" dismissed the cases against all those
arrested on the night of the lock-out and in the "ladder incident" two days later.
As of September 16, charges are still pending against only two individuals. The first is Kahlil Jacobs-Fantauzzi, who was
charged with resisting an officer while at Camp KPFA. Jacobs-Fantauzzi asserts that he was roughly treated by police when he stepped in to mediate a brewing argument between a police officer and a camper. A
hearing has been set for October 5 on a Pitchess motion, in which Jacobs-Fantauzzi's attorney, Melanie Carver, will seek to discover any records indicating that the particular officers involved in
Jacobs-Fantauzzi's arrest have a history of using excessive force. Such a history would be a defense to a "resisting" charge. A jury trial for Jacobs-Fantauzzi is set for October 28, though it is still
possible, according to Carver, that the charge will be dropped before then.
The second case outstanding case involves Jordy Simpson, accused of jaywalking. He was part of a group of people arrested
for jaywalking, the rest of whom pleaded no contest to this infraction. Simpson refused to make such a plea. Several other people accused of jaywalking, who were not part of Simpson's arrest group, have had
their charges dropped. Simpson, who for some unknown reason, was not on the same court calendar as the other alleged jaywalkers, may see his charge dropped also, according to Carver. Procedurally, charges
may be dropped at any time. However, the prosecutor's office has been dropping charges only on the days defendants are scheduled to appear in court.
On September 14, the Berkeley City Council unanimously
adopted Mayor Dean's recommendation that the City reject Chadwick's demand for reimbursement. Additionally, the Council asked the City Manager to write a letter asking that Pacifica reimburse the city for
the extensive police overtime costs. The council also requested the city attorney and city manager to investigate the appropriateness of joining a pending lawsuit by a number of advisory board members
of the Pacifica stations that seeks to overturn the governance changes made in February of this year that turned the Pacifica National Board into an entirely self-selecting body.
