Step One - work up your courage to participate fully in civil disobedience to support a cause you believe in. For me this was the march in downtown Pittsburgh on July 30, 2014. I diaried about this event in my Letter from a Pittsburgh Jail… For this to be successful, you must follow through and take the arrest, wait patiently for the paddy wagons to haul you and your compatriots off to the police station and allow yourself to be processed into the system. I can only recommend doing this in the fine city of Pittsburgh, where our peace officers managed a fine catch and release program on that day.
Step Two - Show up at the Courthouse on the date of your hearing. Our hearing was on Monday, November 24, 2014. Be prepared to be somewhat delayed by the fine ladies running the security at the entrance. They were not well prepared for all 28 defendants to enter at the same time after the pre-hearing rally outside the Courthouse. I had volunteered to be a spokesperson for the group should the judge ask for a statement. Fortune smiled on us that day, no statement was required, as our lawyer had managed to get the police Commander to make an appearance on our behalf. He testified that we were all extremely well behaved, and that he wished all his arrests were so easy. The lawyer and the judge then went over the plea agreement, 20 hours of community service to be done in the the next 60 days. Failure to complete the necessary hours will result in a guilty plea, a fine of $300, and court costs of $127, plus the charges will remain on my (permanent) record. By completing the community service the charges will get expunged from my record, though I guess that I will now have an empty record on file somewhere in the bowels of the judicial system…
Step Three - Do your community service, get the necessary letters from the non-profit organization(s) and turn them over to the fine lawyer. I’ve already wondered if working for the largest not for profit purely public charity in Allegheny County would qualify as community service, but I seriously doubt anyone at UPMC will be willing to provide a letter certifying my service. And a pay stub probably wouldn’t be any good either. But that’s okay, on the principle that “a penny saved is a penny earned”, I’ll be “paying” myself around $21.35/hr for doing something good for the community. (Which would be more than what is considered to be a living wage in our region.) As if bringing a union into a teaching hospital isn’t enough community service already! The religious leaders of the Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network got a better deal than we did - their judge decided protesting against UPMC was in itself sufficient community service. But then they were arrested while blocking UPMC property, while we kicked it up a notch and sat down in Grant Street, downtown, during rush hour traffic.
1:25 PM PT: Wow! Somebody must like my writing around here! In the Community Spotlight, and while not the first time, it is still a significant show of support. Now I need to go find a piece of humble pie to eat :)