Editorial:

A slip of paper, a slice of history, a blow for freedom

Somewhere in Washington D.C. there's a person who is paid to pay attention to such things. In a small office in a big building, the city of Ashland just found its way onto that someone's desk. The file was immediately scanned and slid into a pile with 40-some other cities - including Portland and Eugene. That file is presumptively labeled something like: "Malcontent Towns." But to those who are fond of our Bill of Rights - and believe those rights hold sway over the swift sword of governmental fiat - Ashland had struck a magnificent blow for liberty.

One by one they came to the microphone and faced the mayor and the city council - loggers and lawyers alike, side by side, chair by chair, making their case. At issue was a resolution composed by concerned Ashlanders in opposition to the USA Patriot Act. The resolution was before the Ashland City Council Tuesday night - up for adoption or doomed to abandonment.

It was reality television at its best. Channel 9 aired the event and the camera operators continually panned the lens around the standing- and sitting room-only sea of faces. All were focused on the words of the speakers, the speakers riveted on the attentive faces of the mayor and council. "The federal government has fallen into the hands of zealots," said Ralph Temple, an Ashland resident and former American Civil Liberties Union legal director in Washington D.C. "All politics are local … Let's keep our civil liberties intact," said Ashlander Fred Caruso. Then, following a unanimous 6-0 council vote in favor of the resolution, Councilor Don Laws added: "I'm extremely proud of our citizens. I'm really pleased that this whole thing has been brought up."

At that, the crowd burst into applause and congratulatory handshakes and hugs. The city had kept intact: citizen rights to legal counsel; curtailed surveillance without a relationship to a criminal investigation; eliminated targeting of Ashlanders based on race, religion, ethnicity or national origin; and limited police from participating in federal clandestine action which encourages people to spy on their neighbors.

It may have been a resolution passed in a small town in America, but it called down the echoes of James Madison - the recognized father of our Constitution: "I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations."

In our view, this city of extraordinary people took a stand against tyranny. It's not a small thing. It's an act of paramount importance. It is what is best in America. And, it was mighty patriotic.