News Article from * Kutztown visit - Arrest, car broken into

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-a6_5colorjul10,0,2074165.story?coll=all-news-hed

Spirited debate outside Bush's Kutztown U. rally
President's fans and foes flock to town to be heard.

<snip>

After Bush went into the hall, Jim Wright, one of the protesters, returned to his car and found it had a broken window. Glass littered the back seat, and various items inside were shuffled around.

An officer told him the Secret Service broke into the vehicle because two metal military ammunition containers made it look suspicious. Wright said he uses the containers to carry camping gear.

''If the insurance company doesn't pay for it, I'm going to take them to court,'' said Wright, who has traveled to a dozen or so antiwar protests from Washington, D.C., to New York. ''This isn't freedom.''

<snip>

Daniel Finsel, 21, of Lehighton spent three hours in the Kutztown lockup — unjustly, he believes. He said he was arrested for disorderly conduct while carrying a sign reading ''U.S. Aggression Breeds Terrorism'' two minutes before Bush rode up Main Street.

Finsel was given a citation and has to appear in court to pay a fine.

''I think it was an atrocity,'' he said. ''I was put in jail because of the way I feel, and I don't think that's right at all.''

[progressivebydesign]

1. Kutztown is full of some truly, truly stupid people..

.. reading the quotes of the Bush faithful is enough to make you hurl. Rove couldn't have written it better.. oh, the dumbass, ignorant masses. Watching Faux News, and think they're sooo worldly. What state are they in (besides delusional)?

When is someone going to stand up and SCREAM about protesters being locked up for carrying a fucking sign near the Boy Idiot?? This is an outrage!

[merh]

4. I think any protestor that is arrested or detained because they attend a

campaign stop of * should file suit against the */f'u campaign. It is a separate legal entity with plenty of money and if it has protestors arrested or detained because they attend a campaign stop, they should be sued for violation of the civil rights of the protestor. 1983 action against the campaign for violating the protestors right to assemble and right to free speech.

Won't work to sue *, but his campaign is a separate legal entity.

edited to include: all protestors should be sure have friends with them and all should be sure to have digital/video cameras. Photograph/film everything. Difference between the civil rights marches of the '60's and the anti-war protests of the 60's/70's is our access to recording devices. Document everything possible.
Digital audio recording devices are also a good idea.

[starroute]

6. The kid across the street goes to Kutztown University

And he has nothing good to say about the town. Pennsylvania is not the most progressive state to begin with, but there are parts of it that have at least made it into the 21st century and other parts where you'd swear you'd stumbled back into the 1930's. Kutztown is one of the latter.

[Fatima]

2. I want that recipe for the Laura Bush cookies

must have Xanax or maybe a pinch o' Hillbilly Heroin in them...whooooeeee!!! How else can you survive waking up next to that??? :O

[Sugarbleus]

3. I agree that making people stand blocks away to protest seems

pretty vile..BUT when protestors get unruly thennnnnnnn maybe they deserve what they get. I don't know if this fellow got unruly--the article says he got nicked for disorderly conduct; some do and it's understandable but come on, if a person looks and acts like a lunatic and carrys around old ammo cases in their car.......well, um hello?

Just standing by the side of the road or wearing a tee shirt or carrying a sign or chanting or something less innocuous should not be punished. I especially loved the graphic protest of those guys in Penn. who bared their bottoms for Bush when he came by. They got arrested and thats not fair, especially since the stunt was non violent and a poignant idea/piece of symbolism.

[merh]

5. disorderly conduct/disobeying the orders of a police officer/ illegal

(without permit) assembly/intimidating a police officer - these are the standard charges they bring when making these type of BS arrests.

[Sugarbleus]

8. They do it in my LIBERAL town also. We HAVE to have a

permit to march down town. No problem, we get one. We stay within the confines of where we need to walk--police EVERYWHERE watching us but never any problems. We make our voices heard, we display our placards and signs--we carried coffins through town in March in honor of the dead iraqi children and adults and our soldiers on the anniversary of the start of the Iraqi invasion.

However, if a person goes to a counter event and cooly displays a tee shirt with anti bush slogans or wears buttons or holds a placard but doesn't yell obscenities (though they need to be said :evilgrin:) then I can agree that arrests for such orderly/non violent protests is unfair and tromps all over our freedom of speech.

It's only logical that the detail attached to bush doesn't want any body getting too close who might be a threat.
Afterall, the Kerry campaign doesn't allow wild eyed folks anywhere near him either. His SS detail watch his back.--though as far as I know, none of his detractors have been arrested.

Finally, if Bush steals the election again, we all need to be out in the streets and all bets are off....gloves come off then.

[gauguin57]

7. Anti-Bush protesters also arrested in Lancaster

Here's the story:

http://www.lancasteronline.com/pages/news/local/7449?sessionID=db4a47b7d5276134c08ef69f722da43a

</snips>

" ... The president had to see the thumbs-down gestures and John Kerry banners, perhaps even the occasional obscene fingers thrust skyward as his bus passed by them.

... Six young men from Lancaster City wearing only thong underwear were arrested along Old Philadelphia Pike when they attempted to recreate the infamous picture of Iraqi prisoners forced into a human pyramid at Abu Ghraib prison.

... The protesters stripped down to their underwear and formed their improv in front of a greenhouse, near where the president was to speak ... police said.

... Later, as the motorcade passed through Lancaster, Martin Andrews, 42 ... made an obscene gesture and dropped his pants at the president’s convoy, Lancaster police said.
Police who had to leave their positions to deal with Andrews, arrested him for disorderly conduct. Police said Andrews ignored police commands while he was being arrested and officers had to spray him with a chemical agent. He was then additionally charged with resisting arrest.

... Anti-Bush signs seen along the parade route: “Liar,” “Thief + Liar + Murder = Bush,” “Words of mass deception,” “More trees, less Bush,” “Impeach Bush,” “Outsource Bush,” “Words of Mass Deception,” “Stop Killing Children” and “Like father, like son — 1 term only.”