'Party of Peace' Alert.
Posted on 11/10/2004 2:05:16 PM PST by Happy Valley Dude
CARO - Presidential candidate John Kerry didn't go down without a fight and - according to police - neither did 70-year-old Kerry backer Charles R. VanAllen.
VanAllen allegedly tried to bite Caro Police Chief Ben Page and Caro resident Gary Muska after police wouldn't let VanAllen's anti-Bush display into the Tuscola County Pumpkin Festival parade.
On Oct. 22, VanAllen, of 621 Sheridan St. in Caro, pleaded guilty to three counts of attempting to assault, resist or obstruct a police officer in the Oct. 10 incident.
He also pleaded guilty to one count of assault, and faces up to one year in jail when he's sentenced on Nov. 17 in Tuscola County District Court.
Paul T. Harris, 36, also of Caro, is charged with jostling Caro Officer Jerry Osborne during the same incident. If convicted, Harris faces up to 90 days in jail.
Police claim VanAllen struck Page in the face, knocking off the police chief's glasses and hat, as Page and Muska tried to pull the 6-foot-3, 320-pound VanAllen out of a vehicle.
Tuscola County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Timothy J. Rutkowski said police came to the scene after Pumpkin Festival officials asked for help in preventing an "inappropriate display" from entering the parade.
VanAllen's display "appeared to be some sort of blow-up doll of the upper torso of George Bush, with an arrow sticking through the head," Rutkowski said.
Rutkowski said VanAllen tried to enter the parade with the display set up in the open bed of a sport-utility vehicle, in front of 8- and 9-year-old children in a parade entry behind VanAllen's vehicle.
A bumper sticker uttering an obscenity about Vice President Dick Cheney was on the back of the sport-utility vehicle, and a "Kerry/Edwards" campaign sign had been set up in the vehicle bed.
Police reported Page was "met with a barrage of cursings and name-calling" from VanAllen when Page told VanAllen he couldn't enter the parade. Muska, a Caro resident, came to Page's aid during the fight with VanAllen, helping the chief drag VanAllen from the vehicle.
As several police officers struggled with VanAllen, Paul Harris - a passenger in VanAllen's vehicle - "ended up with a police pepper-spray canister," Rutkowski said.
Police allege Harris picked up the canister, ran into a nearby driveway and threw the canister away from police.
'Party of Peace' Alert.
Democratic party "family values" on display.
Damn, at first glance I thought it said "Kerry to go to jail over parade incident!"
Good! Another moron who won't be able to vote anymore. Hit 'em where it hurts!
ROFL....the peacenicks?
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