Date:
Thursday, May 8

Keynote Speaker:
Dr. Daniel Ellsberg
The Truth Telling Project

Location:
Downtown Sheraton
150 W. 500 S.

Tickets:
$100 General Admission
$50 Special Rate*
Buy your tickets on-line now!

Be a Table Host:
Sell ten tickets to fill a table of ACLU of Utah supporters!
Learn more >>

Be a Dinner Sponsor:
You will receive free tickets and special recognition at the dinner!
Learn more >>

Be a Volunteer:
Help with registration, table-seating and other critical day-of-event duties. Our volunteers make a huge difference, and are able to attend the dinner at no cost.
Contact Anna Brower
to sign up early!

*This special rate is intended for those who are on fixed incomes, work in the non-profit sector, are students or who otherwise would not be able to join us.

For more information on the Bill of Rights Celebration, contact:

Anna Brower
Development Director
abrower@acluutah.org
801-521-9862, ext. 100

Tickets Are SOLD OUT!

Thanks to all of our great ACLU of Utah supporters who are dinner sponsors, table hosts or have purchased seats. If you are not attending this celebration keep a look out for future 50th anniversary events.

The Latest: ACLU of Utah "Civil-lebrities" on May 8

We will be joined by a whole host of VIPs from the ACLU of Utah's past at this year's 50th Anniversary Bill of Rights Celebration. These are celebrities in the world of Civil Liberities - or, as we like to call them, "Civil-lebrities!" - who have contributed amazing amounts of passion, hard work, intelligence and insight to make the ACLU of Utah what it is today.

The Civil-lebrities who will be joining us on May 8 include:

Stephen Smoot (1960s), one of the founding members of the ACLU of Utah. For Steve, Adam "Mickey" Duncan, and Spencer LeVan Kimball, the ACLU was an avenue for championing racial justice and civil rights for all races, the Constitutional separation of church and state, and justice for the indigent.

Michele Parish (1989-1992), the fiery former executive director who spoke out against the death penalty, the unfair treatment of Utah prisoners, cultural persecution of polygamists, and denominational prayer in government meetings.

Robyn Blumner (1987-1988), who took the helm of the ACLU of Utah when she was just 24 years old. Robyn is now a syndicated columnist for the St. Petersburg Times, and her columns are regularly featured in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Kate Kendall (1992-1994), our very first full-time staff attorney and a University of Utah Law School graduate; Kate is currently the executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

We'll also be joined by: one of the very first executive directors of the ALCU of Utah, James Joy, who later led the Colorado ACLU; former staff attorney Stephen Clark, now with Jones Waldo Holbrook & McDonough PC, who also currently serves on the ACLU of Utah Legal Panel; Jensie Anderson, another former staff attorney who now works in the College of Law at the University of Utah; Judge Raymond Uno, who also participated in the establishment of the early ALCU and currently serves on our Board of Directors; our most recent former executive directors, Carol Gnade and Dani Eyer; former ACLU of Utah board presidents Bill Lockhart, Ross "Rocky" Anderson, Boyer Jarvis, Terry Dunning, and more!

Thanks to Our Dinner Sponsors!

Our partners in the legal, business and non-profit communities are showing amazing support for our work by becoming Dinner Sponsors. Our current Dinner Sponsors include:

CONSTiTUTiONAL CHAMPiONS:

- Parsons Behle & Latimer
- Howrey LLP
- Strindberg & Scholnick LLC
- EPIC Ventures
- Burbidge Mitchell & Gross
- Equality Utah
- Planned Parenthood Association of Utah
- Salt Lake City Weekly
- Sue Marquardt
- Kent Alderman
- Jane and Tami Marquardt
- Cactus & Tropical
- Jill and Richard Sheinberg

LiBERTY ALLiES:

- Rose Sachs Gardens
- Snell & Wilmer
- Parr Waddoups Brown Gee & Loveless
- The Catalyst Magazine
- Van Cott Bagley Cornwall & McCarthy

Please show your appreciation to these excellent sponsors, for their support of civil liberties and the ACLU of Utah, by supporting their work in our community, too!

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Daniel Ellsberg

Our keynote speaker will be Dr. Daniel Ellsberg, the retired military analyst and government whistle-blower who worked on the Top Secret McNamara study of U.S. Decision-making in Vietnam - later to be known as "the Pentagon Papers."

In 1969, Dr. Ellsberg photocopied the 7,000 page study and gave it to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; two years later, he gave it to the New York Times, the Washington Post and 17 other newspapers. His trial, on twelve felony counts posing a possible sentence of 115 years, was dismissed in on grounds of governmental misconduct against him, which led to the convictions of several White House aides and figured in the impeachment proceedings against President Nixon.

Since the end of the Vietnam War, Daniel has continued to be a leading voice of moral conscience, serving as a lecturer, writer and activist on the dangers of the nuclear era, government wrongdoing and the urgent need for patriotic whisteblowing.

To encourage national security whistleblowing, Daniel launched the Truth-Telling Project in 2004 with “A Call to Patriotic Whistleblowing.” The Project aims to reach current government insiders, journalists, lawyers, lawmakers, and the American public with an urgent appeal for revealing the truth about government cover-up and lies before the next war. Collaborating with the ACLU, National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC), the Project on Government Oversight, and other organizations, the Truth-Telling Project provides a personal and legal support network for government insiders considering becoming truth-tellers.

Read Dr. Ellsberg's full biography and find out more about his current work here.

2008 Bill of Rights Awardees

Adam "Mickey" Duncan Award: Strindberg & Scholnick, LLC

This year's recipient of the Mickey Duncan Award, given in recognition of legal support of the ACLU of Utah's mission, is local firm Strindberg & Scholnick, LLC. Strindberg & Scholnick, LLC, handles primarily employment and immigration law matters. The ACLU of Utah collaborated with the firm on Walker v. City of Orem, an excessive police force case, as well as on the case of Etsitty v. Utah Transit Authority, an employment discrimination suit brought on behalf of a trans gender bus driver.

Torch of Freedom Award for Progressive Leadership:
State Senator Ross Romero (D-Dist. 7)

Senator Ross Romero will receive our Torch of Freedom Award for his relentless efforts in the Utah State Legislature, to bring attention to many critical community issues, in particular immigration and racial profiling. Senator Romero has often reached out to the ACLU of Utah for information on these issues, utilizing our informational and legal resources to educate fellow legislators on civil liberties issues. Senator Romero was also the first to publicly express his discomfort and disapproval with the inflammatory remarks made on the Senate floor by his colleague, Chris Buttars, and we applaud his efforts to hold his peers at the Legislature to a high standard of tolerance and decorum.

Special Honorees: ACLU of Utah Scholarship Winners

At this year's Bill of Rights Celebration, we will be honoring the three high school activists who won the 2008 ACLU of Utah Youth Scholarships. This is the first year the ACLU of Utah has offered this student activist scholarship program to encourage youth in civil liberties endeavors.

Cara Cerise (photo bottom left), Highland High School, won the $1,000 scholarship for energetically working to create support groups for the children of gay and lesbian parents at her high school and at Equality Utah. Rachelle Harrison (top left), Hillcrest High School, and Michelle Riplinger (bottom right), Ogden High School, both won $500 scholarships. Rachelle petitioned her local school board to provide transportation for students who would have otherwise been excluded from certain educational programs. Michelle created a documentary about a close friend and others who struggle to reconcile their sexual orientation and religious beliefs.