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LINK: http://www.gazette.net/stories/022708/silvnew200504_32364.shtml

Feb. 22, 2008

A California man leading a demonstration outside the Silver Spring headquarters of Discovery Communications was arrested for disorderly conduct Thursday after several hours of throwing money into the air to gather a crowd.

James Jay Lee, 40, of San Diego was also charged with littering for throwing what police said were thousands of dollars worth of bills at a crowd that grew after Lee began paying people to participate.

Police also said a man who gathered a significant amount of money from the rally was beaten up a block away during an attempted robbery.

Around 1 p.m. Thursday, before Lee was arrested, a man was hospitalized after being beaten by a group of seven men who followed him from the rally, said Lt. Paul Starks, a spokesman with Montgomery County Police. Starks said the man who was attacked was walking with an acquaintance to a bus stop at Georgia Avenue and Cameron Street when one in the group of seven approached him, shoved him, and told him to ‘‘give it up.”

When the man denied having any money, he was struck in the head with an object while attempting to cross Georgia Avenue. He was treated at an area hospital that day, Starks said. Police are still investigating.

Lee was arrested for disorderly conduct and littering later that day when officers became concerned about the growing crowd of people who were ‘‘grabbing each other, and getting into potential conflicts with each other” to catch the money he was throwing, Starks said.

Attempts to contact Lee were unsuccessful.

Police and employees of Progress Place, a Silver Spring agency that provides services to the homeless, said Lee had been paying homeless men to participate in his demonstration.

‘‘When I looked over [in front of Discovery Communications], I thought these people were Discovery employees. ... But when I looked a little bit closer, I said to myself, ‘I know all these people!’” said Donta Jones, a floor manager at Progress Place.

Lee’s protest outside Discovery was planned to run 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. from Feb. 15 to Saturday. Tammy Shea, a spokeswoman for Discovery Communications, would not comment on the rally.

According to his Web site, www.savetheplanetprotest.com, Lee wanted to raise awareness of the Discovery Channel’s lack of broadcasting that addressed the real problems of the environment. In the days leading up to his protest, Lee advertised his plans in advertisements in The Washington Post’s free daily, The Express.

Lee’s Web site said: ‘‘The Discovery Channel is actually not about saving the planet, they are just another ‘green’ corporation whose real interests lie in MONEY! Products! Junk! Trash!

‘‘I know the hours and days for the protest event seem a bit long, but if the Discovery Channel is going to take this protest serious, we need to show them we are serious and are willing to wait them out until they give into our demands.”