"It is with deep sorrow that we at the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado learned of the recent passing of Arlette Baer.  As a dedicated volunteer at the ACLU for nearly four decades, Arlette’s contributions had an immeasurable impact on our mission to protect and defend the rights of people throughout Colorado.
"We send our thoughts and condolences to the Baer family.  At our 2014 Annual Meeting, we were honored to award the first-ever Arlette Baer Volunteer of the Year Award.  We will continue to give the award every year in Arlette’s memory to recognize those who have followed in her path and to commemorate her service to our organization, for which we are eternally grateful."

The following tribute was written by ACLU of Colorado Operations Manager Caryn Osterman and included in our 2014 Annual Report:
When we reflect on how fortunate we are to have such valuable and dedicated volunteers at the ACLU of Colorado, the name Arlette Baer always comes up.
Arlette volunteered for the ACLU for almost 40 years.  She started as an intake volunteer, answering calls from those seeking legal assistance back when our office was located in a two-story house on Pennsylvania Street.
Eventually, Arlette became the office’s membership director, volunteering four hours a day, five days a week. When membership soared after 9/11 to over 11,000 members, Arlette tracked every single one of them.
Before the ACLU, Arlette volunteered with the United Farm Workers, picketing in support of boycotts throughout the state.  She also participated in anti-war protests during the Vietnam era.
Her daughter Simmie, herself a dedicated juvenile defense attorney, says of her mother’s experience at the ACLU of Colorado, “The ACLU was my mother’s home away from home. From the time it was an office of three people, through its many transitions and buildings, she considered everyone her family and made sure she got to the office by 7 in the morning to make coffee.  Her decades at the ACLU provided her friendship, purpose, and the good fight!”

(Written by ACLU of Colorado Public Policy Director Denise Maes and published in the November 16 Denver Post)

Protecting public health is certainly not the only, or even the main, motivation behind the proposed smoking ban on the 16th Street Mall. Rather, police would gain another tool of selective enforcement to target, harass and ultimately displace the homeless population from downtown.
Across the state, new laws are being added every day to push people living in poverty out of sight and on to other communities. Boulder officials brag openly that they used a similar smoking ban to drive the homeless population out of its downtown municipal campus.
Smoking bans are particularly troublesome because of their outsized impact on people with mental illness. According to the Center for Disease Control, 31 percent of cigarettes are consumed by adults who suffer from mental illness.
Laws targeting homeless and vulnerable populations purport to outlaw behavior, but in reality they outlaw people and deny those individuals the dignity and personal liberty that every person deserves.
Denise Maes, Denver

 

More and more cities around Colorado are passing new laws or enforcing old ones to target, harass, and displace people living in poverty. At our encouragement, the City of Durango recently stopped enforcing a loitering ordinance that infringed on peaceful, non-threatening speech.

As reported in the Durango Herald:

Durango’s loitering law questioned by group

Musician ticketed after business owner complains