Not in the Dallas Morning Snooze, but the Fort Worth Startle-Gram has pics. Both papers ran the story in the business section.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram Coverage:
Exxon Mobil boosters outnumber protesters - "Activists frustrated" by shareholders & FReepers!
Exxon Mobil Corp. shareholders again overwhelmingly rejected several shareholder resolutions aimed at fighting global warming and promoting renewable energy, corporate reform and gay and lesbian rights at their annual meeting.But unlike previous years, supporters of the worldwide energy giant outnumbered protesters in street demonstrations in front of the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center and inside at the microphones during the three-hour session Wednesday.
The spirit of many of the 1,000 in attendance was summed up by David Lake, a shareholder from Arlington, Va., who responded to criticism of the Exxon Mobil board.
"If you don't like the corporation, then take your money and get out of the stock," Lake said to loud cheers and applause.
The frustration of several environmental and social activists was evident.
[snip]
As he has done in the past, Exxon Mobil Chairman Lee Raymond declined to debate the shareholders. When one shareholder described the Exxon Mobil board as "a bunch of flunkies," Raymond dryly said, "Next speaker."
[snip]
The biggest gain among social activist resolutions was won by a proposal for the company to add wording in its hiring policies to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. That resolution attracted 27.1 per cent of the votes, up from 23.9 per cent last year.
The matter has been an issue since 1999, when the merger of Exxon Corp. and Mobil Corp. ended Mobil's policy of granting domestic partners benefits to its employees...
Several demonstrators represented more than one cause.
"I belong to a lot of different organizations, and most of them are concerned about what Exxon Mobil is doing," said Ellen Kaner of Arlington.
Dallas police kept demonstrators behind barriers. The more than two dozen company supporters had a bullhorn. The protesters had less than half that number and were drowned out by the company's supporters.
"I think a lot of their crowd is still in jail," said pro-Exxon Mobil demonstrator Charles Langenfelt of Dallas, referring to 36 Greenpeace activists who were arrested Tuesday, jailed overnight in Irving and charged with trespassing after they stormed the Exxon Mobil headquarters in Las Colinas.
"I'm pro-American," said Langenfelt, who wore a large red, white and blue hat. "If you kill a big corporation like Exxon Mobil, you also kill a lot of jobs."
Another Exxon Mobil supporter, Janelle Shepard of Weatherford, stood with the pro-Exxon Mobil side of the crowd and said, "I'm for free enterprise." Her fellow Exxon Mobil supporters sang God Bless America.
One pro-Exxon demonstrator, Michael Saizan, dressed from head to toe in a Revolutionary War military uniform.
"I'm here to tell you that free enterprise exists even in Austin," he said.
The street protest was good-natured and low-key and, as in the past, generated no violence or arrests.
At a news conference afterward, Raymond declined to gloat over the outcome of voting.
"I don't make it a practice to express joy or happiness over shareholder votes," Raymond said. "The shareholders simply voted to uphold our views and philosophies. There is nothing to suggest any change."
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