Lawyer Arrested for Wearing a 'Peace' T-Shirt (AT THE MALL)

reuters ^ | 3/4/2003 | reuters

[Illbay]

Protesting is one thing. The simple act of wearing a T-shirt is another. I think in this case the court might rule that since the store was allowed to sell the shirt, it is patently ridiculous to tell teh man he cannot then wear it.

I would love to know the real story here, though.

[cardinal4]

We're missing a piece of critical information here. I'm betting the guy was also wearing no pants.

Or had dope on him....

[Restorer]

By your standards, you can refuse service to a black man based on his skin color.

I believe business owners should have this right. I also believe they would be very stupid to exercise it, and I would refuse to patronize such an establishment.

I also realize the laws have been passed and interpreted such that we no longer have this right. But, I believe those laws are not in compliance with the original intent of the Constitution.

[archy]

Sounds like an out-of-work lawyer looking for a score.

See the fourth from last sentence/paragraf:

Downs is the director of the Albany Office of the state Commission of Judicial Misconduct, which investigates complaints of misconduct against judges and can admonish, censure or remove judges found to have engaged in misconduct.

[Palladin]

No. Making a sale or purchase and soliciting a confrontation with security are two different things.

Also, he picked the wrong place to attack the President's war on terrorism (e.g. Iraq). This part of NY State is heavily inhabited by hundreds of NYC policemen and firemen, many of whom lost relatives and co-workers on 9/11.

Wearing such a tee-shirt was an open act of provocation which could have resulted in a riot if this stupid lawyer and his stupid liberal tactics drew the ire of 9/11 survivors.

[BeAllYouCanBe]

"I was in the food court with my son when I was confronted by two security guards and ordered to either take off the T-shirt or leave the mall," said Downs.

Maybe or perhaps he had an altercation with someone who took offense to the message on the shirt and was previously told to leave the mall (for being a jerk) and then was arrested for being disorderly??

I have seen the scenario before where the liberals act like jerks but don't count their behavior prior to the arrest behavior??

I don't know in this case.

[Auntie Mame]

Sounds like left-wing dis-information or BUNK to me.

Me too. In fact, it SCREAMS dis-information.

[dead]

By your standards, you can refuse service to a black man based on his skin color...
So you SUPPORT any bookstore that would refuse to sell Ann Coulter's book, right?

Actually, I support the rights of any business to refuse to accomodate anybody for any reason.

I wouldn't eat at a restaurant that refused to serve black people, or shop at a bookstore that refused to sell Ann Coulter's book, but I believe that business behavior should be modified by the market, not the government.

This is America. We have the right to associate with anybody we please. If you want to be an asshole, and cater only to other assholes, it's your right.

I realize that my views are in the minority, and are not currently legal, but that happens a lot to me.

[Senator Pardek]

So you SUPPORT any bookstore that would refuse to sell Ann Coulter's book, right?

100%.

[PFKEY]

Did you miss part of the story on your cut and past?

If this is the whole story then what is the point of even posting it? Obviously it is not complete with details.

I was thrown out of the mall for wearing tennis shoes.

Oh, the outrage!

[dead]

A government worker! That's even more suspicious than unemployment.

[Eala]

There's more to this that we haven't heard.

I more than suspect you're right on this!

[Illbay]

I believe business owners should have this right.

But they don't. That's the point.

[Palladin]

Man charged with trespassing after wearing pro-peace shirt in mall

By Damita Chambers, Associated Press, 3/4/2003 20:09

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) A man was charged with trespassing after wearing a T-shirt saying ''Peace on Earth'' and ''Give peace a chance'' in a mall, where an activist group donning peace T-shirts was forced out weeks earlier.

Stephen Downs, 61, and his 31-year-old son, Roger Downs, had the peace T-shirts made Monday night at a Crossgates Mall store and wore them in the mall, atop other clothes. Mall security approached the two in the food court and asked them to remove their shirts or leave the mall. The men refused.

The security guards returned with a police officer, who gave the men the same choice. Downs' son took his T-shirt off, but he refused.

''So, they said, `Well, the choice would be arrest.' I said, `All right then, arrest me if you have to,''' Downs said. ''So that's what they did. They put the handcuffs on and took me away.''

Downs, of the Albany County hamlet of Selkirk, pleaded innocent Monday night to trespassing.

Guilderland Town Police Chief James Murley said his officers were just responding to a complaint by mall security.

''We don't care what they have on their shirts, but they were asked to leave the property, and it's private property,'' Murley said.

The mall can decide to press charges against anyone who refuses to comply with a request to leave, Murley said.

The New York Civil Liberties Union said it would assist Downs with his case if he requests the group's help.

''We don't think that someone whose behavior is consistent with the normal uses of shopping should be excluded for displaying as part of their personal effects a message that the proprietor dislikes,'' said Heidi Siegfried, Interim Executive Director of the Capital Region chapter of the NYCLU.

On Dec. 21, about 20 people from Upper Hudson Peace Action, wearing T-shirts that read ''Peace on Earth'' and ''Don't Invade Iraq,'' were told to leave by mall security and the police. There were no arrests.

''I really think the problem lies with mall management and that kind of policy,'' said Julie Belles, who participated in the ''Mall Walk for Peace.'' ''They refused to ever meet with us.''

Belles said the group was only shopping, not staging a demonstration or trying to cause a disturbance.

''What you refer to as `political protest,' we call a `peaceful reminder,''' Belles wrote in a Dec. 30 letter to mall manager Mark Wagner.

A mall spokeswoman did not return calls Tuesday by The Associated Press.

Downs said he knew about the group forced out of the mall. But his actions were not part of an organized effort and were not intended as a protest, he said.

''I think it was in part to just see what would happen if I put a T-shirt on that said, `Peace,' and walked around in Crossgates,'' Downs said. ''I really hoped that nothing would happen because if something did happen, it would mean that I was living in a country where you really don't have free speech.

''I still think I have the right of free speech.''

[Illbay]

Actually, I support the rights of any business to refuse to accomodate anybody for any reason.

Support all you want. This was settled in law several decades ago.

[Palladin]

No laws against defiant trespass in California? What a barbarian wasteland!

[dead]

I know, as I clearly stated. There's lots of laws I think are wrong.

[MississippiMan]

''I think it was in part to just see what would happen if I put a T-shirt on that said, `Peace,' and walked around in Crossgates,'' Downs said.

Now it's sounding to me like he went in with the notion of causing trouble.

MM

[Jhoffa_]

The mall is a public place.. the lawyer is going to win.

[Illbay]

As long as sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

Please keep in mind that anti-abortion protestors and other conservatives benefit from such laws.