YSU ACLU litigator defends cause

ACLU advocates call the Bill of Rights the people's leash on government.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A Boardman High School graduate said growing up in an area where people have a healthy distrust of government ultimately led him to a job with the American Civil Liberties Union.
Gary Daniels of Cleveland returned to the Mahoning Valley on Tuesday for a discussion at Youngstown State University on presidential power and the Patriot Act.
"It's good to be home," Daniels told the crowd of about 80 people. "Regrettably, we didn't have time for Wedgewood Pizza or Handel's ice cream."
Daniels, litigation coordinator for the ACLU of Ohio, and Frank Kunstel of Akron, a longtime ACLU volunteer, both encouraged the group to know its rights and become involved with the ACLU and other organizations that strive to protect freedom.
No matter who
Daniels said the Patriot Act would exist post 9/11, no matter who was president. Each time there is crisis, government puts in place more restrictions that become permanent, he said.
"We're only in the second or third chapter of the post 9/11 story," he said. "If there is another attack, we'll be back in a couple of years saying the Patriot Act was child's play."
On 9/11, Daniels was working 40 blocks from ground zero. His wife was across the street from Tower 7.
"It was like a bad dream ... I kept punching my cell phone numbers and nothing was happening," he said. "There was just a shock about the whole thing. My wife left with a co-worker and they just kept walking north."
Daniels said he understands the need for security, but more now than ever, people must defend the Bill of Rights.
"There isn't a [footnote to] the Bill of Rights that says 'not applicable in time of war.'"
Kunstel called the Bill of Rights the people's leash on government.
"It's the Bill of Rights, not the bill of suggestions," he said. "If we ever lose our democracy it won't be because of an invading army, it will be because we've given it away a little bit at a time."
tullis@vindy.com