Posted on 07/20/2002 6:45:50 AM PDT by dukeman
VENICE -- On a slow news day in Florida, it's not only those proverbial mad dogs and Englishmen who'll go out in the noonday sun.
Add five law enforcement officers, six members of the media, four cemetery-management employees, two bearded grounds workers, several dozen foraging turkey buzzards, and a 20-year-old girl in red makeup getting arrested for the first time.
The marquee event was Rochelle Thorne's race for the gravesite of Gunther Gebel-Williams, where she planned to dance, dressed as the devil, on the first anniversary of the celebrated animal trainer's death.
Thorne, a student at the Adventure Sports Institute in Maryland, which is training her to guide nature excursions, was in town under the auspices of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
PETA regards Gebel-Williams as "a bully who made a fast buck on the bloodied backs of animals," said spokeswoman Brandi Valladolid, who accompanied Thorne on her mission from the group's headquarters in Norfolk, Va.
The Gebel-Williams family could not be reached for comment, but it was they who alerted Venice Memorial Gardens of the planned demonstration, said cemetery manager John Williams from his command center on a parking lot at high noon, where the temperature stood at 92 degrees.
Williams, who said he understood that the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus had notified the Gebel-Williams family of PETA's plans, called the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office Friday morning to alert them to the scheduled trespassing.
When Valladoid and Thorne drove their rented white Chevrolet onto the cemetery grounds a little before noon, sheriff's Lt. Mike Pelfrey was there to greet them, with a gentle explanation that the women were on private property and would have to leave -- which they did, said Pelfrey, "very nicely."
After making a wrong turn east onto Center Road, the women returned to the cemetery's maintenance entrance, a few hundred yards from the main gate, where Thorne fielded media inquiries through the window while sweating profusely in her black tights and red polyester cape.
A few minutes past noon, the two women drove again through the cemetery's main gate. Thorne bolted out of the car and sprinted 20 yards or so in the general direction of the Gebel-Williams gravesite before being gently restrained by Pelfrey.
"You're under arrest," he said. "OK," she said.
Thorne was handcuffed, transported to the Venice police station for processing, and booked on second-degree misdemeanor charges.
"Being arrested is something we're all prepared for," said Valladoid, who drove away in her Chevrolet before Thorne was apprehended. [Apparently, some are more prepared than others.]
"She's young and she's never been arrested before," she said of Thorne, who had given her name as Jessica L. Smith to authorities. "There's no reason why the police should hold her for any length of time. But if she has to spend a night or two in jail, it's nothing compared to what circus animals have to go through."
It is not PETA's policy to bail out its demonstrators, said Valladoid, so Thorne was still in custody as of late Friday afternoon.
Valladoid was uncertain how long she would remain in Venice. She was due to leave Norfolk on Sunday for Missouri, to attend a national conference on the vegan lifestyle. [Great! Just leave your young pal in jail.]
The buzzards, all meat-eaters, remained at the side of the road, blinking in the sun.
She's young and she's never been arrested before
So glad we could all share in her debut.
Sane people regard PETA as "a group of lunatic-fringe crackpots who dress up like cows and devils while ignoring the most basic biological facts," said spokesman IronJack to Blandly Voidoid.
PETA-Phile, more-for-us BUMP!
What a bunch of losers.
LOL.....love that sign!
I saw Gunther preform during his final tour! What a gift he had...all his animals adored him. He could work with both lions & tigers in the same arena....and his rapport with elephants was amazing.
These PETA nuts just want to destroy the Circus and deprive millions of children & parents of sharing a wonderful family experience.
VENICE-- An animal rights protester arrested Friday for trying to dance on the grave of Gunther Gebel-Williams was released on $1,000 bail late that afternoon- just late enough to miss her flight back to Virginia.
Rachelle Thorne- mistakenly identified as Rochelle in Saturday's Herald Tribune- returned home Saturday morning after a staff member at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals posted her bail.
Thorne was held for a total of five hours on two charges- trespassing for which the bail was $250, and obstruction by disguise, the latter because she gave police a false name at the time of her arrest.
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I doubt she'll be coming back down here on her own. Maybe she'll miss a court appearance and a motivated bail bondsman will pick her up in Virginia, say around 3 a.m. some morning, and ship her back down here for a word from the judge; Tough way to learn there are consequences for your behavior in the real world, isn't it?
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