geezerfreak wrote: > Criticizing Cheney to His Face Is Assault? > By Matthew Rothschild > > October 4, 2006 > > Steve Howards says he used to fantasize about what he'd say to President > Bush or Vice President Cheney if he ever got the chance. > > That opportunity arrived on June 16, the same day he says he read about > U.S. fatalities in Iraq reaching 2,500. > > Howards says he was taking two of his kids to their Suzuki piano camp in > Beaver Creek, Colorado. They were walking across the outdoor public mall > area when all of a sudden he saw Cheney there. > > "I didn't even know he was in town," Howards says. "He was walking > through the area shaking hands. Initially, I walked past him. Then I > said to myself, 'I can't in good conscience let this opportunity pass > by.' So I approached him, I got about two feet away, and I said in a > very calm tone of voice, 'Your policies in Iraq are reprehensible.' And > then I walked away." > > Howards says he knew the Administration has a "history of making > problems" for people who protest its policies, so he wanted to leave off > at that. > > But the Secret Service did not take kindly to his comment."About ten > minutes later, I came back through the mall with my eight-year-old son > in tow," Howards recalls, "and this Secret Service man came out of the > shadows, and his exact words were, 'Did you assault the Vice President?' " > > Here's how Howards says he responded: "No, but I did tell Mr. Cheney the > way I felt about the war in Iraq, and if Mr. Cheney wants to be shielded > from public criticism, he should avoid public places. If exercising my > constitutional rights to free speech is against the law, then you should > arrest me." > > Which is just what the agent, Virgil D. "Gus" Reichle Jr, proceeded to do. > > "He grabbed me and cuffed my hands behind my back in the presence of my > eight-year-old son and told me I was being charged with assault of the > Vice President,"Howards recalls. > > He says he told the agent, "I can't abandon my eight-year-old son in a > public mall." > > According to Howards, Reichle responded: "We'll call Social Services." > Before that could happen, however, "my son ran away and found my wife," > who was nearby, Howards says. > > "First of all, I was scared," Howard recalls. "They wouldn't tell my > wife where they were taking me. Second of all, I was incredulous this > could be happening in the United States of America. This is what I read > about happening in Tiananmen Square. They hauled me away to Eagle County > jail and kept me with my hands cuffed behind my back for three hours." > > At the jail, the charge against him was reduced to harassment, he says, > and he was released on $500 bond. The Eagle County DA's office > eventually dropped that charge. > > On October 3, Howards sued Reichle for depriving him of his First > Amendment right of free speech and his Fourth Amendment right to be > protected from illegal seizure. > > Howards and his attorney, David Lane, have not demanded a specific > dollar amount. > > "We will go to trial and let a Colorado jury decide what type of damages > are appropriate," says Howards. > > "This isn't about anything I did. This about what I said. There is a > frontal assault occurring on our constitutional right to free speech. We > brought this suit because of our belief that this Administration's > attempt to suppress free speech is a greater threat to the long-term > integrity of this nation than ten Osama bin Ladens." > > Reichle did not return my call for comment. Nor did he respond to The > New York Times in its article on this incident. > > Lon Garner, special agent in charge at the Secret Service's Denver > office, says he has "no reaction" to the lawsuit. "It's in litigation," > he says. "We have no comment." > > Before his encounter with Cheney, Howards says he had a clean record. > > "I was never arrested before," he says. "I don't have so much as a > speeding ticket." OTOH, there was the guy in New Orleans who after Katrina told Cheney to go f*** himself when Cheney was visiting his neighborhood. He got press but no trouble. Spike Lee included video the guy shot of the incident in his Katrina dcoumentary.
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