3 Letters// Article on Protesting Congresswoman re. War & Nat. Health Needs
Moore should look at it this way. If he had space for a business or whatever, he would appreciate being allowed to have no protesters outside or in his parking area. People want to demonstrate? They should do so after that point, but don’t snarl traffic!
I bet the ex-presidential candidate would be mighty perturbed if someone blocked his driveway at home to protest and said it was their right since the other side of the driveway is public property.
Jane Kukla
Spring Hill
As for protesting in a ditch, I wouldn’t do it because ditches are something that drivers land in. But, I must tell you, though, if people gather there and do that, they will be seen. You don’t have to be in the face of the person you are disgruntled with to be heard. Just being out there, hurts them.
All you socialists are alike. You people want to put a gun to everybody’s head and force them to subsidize way too much. Maybe the opposition ought to march on you and your kind to get your noses out of our wallets!
Buffy Dawson
Spring Hill
Let’s keep letting the insurance companies, medical profession, credit card companies, local governments and banks put their noses in my wallet instead.
Front Page Article today, Thursday, June 18, 2009:
[small picture in print edition]
Or he can stage a rally on private property and take the chance of getting arrested.
At this juncture, Moore’s leaning towards “civil disobedience.” Chair of the NatureCoast Coalition for Peace and Justice, Moore asked for permission last week to hold a two-hour protest outside the offices of U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Brooksville.
Waite and her staff operate out of a strip mall on Spring Hill Drive, near the National Guard Armory. A lease agreement prohibits any gatherings on the private property. Moore staged a protest in April outside Brown-Waite’s offices on the Spring Hill Drive right-of-way. With the speed limit on that stretch set at 55 mph, Moore said his group was nearly run over by the vehicles racing by.
To avoid that scenario for his next protest on June 24, Moore asked the sheriff’s office to block a lane of Spring Hill Drive for two hours. He was told to secure a permit first from the county. A “special events permit” requires a $35 application fee, a million dollar liability insurance policy, a 30-day processing period and a notarized indemnity agreement, Moore has learned. Moore has decided that option is no good.
His second option is to hold the protest outside the office anyway.
In a second letter to sheriff’s office Major Mike Maurer, Moore asks for the “ramifications … legally, and otherwise” if they held the protest without a permit.
“Would protesters be arrested?” In a word, yes. “If you decided to conduct your demonstration on private property, we would be looking at a Trespassing Statues (sic) not necessarily any assembly issues,” Maurer replied by e-mail.
On Wednesday, Moore said he would be willing to cool his heels in the county jail to voice his opinions on the two wars overseas and national health care.
With 40 years of protest experience under his belt, the closest he’s come to being arrested was more than a decade ago outside the South African embassy in Washington, D.C. Police ordered them to clear the doorway, but stopped short of making arrests.
“It’s definitely worth it,” he said.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.