Editorial Cartoonist Pat Bagley Will Also Be Honored at the Dinner
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 16, 2007
SALT LAKE CITY -- On Thursday, May 24, 2007 at 6:00 p.m., the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah will host its annual Bill of Rights Celebration at the Sheraton Hotel in Salt Lake City. The benefit dinner offers Utahns a chance to support the work of the ACLU of Utah Foundation and to honor individuals who have made significant contributions to the advancement of civil liberties.
This year’s Bill of Rights Celebration will feature special guest and speaker Christopher M. Finan. Finan is the president of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE), an organization established by the American Booksellers Association in 1990 to defend the First Amendment rights of booksellers and their customers. Finan has been involved in the fight against censorship for over twenty-five years. In addition to his work with ABFFE, he is chairman of the board of directors of the National Coalition Against Censorship and is a trustee of the Freedom to Read Foundation. His new book, From the Palmer Raids to the PATRIOT Act: A History of the Fight for Free Speech in America, will be published by Beacon Press in May. The ABFFE is currently a plaintiff in the ACLU of Utah case The King’s English v. Shurtleff.
The Bill of Rights Celebration will also be a chance to honor The Salt Lake Tribune editorial cartoonist and author Pat Bagley, who will receive the ACLU of Utah’s 2007 Torch of Freedom Award. For almost thirty years, Bagley’s editorial cartoons have offered a sane, funny, and insightful perspective on local and national civil liberties issues. His syndicated cartoons appear in newspapers around the country, and his work has been featured in Time, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, and The Guardian of London. He is the author of several books, including, This is the Place (a young adult history of Utah), Dinosaurs of Utah, Welcome to Utah, and the nationally acclaimed Clueless George Goes to War. The Torch of Freedom Award is presented to Utahns whose work affirms and strengthens the principles outlined in the Bill of Rights.
