T-Shirt Protesters get Apology

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2004-07-20 07:34am

From Charleston WV Gazette:

City apologizes to Bush protesters
Couple has decided to move here
By Jamie Henline
Staff Writer
By Tara Tuckwiller
Staff Writer

After Charleston City Council agreed to apologize Monday to two people arrested at a President Bush appearance in the city this month, Mayor Danny Jones suggested sending the couple some West Virginia T-shirts.

He might not have to mail them.

Nicole Rank, who was arrested with her husband, Jeff, at the Fourth of July event, said that she and her husband now plan to move from Texas to Charleston.

“We really appreciate the apology from the city for the part that they played in the events on July 4,” said Nicole Rank, who came to West Virginia after the Memorial Day floods to work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

But the Ranks had already decided to move, she said, partly because Charlestonians have been “extremely supportive ... Even people who didn’t necessarily agree with [our politics] have been supportive of us.”

The apology, presented in a resolution by Councilman Harry Deitzler, said that the rights of the Ranks “to freely express themselves, as guaranteed by both the United States and West Virginia Constitutions, was directly or indirectly abridged, suppressed, or prevented by the City of Charleston.”

“It was a public event, not a private or a political event,” Deitzler said. “Taxpayers paid to bring [the president] in on an official presidential visit. In this country ... those who disagree with the government are allowed to state that disagreement.”

The Ranks were arrested by city police and charged with trespassing after wearing T-shirts saying “Love America, Hate Bush” to the president’s appearance at the state Capitol. The charges were dropped after Municipal Judge Carole Bloom said the city had no jurisdiction on the Capitol grounds.

Council’s apology did not place any blame on the city or the Charleston Police Department. Deitzler said he thinks the blame should be laid on the White House staff, because local police were expected to defer to federal law enforcement officers.

Councilwoman Ditty Markham agreed that Charleston police are not to blame for the Ranks’ arrests.

“I never heard the police say [the Ranks] did anything wrong. I think they did the best they knew to do. We don’t have a lot of experience dealing with the White House here,” she said.

She said that she is worried about the message the incident sends out.

“These kinds of incidents are the reason West Virginia has the backward reputation that it does, and it hurts our reputation and economic development efforts,” Markham said.

Jones, a Republican, was personally thanked by President Bush in his Fourth of July speech. He attended the Ranks’ court hearing, leaving immediately after Bloom dropped the charges.

“We don’t want anyone’s rights to be violated. Quite frankly, we want to put it behind us,” Jones said Monday night.

Council members passed the resolution on a voice vote. No nay votes were audible.

Although people who peacefully protest Bush policies with signs and the like have routinely been removed from, and sometimes arrested at, Bush appearances since 2001, the Ranks’ story has been the one that has been circulated nationwide.

The Ranks, who did not attend the meeting, have “made so many new friends here,” Nicole Rank said. Besides, she joked, “We’d be unemployed whether we went back to Texas or stayed here.”

Jeff Rank has a master’s degree in oceanography. FEMA released Nicole Rank from the West Virginia cleanup efforts after her arrest. She has not been fired, but “I haven’t been reassigned, either,” she said.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-07-20 08:48am

judge, dude that's an illegal arest

ashcroft: shoot that judge.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2004-07-20 01:06pm

Now I'm not so fucking pissed about the incident.

Only horrified that it would happen in the first place.

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2004-07-20 01:50pm

Damn those activist City Councils....

Crayz9000 · Post by **Crayz9000** » 2004-07-20 06:38pm

I thought it was the Secret Service that arrested them?

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2004-07-20 07:23pm

Crayz9000 wrote:I thought it was the Secret Service that arrested them?

Didn't they just turn them over to the regular police? The Secret Service may have detained them, but the regular police arrested them.

Where is that original article...