PRESS RELEASE

Sponsoring organization – Wrightstown Friends Meeting Peace & Social Concerns Committee

Contacts:          Phyllis Purscell    215/860-0313

                        Bill Sharp   215/357-2945

A symposium on the Patriot II Bill will be held on Friday, October 17, from 7:30 to 9.00 p.m. at the Meetinghouse on the George School campus.  The event, sponsored by the Wrightstown Friends Peace and Social Concerns Committee, is open to the public.  The program will be moderated by David A. Smith and will feature a panel of experts on law and constitutional rights, including, among others, Jan Ting, Professor of Law at Temple University and Jan O’Rourke, Coordinator of Public Services for the 18 public libraries of Bucks County. 

Following the comments of the presenters, there will be an opportunity for audience members to ask questions of the panel in order to get a more complete understanding of the import and possible consequences of this proposed bill.

Jan Ting obtained a degree from Harvard Law School in 1975 and has taught at Temple University since 1977, where he was Director of the Graduate Tax Program from 1994 to 2001.  He currently teaches courses in taxation and immigration law.  Dr. Ting has been widely published on these subjects in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal, among others. He has also appeared in such venues as NPR, the PBS NewsHour, ABC Nightly News, and NBC Today.

Jan O’Rourke received a M.S. in Library Science from Simmons College. In her role as Coordinator of Public Services, Ms O’Rourke serves a population of over 595,000 people, in a library system that owns 1,278,138-catalogued items and circulates 3,169,625 items a year.  She is currently chair of the Pennsylvania Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Committee.  Ms O’Rourke received the Southeastern Chapter of the Pennsylvania Library Association’s Award for Outstanding Services to Libraries for the year 2002.

David A. Smith is slated to be the next Clerk of Bucks Quarterly Meeting, which convenes four times a year for worship and to conduct business on behalf of Quaker meetings located in and near Bucks County.