2011 Annual General Membership Meeting

The ACLU of South Carolina held its 2011 general membership meeting at the USC School of Law in Columbia on Saturday January 8.  Affiliate President Ron Romine introduced the Board of Directors, whose members embody ACLU’s commitment to civil liberties for all South Carolinians and represent the diversity of our state.  Together, members commemorated the ACLU’s 90th anniversary and the ACLU’s decades-long fight for civil liberties in our country. 

The President introduced -- Executive Director Victoria Middleton, Susan Dunn, staff attorney, and Jan Landry, office manager.  Victoria Middleton summed up the affiliate’s work in public education and advocacy. 

Highlights of the past year included successes in promoting drug law reform (with the passage of an omnibus sentencing reform act in June 2010) and defeating a discriminatory housing ordinance aimed at immigrants in Summerville in the fall of 2010. 

Legislative priorities for 2011 include fighting bills that would suppress voting rights and promote racial profiling and politicians’ intervention in women’s reproductive health decisions. Local initiatives – expansion of police surveillance cameras and youth curfews – will also continue to require our vigilance.

Victoria Middleton called for members in communities around our state to help with public education programs and with advocacy on civil liberties issues. The affiliate is actively seeking volunteers to form a statewide network of ACLU grassroots leaders in the Upstate, Midlands, Lowcountry and coastal regions. Interested members should contact our office.
 
Staff attorney Susan Dunn briefed members on cases that illustrate the affiliate’s work to protect the vulnerable and defend the rights of minorities. The indigent defense case of Michael Turner in Oconee County, in which we filed an amicus brief last year, will be heard at the U.S. Supreme Court on March 23, 2011.  The National ACLU has submitted an amicus brief in that filing. 

Our case against the Berkeley County Detention Center, with our National ACLU colleagues, is still pending.  The Detention Center restricts inmates’ reading material to soft-cover Bibles. 

Susan Dunn described the affiliate’s handling of intake requests and outreach to attorneys in each part of the state to assist in making appropriate referrals. She explained the development of the affiliate’s legal advisory panel to advise and strategize on cases.  The panel includes attorneys with diverse areas of experience in different parts of the state.

The meeting closed with a question and answer period and prizes for volunteers, as well as for members who had come the farthest distance and claimed the longest membership.