FC: Police arrest newspaper editor for criticizing Florida cops

[Anthony Mournian]

Dear Mayor of Key West, and dear Chief of Police of Key West,

I'm not a journalist, just an ordinary, run of the mill US Citizen, and
I am wondering what the cowboys are doing in Florida!

I am amazed, but ill impressed at the actions reported by on-line
journalist Declan McCullagh <declan at well.com>. Your town lies 90 miles
north of a Communist dictatorship, but it would seem to have been swept
south by ill winds of fear and paranoia.

If there is a RIGHT which Americans take seriously, hold near, and very
dear, it is the First Amendment right of Freedom of the Press. For
Shame, Key West, for actions as brutish as Tienaman Square! Your arrest
of Dennis Cooper reflects either fear of exposure of worse wrongs than
Cooper has reported, or a total lack of understanding or respect for the
US Constitution. In light of the recent election results coming out of
Florida, I suspect it is a combination of the two.

Anthony Mournian
San Diego, California



"Police in Key West, Florida have arrested a newspaper editor for
printing 
an article that criticized an internal police investigation, according
to 
an Associated Press report. This brutish action by police and
prosecutors 
should be widely denounced.

As of this afternoon, the Key West newspaper's site at kwest.com was
still 
up (I read what appears to be one of the articles in question at 
http://kwest.net/~kwtn/local_news/01-06-15-KWTN-FDLE_Investigating_Police_Internal_Scandal.html). 
But while the server is still alive -- it responds to ping requests -- 
connections to port 80 are now refused. Unfortunately, the article is no 
longer in my cache.

It looks like the editor, Dennis Cooper, is being prosecuted for
allegedly 
violating a state law. Under Florida law, it's a crime to disclose 
information about a police investigation -- even if you're the person
who 
had filed a complaint alleging police wrongdoing, as Cooper seems to
have done.

You can find contact information for Key West officials here:
http://www.keywestcity.com/directory.html
http://www.keywestcity.com/depts/police/policetelephone.html

I've copied the mayor, the chief of police, and other officials. If they 
would care to reply, I would be happy to extend them the usual courtesy
of 
distributing their response unedited.

If anyone puts up a mirror site with the article, please let me know.
And I 
urge you to write to the city officials copied above. (BTW I have
verified 
that the below article did run on the AP wire.)

-Declan

---