DATE: FEBRUARY 7, 1994
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: 415 330-5030

This afternoon at 3:00 PM in San Francisco Superior Court Dept. 1 (City
Hall Room 402), Food Not Bombs members Catherine Marsh and Greg Price
will appear to defend the temporary restraining orders they each obtained
last week against members of the San Francisco Police Department.

Marsh obtained the restraining order against officer Cornelius Johnson
after he sexually harassed and demeaned her on several occasions. Price,
who obtained a restraining order against officer Leroy Lindo, charges
that Lindo threatened violence against him.

"Officer Lindo threatened to kill me," says Price, "He has also
threatened several of my friends."

Johnson and Lindo are both part of the SFPD Special Operations unit
assigned to Food Not Bombs' daily noon time giveaways of free food to the
homeless in Civic Center Plaza. Since the implementation last fall of
Mayor Frank Jordan's crackdown on the homeless pursuant to the "matrix"
program, more than 250 Food Not Bombs members have been arrested for
violating a 1991 preliminary injunction prohibiting the group from giving
away food in public parks.

The injunction, which went unenforced for over a year after it was
obtained by the city, is currently under judicial review. Attorney Sarge
Holtzmann, representing Food Not Bombs in that action, maintains that the
injunction was illegally issued and that it violates the First Amendment
rights of Food Not Bombs members.

Marsh and Price are confident that the restraining orders will be upheld
despite Officers Johnson and Lindo's allegations that the orders were
only part of Food Not Bombs' attempt to make political gains.

"We have no quarrel with the Police Department," said Price. "They're
just enforcing their orders, even if the orders are bogus. But Johnson
and Lindo have pursued a personal vendetta against particular members of
Food Not Bombs."

"Food Not Bombs has been the object of police harassment since the
beginning of the Matrix program," says Marsh. "It's important that the
public be made aware of that."

