JULY 27 - CHARGES DROPPED
AGAINST PROTESTOR ARRESTED AT BUSH TAMPA RALLY
Tampa, Florida
July 27, 2001
Today State Attorney Mark Ober announced the dismissal of charges
against Grandmother Janis Lentz, who was arrested after Republican
operatives pointed her out to Police for removal from an event at
Tampa's Legends Field.
Ms. Lentz, Grandmother
Suni Haught, and Gay Rights Activist Mauricio Rosas were arrested
June 4, 2001. Mr. Rosas was accosted for holding a sign that read
in part, "Boo!"
Supporters of
President Bush were allowed to remain, displaying signs that were
supportive of Mr. Bush, while the grandmothers, whose signs requested
an investigation into the Florida election, were forcibly removed
from the stadium when they insisted that they had a right to display
their signs too.
Defense Attorneys
W.F. "Casey" Ebsary, Jr., Will Knight, and Luke Lirot of Tampa, represent
the trio who has been charged since their June arrest with trespassing,
and in the case of Grandmother Suni Haught, an additional charge of
disorderly conduct.
Mr. Ebsary states,
"It was a dark day for Democracy when the rights of this Grandmother
were trampled by operatives who found her protestations offensive.
It is too bad that someone in law enforcement with the courage of
State Attorney Mark Ober was not at the stadium to stop this assault
and the arrest of these people. Democracy shines in Tampa today."
For additional
information on this story, please contact Mr. Ebsary at 813-222-2220,
at email webmaster@centralaw.com, and for more information see: www.centralaw.com/press.htm
Cover-Up?
06-14
Dear
Friends,
So we had a press conference yesterday at Tampa City Hall. Bob, Jan,
Mauricio, and Suni were there on a corner in front of Tampa City Hall.
I told my account of the crushing of our First Amendment rights that
day, believing again they would finally print the truth about the
police officer who hurt an 81 year old WWII veteran.
Yesterday, I sent a letter to the editor of the St Petersburg Times
telling my version of what occurred. My letter was in answer to a
letter that was published in the Times from a person named Terry Force,
But this morning after the news conference in which I referred to
the letter several times, I found that my letter was not published.
It is now the fourth interview I've done regarding the Legends Field
incident. In each interview, I talked about the knocking down of 81
year old Walter Sorensen by Tampa police officer Ruth Stevens, badge
875. She used Jan as a shield to push her way through the crowd and
thereby knocked Walter down onto the ground on his back. I saw it
and asked why. That was my big mistake. When I got eye contact with
this officer asking why she did that, her response was quick and deliberate
and seemingly stemmed from her fear of appraisal, "Assault on a police
officer" she said.
I never attacked another person in my life and have stood up for non
violence consistently. How could she accuse me of such a terrible
thing? And worse than her accusation is the newspapers accounts continuously
stating that I hit her....NOT TRUE! I wonder how I can get these major
newspapers to tell my version as well as Ms Force's version of what
happened?
Suni (Sonja Haught)
Grandma Suni Was Handcuffed
06-04-01
Well ----So Much
for 1st Amendment Rights-Family Values or Care of the Elderly. Signs
seemed to be the most important thing to King George on Monday, June
4th. So much so that the order went out for no anti-Bush signs to
be allowed inside Legends Field. Wish they had told me sooner so I
could have saved my energy and ink when making a six foot sign stating,
Bush Stole the Election. So this grandma who often seems to lack respect
for the emperor with no clothes just packed her eight signs into her
pocketbook. After all, who would ever invade a womanās pocketbook?
Invade it they did--- at the checkpoint going in (the airport?). The
officers said I could not use the sign that said "Booo!"
BUT--- when my dear friend Maurice asked, "Can she just take
the stick off of it and use it that way?"---Security said OK.
So, with eight signs tucked safely in my pocketbook we ventured off
onto the baseball field for Oral Majority's 126th protest since November
2000, hoping to make some friends who would also hold my signs.
I tried to get up front where other short people (children) were standing.
We gathered behind a rope that penned us in like Roman slaves. Near
the rope and behind the children King George's huge security men were
dressed in suits and shouting, "all littleliggers up front".
I misunderstood his pronunciation of the little leaguers and questioned
him about it. THIS WAS A MISTAKE! After I apologized for my misunderstanding
of his "littleliggers" he started telling me that I could
not hold the signs I was holding. I pointed out the large signs over
in the stands across from us and he didn't seem to want to hear about
it.
Other people around us were saying we were wrong for protesting. One
young woman faced me and I asked her if that was how she talked to
her grandma.. She said clearly, "my grandmother is not an asshole",
to which I answered her "That cannot be true since--- she had
you". Hmmm, ANOTHER MISTAKE! As I reflect back, we were not making
any friends there with my poor attitude, so where did I go wrong?
I recall waking up early that Monday and turning on channel 11 for
ABC's Good Morning America:
While I checked my email I also listened to the TV as they gave some
local news. "George W. Bush will be at Legend's Field today"
and people who are attending are already making signs. They immediately
showed a man making a very large sign in front of the TV Cameras.
So I began to make one that was even larger.
Unfortunately, when Maurice and Dave greeted Jan and I in the parking
lot after our caravan ride of Democrats from Pasco County we were
told that we couldnāt use my big sign. They will not let us in with
it, they said. How could that be when it was so plain on ABC TV at
7:30AM a man was making a sign for this very event? So I listened
to my friends and put the huge sign back in the car and began distributing
my small signs that read, "INVESTIGATE FLORIDA VOTERGATE"
giving one to Walter the 81-year-old man who rode with Jan down from
Pasco County. I kept the other eight, especially the one that said
"HEIL TO THE THIEF". Seems that one was the most appropriate
for what happened to us there that day on Legendās Field.
Was democracy totally dead this day? Another bigger security officer
came over to us as we stood there looking for friends and said we
cannot use the signs we were holding. Again I told him that security
checked my bag and allowed us to have them. This Security apparently
was not in touch with the other security. This must have been the
pure-Bushit Security---the ones who wore suites rather than uniforms.
I wish I had told the reporters who gathered around us that these
security men were bullies in the first sense of the word. They grabbed
my 81/2 by 11 paper signs and started routing in my bag for more.
I also had NO MORE BUSHIT bumper stickers in there along with pins.
I had to protect them. Next thing you know there were the police officers
trying to get Maurice who has a severe health problem similar to Muscular
Dystrophy. They tried to make him give up his sign that read, "June
is Gay Pride Month". Some of the Repugs said, "No wonder
they are protesting. They're Gays". One of the two Bushit Security
men told Maurice to give up his sign and take a pro Bush sign instead.
He refused. With that all H__L broke loose. A police officer came
and told us we had to leave. We said we had a right to be there. We
said other people were holding signs much bigger than ours. Large
poster signs flashed all around the stadium for Bush. We had a right
to be there as well as anyone else. We had tickets. We didn't do anything
wrong. Why were they taking us away --- in Handcuffs? All we did was
show our small signs. I just couldn't believe it.
They put handcuffs on Maurice and we were afraid he would pass out.
He was shaking in the way I had seen him do once before. His health
is so fragile and I was afraid he would be very hurt. Jan and I hung
onto his arms as he asked us to do. Then Maurice went limp and fell
down dragging me with him. When we were on the ground the same woman
I questioned earlier about her grandma kicked dirt on me.
I looked for Jan and she didn't fall with us. Instead a very large
policewoman who was much shorter than Jan, but muscular, had her handcuffed
and used our Jan as a shield to bludgeon her way through the crowd.
She pushed her through with such force that she knocked over our new
friend Walter who rode in the car with Jan to this event Walter Olson
is 81 years old and carried one of my little orange signs that said
"Investigate Florida Votergate". I was so angry at what
this officer of the law did to this old man that I told her so. I
said-Why did you do that? To which she answered "Assault on a
Policeman!" And they handcuffed me.
We were pushed through the crowd to a room under the stadium where
6 or 7 other policemen sat at round tables. I turned around to look
at Maurice and he was handcuffed on the floor with sweat dripping
from his brow. One kind police officer offered him a drink and Maurice
took a sip from his prone position. Then the officer asked if he wanted
some water on his brow. I said loud and clearly, I want to know your
badge number so I can tell others there is a humane police officer
in Tampa.
After getting some non-uniformed security person to let go of my shoulder
that was recently operated on for a torn rotator cuff we were seated
and they changed our cuffs to the front of our bodies where we maintained
some comfort. We were questioned regarding our names and addresses
and, the officers filled out forms charging us with a misdemeanor.
It was my misfortune to have my paperwork done by the bludgeoning
bombshell who attacked the old man---Ugh using our dear Jan as her
weapon. What can I expect in the future from all of this? Do I live
in America? Whatever will I tell my grandchildren???? Grandma Suni
was handcuffed in Tampa because she held up the wrong sign? Heil to
the thief who stole our democracy!
Suni
(page 8)
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