The Charlottesville City Council decided to enact the Patriot Act Resolution Monday night in a meeting which began at 7:30 p.m. in City Hall and lasted for about five hours.
"The Resolution was passed by a vote of four to one," Councilor Blake Caravati said. Rob Schilling, the lone Republican on Council, voted in opposition to the resolution.
Twenty-one citizens of Charlottesville signed up to speak at the meeting, but over 21 citizens ended up commenting. Each citizen was allotted three minutes to speak.
The four councilors in the majority said they believe citizens should fight for their constitutional freedoms, which may be compromised by the Patriot Act.
"I think it's absolutely the responsibility of each citizen, especially in local government, to redress opinion in congress and legislature," Caravati said. "It curtails our freedoms that are guaranteed to us in out Constitution and our tradition. It's what we fought many wars about with great harm to our way of life."
Schilling could not be reached for comment yesterday, though Caravati summarized his understanding of Schilling's dissent as the argument that it is not Charlottesville's place to question a national act.
Councilor Kevin Lynch said he believes the Act allots law enforcement agencies too much power.
"It's a grab bag of new powers that law enforcement has been asking for and it is unconstitutional," Lynch said.
Councilors said they do not believe the nation should relinquish any rights.
"Security is not a reason to vacate the freedoms that are the basis of our country," Caravati said.
Lynch said, however, that he does not oppose the entire act.
Not everything in it is a bad thing," Lynch said. "The collecting of DNA of anyone who commits a violent crime makes sense."
He also says the act will throw off the balance of power in the United States.
"I think the balance of power and accountability have been corrupted," Lynch said. "I think it does not solve the problem and address the issues of the 9/11 hijackings. Intelligence failures leading up to 9/11 were not the failures of collected information, but in analysis, in connecting the dots. The administration says we need more dots. They have not shown accountability for not being able to connect the dots."
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