Posted on 11/12/2005 1:28:26 PM PST by radar101
Five veterans were arrested and taken to jail Thursday night after ignoring police orders not to touch flags planted by an anti-war group.
The five were charged with criminal trespass after they attempted to pull up the 2,000 white flags in Waterville, Maine's Veterans Memorial Park. The flags represented the 2,000 U.S. soldiers killed in the war in Iraq.
The group Waterville Area Bridges for Peace and Justice called the display an important visual reminder of the lives lost.
Waterville Police Chief John Morris, who is a Vietnam veteran himself, said the group had a legal permit to place the flags in the public park.
The veterans said the flags were planted in "sacred ground."
Morris said, "I spoke to them as a veteran and suggested that legitimate veterans' organizations do not resort to civil disobedience to make their point. I warned them, very carefully, that they were not allowed to do destructive behavior on these flags. If they did, we would have to ask them to leave the park. If they refused to leave the park then we'd have to arrest them, and that's what happened."
The five veterans were booked at police headquarters and released after paying $40 to the bail commissioner.
The Globe didn't make this clear - the "memorial park" is a cemetery.
The "peace group" is called Waterville Area Bridges for Peace and Justice", their web page is here:
http://www.wabpj.org/index.htm
So far as I can tell, the Bangor Daily News (Maine's largest paper, and pretty much anti-war) hasn't covered this at all. Howie Carr, how about pointing the loud finger?
Who in the world allowed the protesters to desecrate a veterans memorial ?
That is the person that needs to be identified.
WHO granted the permit? Is it a federal military cemetary? Something here is not adding up.
Nope it is not. Google it, I did. It is a park.
http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/2135227.shtml
but what WE fought for was the right for those people to place those flags.
Yes we did. But I'd still remove the flags, I didn't say I'd beat the crap out of the jerks that planted them.
OK, so are you with me that we chip in for a permit and buy 2,752 flags with an image of the burning twin towers and plant them on the flanks of the surrender flags? No way they could deny the permit for that display after issuing the first one. If the surrender display is allowable free speech in a park, then I propose we start up a conversation with them.
The initial mistake was in the city allowing a group to make a political statement on what is presumably public property. Once the city made this error, it had to stand by its decision.
Kudos to the vets for their sense of duty.
It is indeed a cemetary. See Post#28
Do the Veterans have any rights?
Fair enough. Moved in 1800s. Is a park now. Thanks for the info.
Do people who are not have any as well?
I would be right with you there.
True, but according to that article Asa Redington and 'others' are still interned at the Memorial Park.
Redington, one of the founding father's of the city, enlisted three times in the Revolutionary War and was a member of George Washington's elite honor guard.
I suppose the veterans had the right to burn those 2000 white flags. Given as how the anti-war left consistently burns the American flag to show what they think of what it stands for.
Sounds like it's time for the VFW to "buy" that public park for $1 and lease it back to the city for $2... then it's not "public property" and the owners can control who conducts war protests on it.
Sorry I got on this thread. Bye all.
Gene, price quote please on 2,752 flags with a two-sided image of the burning towers and shipping to Waterville, Me. contingent on the issuance of a permit.
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