Anti-abortion display at UMass destroyed
By NICK GRABBE, Staff Writer
http://www.gazettenet.com/04172003/five_col/5200.htm Thursday, April 17, 2003 -- AMHERST - An anti-abortion display outside the Student Union at the University of Massachusetts was destroyed by vandals Wednesday night, police said.
The display of 160 white crosses, representing the number of abortions every hour in the United States, had previously been the site of vandalism and an alleged assault. It had been up for three days.
UMass police received a call reporting the incident at 11:10 p.m. Wednesday, said Deputy Patrick Archbald. When officers arrived at the south side of the Student Union, they found the crosses broken and strewn around the area, with some in a nearby garbage can, he said.
The incident happened after 8:45 p.m., when an officer on foot patrol noticed that the display was intact, Archbald said. There are no suspects, and the incident is under investigation, he said.
The idea for the display came from David Peterson and Matthew Progen, two members of the UMass Republican Club. They said they saw similar displays in Florida during spring break.
Progen, a senior from Leominster, was standing at the site of the display this morning with tape over his mouth and a sign reading "Silenced by the Radical Left," he reported by cell phone.
"This made me pretty angry," he said. "I spent a lot of time putting this together, and it's opened up a lot of discussion. For people not mature enough to engage in conversation to take out their juvenile aggression this way is disheartening."
- NICK GRABBE