About 20 police officers patrolled the park as it closed at 10:30 p.m., ensuring that none of the 20-some demonstrators were inside the park boundary.

Tucson now has the longest-running uninterrupted anti-corporate protest in the nation, organizer Dave Croteau said.

“We’re still here, and we have an encampment again,” he said. “Portland, New York, they’ve been moved out. We’re still going.”

Although protesters were evicted from Veinte de Agosto Park downtown in late December, they’ve continued their protest on the sidewalk since, and occupied the park during daylight, Croteau said.

Occupy Tucson began Oct. 15 when demonstrators set up tents in Armory Park on South 6th Avenue. Police evicted them from that park in November.

The Occupiers are now on more solid ground, protesters said Thursday.

The Pima Prevention Partnership is the parent organization for the group and was included in a study that showed youths with severe substance-related problems dropped from 9% to 1.5%. That’s compared to 6.3% in other programs.

It began just after 1 a.m. Tuesday, near Alvernon and Ft. Lowell, Tucson Police Department spokesman Sgt. Matt Ronstadt said.

A TPD officer saw a vehicle being driven by a man and a woman in the passenger seat. The woman was honking, waving, and trying to get the officer’s attention, Ronstadt said.

The officer tried to stop the vehicle, which fled at a high rate of speed. The officer lost sight of the car. A helicopter was launched minutes later, and spotted the vehicle travelling south on Campbell near River, Ronstadt said.

Patrol units tried to stop the car, and it fled once again, Ronstadt said.

The driver, later identified as 45-year-old Johnny Rivas, was speeding at more than 80 miles per hour, blowing through red lights and stop signs, and driving on the wrong side of the road, Ronstadt said.
Rivas narrowly missed hitting a University of Arizona Police Department patrol unit when he ran a stop sign on 7th Avenue and 6th Street, Ronstadt said. A few minutes later, he nearly struck a TPD K-9 officer.

That’s when TPD authorized a ground pursuit of the suspect, Ronstadt said.

The pursuit ended at St. Mary’s and Riverside when a TPD patrol unit did a “PIT maneuver” and struck Rivas’ vehicle. Rivas’ vehicle spun, hit a curb, and landed on the hood of the TPD patrol vehicle, Ronstadt said.

Rivas was taken to the hospital for evaluation. He was treated and released into police custody
The female passenger was later located near Fort Lowell and Alvernon; officers had believed she was in the vehicle the whole time. She actually bailed out of Rivas’ moving vehicle just after the first officer tried to stop him, Ronstadt said.

She was taken to the hospital and treated for injuries associated with bailing out of the moving vehicle, and for injuries which occurred from a physical assault which occurred before officers spotted her in the car with Rivas, officials say.

Rivas is charged with numerous felonies including: Domestic Violence- Kidnapping, Domestic Violence- Aggravated Assault associated with obstructing an airway, Domestic Violence- Aggravated Assault while violating an order of protection, 3 counts of felony endangerment, felony flight, unlawful possession of narcotic paraphernalia, and Aggravated DUI.

Hence, the decision to ban books in a 4 to 1 vote on Tuesday, January 10 by the school-district board. This is part of a larger state mandate banning Mexican American Studies. An estimated 50 books are being banned.

This morning, I am looking at one of the banned books, Rethinking Columbus: the Next 500 Years. The book, originally published in 1991 by Milwaukee-based Rethinking Schools, is intended to provide educators with tools to re-evaluate “the social and ecological consequences of the Europeans’ arrival in 1492” and was written in time for the quincentenary. That was the event the Chicago Tribune had promised would be the “most stupendous international celebration in the history of notable celebrations.”

Perhaps a bit optimistic in retrospect. In the book, the question was asked, What were the consequences- both positive and negative of this “discovery,” or, in actuality, the blind luck of some poor navigation skills. Apparently this book is the pinnacle of what should not be read.

Rethinking contains writings of many noted and national award-winning Native works, including Buffy Sainte-Marie’s My Country, ‘Tis of Thy People You’re Dying, Joseph Bruchac‘s A Friend of the Indians, Cornel Pewewardy’s A Barbie-Doll Pocahontas, M. Scott Momaday’s The Delight Song of Tsoai-Talee, and others. As a side note, Sainte-Marie won an Academy Award, and Momaday won a Pulitzer Prize.

My essay “To the Women of the World: Our Future, Our Responsibility” was also included in the book. Interestingly enough, if I were going to ban one of my essays from a public school, this would probably not be the one. The essay is the transcript of my opening plenary address to the United Nations Conference on the Status of Women in 1995, held in Bejing, China. Other books and writings banned include those by famed Brazilian educator Paulo Friere and, in a multiracial censorship move, Shakespeare’s The Tempest was also banned.

Book-banning has a distasteful history. Catholic priests burned Mayan books in 1562, Nazi Germany banned 4,100 or so books from 193 to 1939. Various books have been banned at many times across the world, including in the U.S. The American Library Association actually sponsors a Banned Books Week (upcoming this September 30 to October 6) as an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. According to the American Library Association, “Intellectual freedom—the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular—provides the foundation for Banned Books Week.” Now those are some radical folks, those librarians.

Back to Tucson: Roberto Rodriguez, professor at University of Arizona, is among the nation’s top Chicano and Mexican American scholars. Rodriguez says, “The attacks in Arizona are mind-boggling. To ban the teaching of a discipline is draconian in and of itself.”

My response to the ban? Well, I’m traveling to Arizona next week. Probably going to distribute some new books and toast the First Amendment over coffee with some nuns, Natives and lawyers. And I am going to think about how special Arizona is. Take for instance the federal holiday of Martin Luther King Day: Arizona resisted celebrating the holiday until 1992, nine years after it was recognized by President Reagan. As well, Arizona also has some of the most controversial anti-immigration laws and search-and-seizure practices by law enforcement. Arizona is, in short, a leader of special thinking. Last time I was in Arizona, someone commented, “If states are the laboratory for democracy, Arizona is a meth lab.”

I am going to drink that coffee, and then I’m going to keep my eye on a piece of legislation that is the Internet equivalent to the banning of books by the Tucson School District: the legislation currently being debated in Congress, the SOPA and PIPA bills. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its Senate companion, the Protect IP Act (PIPA) would strengthen protections against copyright infringement and intellectual property theft, but Internet advocates say they would stifle expression on the World Wide Web. House Bill 3261 would expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement and copyright holders to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods,” according to Wikipedia—the online encyclopedia that is opposed to the bill.

While I, among others, am opposed to intellectual pirates (having been attacked by such pirates this winter), I am also a proponent of free speech and intellectual freedom. The proposed bill would have some potential severe impacts on whistle-blowers and free speech. The bill will come up for debate in February.

In the meantime, Abenaki writer Joseph Bruchac, whose children’s stories are a family favorite in the LaDuke household (and on White Earth KKWE Niijii radio 89.9 FM), ponders the Arizona decision: “ It made me wonder what the Tucson School Board would ban next—perhaps the Emancipation Proclamation? A school board and a community that cannot face sharing the truth of history with their children is one that is penalizing the very kids they may think they are protecting.”

I am a proponent of an independent mind, and that First Amendment is worth fighting for—I am sure of it. Many minds bring together great thoughts, which is how civilizations prosper. I think that Chief Sitting Bull’s quote, which graces the opening page of Rethinking Columbus may be the best comment yet: “Let us put our heads together and see what life we will make for our children.” That is, indeed, good counsel.

The city is pulling out all the stops to make it a success. Gem show vendors are still setting up their space for the big rush in two days. “A lot of dealers work very hard in getting more people here every year we have we’ve been doing it for a long time but we have about I would say about a 10% increase a year,” said Jay Gehring with Village Originals.

Shepard is due to be sentenced in early April and could face as many as 10 years in prison, although he has been in jail since he was arrested in April 2010.

It may not be the end, though. The woman whose improbable recovery captivated the nation promised, “I will return.”

Giffords spent time Monday at her office with other survivors of the shooting rampage that killed six people and injured 13. She hugged and talked with survivors, including Suzi Hileman, who was shot three times while trying to save her young friend and neighbor, 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green. The little girl died from a gunshot wound to the chest.

“The last time I did this I had Christina’s hand,” Hileman said. “It was something that was hanging out there, and now it’s not.”

Others who met with Giffords included Pat Maisch, who was hailed as a hero for wrestling a gun magazine from the shooter that day, and Daniel Hernandez, Giffords’ intern at the time who helped save her life by trying to stop her bleeding until an ambulance arrived.

“It was very touching,” said Maisch, who was not hurt in the attack. “I thanked her for her service, wished her well, and she just looked beautiful.”

Giffords announced Sunday that she would resign from Congress this week to focus on her recovery. Maisch was sad to think that Giffords would no longer be her congresswoman.

“But I want her to do what’s best for her,” she said. “She’s got to take care of herself.”

However, an upbeat Giffords hinted that her departure from public life might be temporary. In a message sent on Twitter, she said: “I will return & we will work together for Arizona & this great country.”

In her last act in Tucson as a congresswoman, the Democrat visited one of her favorite charities, the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona.

The food bank established the Gabrielle Giffords Family Assistance Center with $215,000 it received in the wake of the shooting. Giffords’ husband and former astronaut Mark Kelly told people who wanted to help Giffords after the shooting that the best way to do so was to donate to one of her favorite charities.

Giffords’ resignation set up a free-for-all in a competitive district.

Arizona must hold a special primary and general election to find someone to finish out her remaining months in office. That will probably happen in the spring or early summer. Then voters will elect someone in November for a full two-year term.

Among those mentioned as potential candidates were several Republican and Democratic state lawmakers and Giffords’ husband, although he has publicly quashed such speculation.

But it may not be the end. The woman whose improbable recovery has captivated the nation promised, “I will return.”

Bill Badger, who was shot in the head and then helped hold the gunman down at the town hall shooting last year, said Giffords met individually with survivors at her Tucson office.