Mall Wants to Drop Charges Against 'Peace' T-Shirt Wearer

foxnews ^ | 3-6-3

[Indy Pendance]

GUILDERLAND, N.Y.

[dead]

"I think he'd like an apology."

And a big fat check.

[kinghorse]

I caught their act on the news last night. Typical halfwitted "wished they experienced the 60's so this is their chance to act up" pacifists.

[dsmatuska]

Check http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/crossgates2.html
for the real story.

[EggsAckley]

I've been hearing that they were accosting shoppers and proceletyzing them on anti war issues. It hasn't shown up in any posts; wondering if it's true.

[EggsAckley]

Thanks. You just answered my question.

[martin_fierro]

[grasshopper2]

I think we should be concerned about incidents like this. For better or for worse, the private shopping mall has replaced our "public square." These men were wearing shirts with a political message and apparently they were thrown out of the "public square" because the private owners didn't like the message.

What if the T-shirts read "Jesus loves you"?

or "support our troops"

or "abortion stops a beating heart"

Unless the message is profane, obscene, or libelous to individuals or groups, then we should protect the expression even though it's a private shopping mall. This is because the private shopping mall *is* our public square.

The mall put main street out of business, and therefore has a responsiblity to permit the political discourse that once occurred on main street in the public square.

A better solution is for communities to simply zone out covered shopping malls as health hazards or something like that.

[TLBSHOW]

And a big fat check.


HE WANTS TO OWN THE MALL

[Wolfie]

Kind of sucks that one lil' ol' webiste can do somehting that NO OTHER NEWSPAPER JOURNALIST I've read can manage to accomplish. IE: Give the whole freakin' story. Makes me wonder just what they're teaching in journalism school these days.

[freeper12]

>>HE WANTS TO OWN THE MALL

And he should too...welcome to Amerika.

[fellowpatriot]

Read the report in post 7 to see what actually happened. These guys didn't get thrown out for their t-shirts though that's the way the media portrays it.

[grasshopper2]

Read the report in post 7 to see what actually happened

According to the security guard's report, a "customer reported that these two gentlemen were having a VERBAL [emphasis mine] dispute with another group."

Okay, so the two men, a father and son, aged 50 and 30 were discussing public policy in the mall. Did the woman report a disturbance? Where the men drunken? Were they pushing and shoving? Shouting? Engaged in public lewdness? Were they using profane language? No - the woman reported that she was "afraid" about what it could "lead" to. DO you see the danger of this?

What if some people wearing an "abortion stops a beating heart" started discussing abortion with some pro-choice people in the mall? Should the mere discussion of abortion be banned?

Should the mere discussion of any political issue be banned?

Should Free Republic be banned?

How can anybody seriously agree that the mall owner was justified in expelling people simply for expressing a political opinion?

What would Patrick Henry say?

[Station 51]

The story does seem to be a little fuzzy and even the affidavit is questionable.

[Hail Caesar]

Now, it appears that the mall owner and "authorities" have decided to bend over to monetary interests and avoid continuing the bad publicity that their actions have generated so far.

So, the score is now, Constitution: 1, PC Fascism: 0

:-)

[Station 51]

The document makes no reference to who may have started the 'verbal dispute.' It very well could have been that a mall customer started the argument by saying something to the effect "If you like Saddam so much, why don't you move to Iraq!" But since the cop & mall security guard did not provide details of who started the argument we will never know.

[Cboldt]

If they were thrown out for assault (which does not require physical contact), why bother saying anything about their shirts? I don't care what you are wearing, but I do care if you are assaulting me. I want the right to be able to make you (figurative "you") stop talking to me.

[Hail Caesar]

bang

[Leatherneck_MT]

"I caught their act on the news last night. Typical halfwitted "wished they experienced the 60's so this is their chance to act up" pacifists."

True Pacifists carry Rifles, drive tanks, drive ships, drive combat planes.

They are called Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines.

Nobody wants peace more than those sent to fight the wars.

Semper Fi