TIMELINE: TATTERED COVER INC. VS. CITY OF THORNTON

March 13, 2000

Drug investigators search a Thornton trailer home, find a methamphetamine
lab and two books -- The Construction and Operation of Clandestine Drug
Laboratories and Advanced Techniques of Clandestine Psychedelic &
Amphetamine Manufacture -- as well as an invoice on the label of a large
Tattered Cover Book Store envelope.

March-April 2000

A Drug Enforcement Administration agent subpoenas Tattered Cover owner
Joyce Meskis in an attempt to identify who among several people in the
trailer ran the lab.

The Metro Task Force obtains a warrant from a Denver judge to get
book-buying records from the Tattered Cover after the task force was turned
down by Adams County Deputy District Attorney Fran Wasserman.

Five North Metro Drug Task Force officers arrive at the Tattered Cover with
the search warrant.

Tattered Cover owner Joyce Meskis obtains a temporary restraining order
from Denver District Judge Martin F. Egelhoff, delaying the search while
she fights it in court.

June 2000

Book store owners and officials from 15 organizations such as the National
Coalition Against Censorship and The Association of American Publishers
file a brief in Denver District Court in support of Tattered Cover owner
Meskis.

October-November 2000

Denver District Judge J. Stephen Phillips rules that the Tattered Cover
must give authorities information on a transaction involving the drug suspect.

Tattered Cover attorney Daniel Recht files notice to appeal.

Phillips orders a stay on the ruling while the case is under appeal.

June 2001

The Colorado Supreme Court agrees to hear the appeal, bypassing the state
Court of Appeals.

Dec. 5, 2001

The Supreme Court hears arguments in the appeal.

April 2002

U.S. bookstores of all sizes contribute about $30,000 toward Meskis' legal
costs.

Compiled by Jeanie Straub, News library