2015 February PASO Magazine

ROUND TOWN
By Heather Young
As Templeton flips the calendar
from 2014 to 2015, the small community
starts to get back into the
hustle and bustle with Chamber
networking and a SLOFolks concert.
Enjoy the calm before things really
heat up this spring and summer.
FEBRUARY
• Templeton Chamber of Commerce’s
Women in Business will
meet on Friday, Feb. 10 at 11:30 a.m.
The cost is $20 for chamber members
and $25 for non-members. To RSVP,
email templetonwib@gmail.com by
the Friday before the luncheon.
Events planned in Templeton
• The Templeton
Chamber of Commerce
will host its
monthly After Five
Mixer on Thursday,
Feb. 26 at Glenn’s
Repair & Rental,
5025 El Camino Real in Atascadero.
The mixers are an opportunities for
people to showcase their businesses in
an informal, open house atmosphere.
For more information, go to www.
templetonchamber.com.
• SLOFolks will
present Goitse,
which is an informal
Gaelic Irish
greeting meaning
“come here,” at
Castoro Cellars,
1315 N Bethel Road in Templeton,
on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 7:30 p.m.,
doors open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are
$20 each. The show is both groupand
family-friendly. For more information,
call 1-888-DAM-FINE
or go to www.castorocellars.com
MARCH
• Templeton Chamber of Commerce’s
Women in Business will
meet on Friday, March 10 at 11:30
a.m. The cost is $20 for chamber
members and $25 for non-members.
To RSVP, email templetonwib@gmail.com
by the Friday
before the luncheon.
• The Templeton Chamber of
Commerce will host its monthly
After Five Mixer on Thursday,
March 26 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at
Solarponics, 4700 El Camino Real
in Atascadero.
PERSPECTIVE from page 38
Fast Assets: County cops are
getting faster communications and
web access, thanks to federal seizure
money.
The board of supervisors approved
$40,000 to construct a fiber
optic cable from the Sheriff-Coroner’s
office to the San Luis Obispo
airport, courtesy of the Federal Asset
Forfeiture Trust Fund, (FAFTF). If
$40,000 sounds like a lot of money
to run a mile or so of data cable, at
least the county won’t have to pay it,
thanks to FAFTF.
Asset forfeiture is a polite term
for revenue from the Ferraris, jet
boats, helicopters and the cash law
enforcement seizes from alleged
criminals and drug traffickers.
That’s the intent, but seizure
laws are an increasingly lucrative
revenue stream for police and that’s
raising hackles among constitutional
rights groups. They say federal
laws make it easy to seize assets
from citizens who have not been
convicted of a crime.
Such “policing for profit” is a
breach of constitutional property
rights, according to the American
Civil Liberties Union. In cases cited,
highway patrol and small town police
have used civil forfeiture laws to
coerce or simply confiscate money
and assets that rightfully belong to
citizens, because federal seizure laws
don’t require proof of wrongdoing.
There is no doubt federal forfeiture
laws are lucrative: last year
FAFTF trust fund had over $2 billion
in assets; how much was taken
from innocent citizens, isn’t clear.
The Institute for Justice, a civil rights
law firm says the number is 80%.
That’s abuse, says Tim Walberg,
the Congressman sponsoring the
Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act,
intended to put a stop to crimeless
asset seizure.
The ACLU recently won a landmark
class action suit in Texas where
police allegedly routinely seized assets
from African American and
Hispanic motorists. The motorists
were told to turn over their money
or face federal money laundering
charges. Critics say law enforcement
has used forfeiture laws to
pay salaries and buy paramilitary
assault weapons. Law enforcement
officials argue that seizure laws take
the profit out of crime and stop
money laundering.
We need to point out that few, if
any instances of seizure law abuse
have surfaced in San Luis Obispo
County and that’s good. But I do
think our elected officials and law
enforcement have a responsibility
to refuse tainted money. If the revenue
being offered was illicitly seized
from citizens, San Luis Obispo
County officials should stand up
and say, thanks, but no thanks.
Fall in Love
with your
Home Again
40 Paso Robles Magazine, February 2015