Teachers' T-Shirts Bring Bush
Speech Ouster
Common Dreams.com
by kgw.com and AP Staff
Published on Friday, October 15, 2004
by the KGW - NewsChannel 8 (Portland, Oregon)
CENTRAL POINT, Ore. -- Three Medford school teachers
were threatened with arrest and thrown out of the President Bush
rally at the Jackson County Fairgrounds Thursday night, after
they showed up wearing T-shirts with the slogan "Protect our
civil liberties."
Three Medford school teachers who were thrown out of a Bush
rally because of their t-shirts.
Three Medford school teachers who were thrown out of a Bush
rally because of their t-shirts.
All three women said they were carrying valid tickets for the
event that they had received from Republican Party headquarters
in Medford, which had been distributing event tickets to Bush
supporters.
Teacher Janet Voorhies said she simply wanted to bring a
message to President Bush, but did not intend to protest.
"I wanted to see if I would be able to make a statement that I
feel is important, but not offensive, in a rally for my
president," said Voorhies, 48.
The women said they were angered by reports of peaceful
protesters being thrown out of previous Bush-Cheney events. They
said they chose the phrase, "Protect Our Civil Liberties,"
because it was unconfrontational.
"We chose this phrase specifically because we didn't think it
would be offensive or degrading or obscene," said Tania Tong, 34,
a special education teacher.
The women got past the first and second checkpoints and were
allowed into the Jackson County fairgrounds, but were asked to
leave and then escorted out of the event by campaign officials
who allegedly told them their T-shirts were "obscene."
Democrats were quick to pounce on the incident and claimed the
GOP has routinely sought to disclude anyone from public
appearances by President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney who
might question the administration. There was no immediate comment
from Republican officials.
"Thursday's actions in Oregon set a new standard even for
Bush/Cheney - removing and threatening with arrest citizens who
in no way disrupt an event and wear clothing that expresses
non-disruptive party-neutral viewpoints such as "Protect Our
Civil Liberties," said Adam Green, a spokesman for the Oregon
Democratic Party.
When Cheney visited Eugene last month, the Register-Guard
newspaper reported that Perry Patterson, 54, was cited for
criminal trespassing for blurting out the word "No" after Cheney
claimed that the Bush administration had made the world
safer.
In a separate and unrelated case Thursday, two protesters were
arrested in nearby Jacksonville, outside the historic inn where
President Bush was spending the night.
A few hundred people were demonstrating peacefully there, but
police moved to disperse the crowd after a few protesters
allegedly put their hands on police officers. City officials said
police fired projectiles known as "pepper balls" -- similar to
paint balls, but filled with cayenne pepper to break up the
demonstrators.
© 2004 KGW.com
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