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Permit showdown postponed
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Activists packed a small Daley Plaza courtroom yesterday for a hearing on the latest permit battle, but instead of a civil liberties showdown they got a display of the usual legal chicanery.
The city informed Thayer of its permit appeal by mail rather than fax, so he had less than 24 hours to prepare a defense; he tried to enlist the help of a real lawyer, but while several National Lawyers Guild members expressed an interest, none of them had expertise in these matters, so he was left to fend for himself.
Thayer tells anyone who'll listen that the city has it in for him, and while those who haven't been following his travails may dismiss such talk as paranoia, the level of attention the city pays to his court appearances suggests that he just may be on to something. Deputy Corporation Counsel Yvonne LaGrone assisted prosecutors during two previous cases against him, and yesterday Chief Assistant Corporate Counsel Stephanie Uhlarik showed up in court. LaGrone and Uhlarik are among the city's top legal raptors, and they are usually assigned to the highest-stakes cases; why, pray tell, would they bother with this guy?
But bother Uhlarik did, and despite knowing that Thayer was poorly equipped to represent the anti-war coalition the city asked Associate Judge Joseph M. Sconza to rule on their emergency motion to yank the permit for the planned March 14 demo. Had Sconza gone along, the permit would have been effectively kiboshed; to his credit, he postponed the ruling to allow Thayer to secure proper legal representation. He also ordered them to produce a transcript of last week's proceedings.
The city then tried to schedule the next hearing for Feb. 13; Thayer objected, because activists can't start publicizing the date of the event until a decision is reached. The lawyers claimed it would take time to produce the transcript, but Sconza didn't buy it.
Barring any last-minute maneuvering, everyone will be back in Room 1107 of the Daley Center on Monday, Feb. 9, for what should be a final decision. In the meantime, supporters are being urged to call their aldermen and demand that the city drop its appeal. A press conference was held before yesterday's hearing in an attempt to bring the case to the court of public opinion; while the Trib and the Sun-Times didn't show up, ABC, Fox and CLTV did but haven't yet aired any reports — and if past history is any indication, they never will.
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