Saying liberties are being threatened by the war on terrorism, Lawrence and area residents are re-forming the defunct Douglas County branch of the American Civil Liberties Union.

“In times like these, when there’s a rush to abridge our liberties, there’s a need for the ACLU to become active everywhere,” said David Burress, a Kansas University economist and one of the group’s organizers.

A regional ACLU official said concerns about anti-terror legislation are reinvigorating the organization’s ranks nationwide.

“I’m encouraged that after something as heinous as the Sept. 11 attacks, the public hasn’t been stampeded into giving up their liberties for the promise of security,” said Dick Kurtenbach, executive director of the ACLU in Kansas and Western Missouri.

The ACLU has had an off-and-on existence in Lawrence at least since the 1970s, activists said. It hit another “off” period in the late 1990s.

“It’s an all-volunteer organization, and sometimes the energy dissipates,” said Mary Davidson, one of the latest effort’s organizers.

The newest effort came out of a forum March 5 sponsored by the Lawrence-Douglas County League of Women Voters and the Lawrence Coalition for Peace and Justice, which Burress said was attended by about 100 people.

Attendees heard about the USA PATRIOT Act, which Congress passed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. The act expands federal authority to obtain wiretaps, search warrants and subpoenas, and gives more leeway to intelligence services to collect information in the United States.

“When people heard that, they started saying it was time to get the ACLU going again,” Burress said.

Juanita Carlson, a Lawrence criminal defense attorney, said her colleagues are concerned anti-terror legislation could curb their clients’ due-process rights. The reconstituted ACLU chapter will probably focus on education and awareness, she said.

“I think having local people with their eyes open will help,” she said.

Burress says he figures the new chapter will come under criticism. After all, he said, Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft told Congress in December that “those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty” are aiding terrorists.

Burress disputed that assertion.

“Terrorism is horrible,” he said. “But what’s patriotic is democracy, sitting down and examining issues together. … Those who call us unpatriotic are against patriotism themselves.”