Democratic National Convention Countdown, No. 11

Democratic National Convention Daily Digest and Open Thread
Thursday August 14, 2008--No. 11

•"Gitmo on the Platte" redux--arrested protestors won't be released into neighborhood surrounding temporary detention facility:

Denver officials and the sheriff's department said Wednesday that they will not release prisoners taken into custody during the Democratic National Convention into the neighborhood surrounding a temporary detention facility.

The arrest-processing center will operate from Aug. 24 to 31 and will be able to detain up to 400 people for short periods of time. The facility also will be able to process about 60 prisoners an hour. The sheriff's department is not disclosing the temporary center's location. However, a News4 report said it is being constructed in northeast Denver.

It won't be used for any long- term detention, and prisoners won't be kept for more than a few hours, authorities said.

Officials said that while they don't believe there will be widespread arrests during the convention, they decided to build the facility because of the huge number of visitors expected and the intentions of some protesters to be arrested.

Sheriff's deputies have written letters to residents and businesses in the neighborhood explaining the facility's role. In the letter, the sheriff's department said that no detainees will be released into the neighborhood even if they are able to post bond at the temporary center.

Instead, deputies plan to bus those who are able to post bond to the Denver County Jail at East Smith Road and Havana Street, where prisoners are usually released.

•Bob Barr, Alan Keyes, and Tom Tancredo will headline a Minuteman Civil Defense Corps rally on August 25:

Representatives of both Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr and U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo confirmed Wednesday that they would speak at the event organized by the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. Tancredo ran for the Republican presidential nomination on anti-illegal immigration platform.

The group said former presidential candidate Alan Keyes and Constitution Party candidate Chuck Baldwin will also speak.

Minuteman president Chris Simcox said it seems both Barack Obama and John McCain are avoiding the issue of illegal immigration during their runs for the White House. He said his group wants them to pledge to adopt their plan to use members of the 25,000 National Guard to secure the nation's border with Mexico and Canada as well as beef up Coast Guard patrols.

"We really don't care which one is elected president as long as both of them see we're bringing a message from millions of people across the country," Simcox said.

The daylong event will take place in Congress Park, a residential neighborhood east of downtown Denver. The group has no plans to protest in the fenced-off area designated for protesters on the grounds of the Pepsi Center, the site of most of the DNC's events.

•Tickets for Barack Obama's Invesco Field speech will be awarded starting tomorrow, and available for pickup (sans the "mandatory volunteerism" according to Obama campaign officials; "all star" application for better seats may have caused confusion and prompted the volunteering requirement (a chance at better seats in return for helping the Obama campaign)

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All previous Daily Digests can be found here.