Chuck Crumbo, “Protestor’s arrest could result in lawsuit” (The State, Columbia South Carolina, Oct. 27 2002). “Local police said they were following directives from the Secret Service.”

Lora Hines, “Anti-war activist faces federal charges: U.S. attorney says Brett Bursey got too close to president at airport last year” (The State, Columbia South Carolina, March 8 2003). “I look forward to the federal court confirming that free speech is still an American right.”

Clif LeBlanc, “Airport police drop charge against protester: Brett Bursey had been arrested for trespassing during Bush visit” (The State, Columbia South Carolina, April 5 2003). “Airport Police Chief Randy Blackmon would not explain the decision. ... On March 7, federal prosecutors charged Bursey under a law that allows the U.S. Secret Service to restrict access to the president. If convicted, Bursey faces up to six months in prison and/or a $5,000 fine. The local trespass charge carried a maximum of 30 days or $440.”

Leslie Eaton, “A Flashback to the 60’s for an Antiwar Protester” (New York Times, April 27 2003) (copy, copy). “Finally, he said, an airport policeman told him he had to put down his sign (“No War for Oil”) or leave.”

John Leo, “Taking it off the streets” (U.S. News & World Report, May 12 2003, p.50).

Barney Frank (Democrat, Massachusetts), Letter to John Ashcroft (U.S. Attorney-General) from 11 Members of Congress (May 27 2003).

Anonymous, “In defence of elderly hippies: The Justice Department doesn’t seem to know when to stop” (The Economist, June 19 2003).

Matthew Rothschild, “Federal Case Against Bush Protester Delayed” (The Progressive, July 1 2003).

Jeffrey Collins (Associated Press), “Lawyer: Bush criminalizes criticism; Activist arrested for being in area restricted during president’s visit” (The Sun News, July 19 2003) “Pitts said a SLED agent gave a signed statement saying agents discussed that Bursey was planning to protest the president’s visit and asked one agent to make sure he was sent to an area a half-mile away from Bush. To bolster his argument, Pitts included parts of a transcript from a Michigan state trial where a college student was arrested for trespassing after he refused to put down a sign critical of Bush. In the transcript, a police captain said the Secret Service told him to move anyone protesting the president away from areas near where Bush would speak.”

Brett Bursey and others, interviewed by Adam Hochberg, in Melissa Block (host), “War Protester Case Raises Free Speech Questions” (National Public Radio, All Things Considered, July 25 2003). Transcript. Audio (4:04 minutes).

Chris Haire, “America is a Free Speech Zone: Brett Bursey goes up against the Bush administration over what Americans are allowed say” (MetroBEAT, Greenville South Carolina, Oct. 21 2003). “When it comes to public appearances by the president, only those with something nice to say get within earshot of Dubya. As for the dissenting rabble, well, they get shuffled off to so-called free speech zones, sometimes hundreds and hundreds of yards away from the president.”

Jacob Jordan (Associated Press), “Protester subpoenas top Bush officials for upcoming trial” (The State, Columbia South Carolina, Nov. 6 2003). “State Sen. Phil Leventis, D-Sumter and retired brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force, has volunteered to fly the Washington officials to Columbia in his seven-seat Cessna 421.”

Jacob Jordan (Associated Press), “Trial for Bush protester begins Wednesday” (The State, Columbia South Carolina, Nov. 11 2003). “Bursey said he knew he could not be charged with trespassing. He had been down that road before. In 1969, he was arrested at the same airport while protesting then-president Richard Nixon. He pleaded guilty to the charges, but later the state Supreme Court said the airport was public property and the arrest was improper. ... Bursey served two years in state prison for ... spray-painting “Hell no, we won’t go” on a Vietnam-era draft board. ... He said he spent six months in solitary confinement that changed his life.”

Dean Schabner, “Muffled Voices? Activists Say White House, Secret Service ‘Sanitize’ Free Speech” (ABCNews.com, Nov. 12 2003, a web-only report). Query: Has ABC News broadcast a report on protest zones, and does ABC report or comment on the demographic character of crowd scenes in the vicinity of President Bush, as ABC presumably did when showing crowd scenes in Baghdad during the Saddam regime?

Jacob Jordan (Associated Press), “Trial for Bush protester begins” (The State, Columbia South Carolina, Nov. 12 2003).

Clif LeBlanc, “Bush protester refused to move: Brett Bursey said he welcomed arrest at airport, witnesses testify in trial” (The State, Columbia South Carolina, Nov. 13 2003).

Jacob Jordan (Associated Press), “Protester’s trial ends; judge to rule next month” (The State, Columbia South Carolina, Nov. 13 2003).

Clif LeBlanc, “Antiwar activist says law on his side: Brett Bursey cites S.C. Supreme Court ruling, Constitution during emotional testimony” (The State, Columbia South Carolina, Nov. 14 2003). “Several witnesses for Bursey said they were ordered away from the hangar as soon as police saw signs like, “Bubbling crude, no blood for oil,” objecting to Bush’s plans to invade Iraq.”

Dan Huntley, “Case reminds us of our right to protest: Bush's safety comes 1st, but protesters, backers merit equal treatment” (Charlotte Observer, Charlotte North Carolina, Nov. 16 2003) {original}.

Eric Kenneth Ward, “A Federal Case: Brett Bursey Goes on Trial; Verdict to Come Later” (Free Times, Nov. 19 2003). “I do not have to have permission to express my rights as an American.”

Lee Cowan, “Silencing Voices of Dissent” (CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, Inside Story, Dec. 4 2003). “But that so-called ‘free speech zone’ wasn’t outside the hangar where the President Bush was speaking. It wasn’t across the street. Nor was it down the street. It was a half a mile away, where he couldn’t be seen by the president. That’s exactly Bursey’s point. ‘We are minimalized to the point of being invisible,’ says Bursey. ‘The invisibility of protest is something that’s new under the Bush administration.’”

Charlie Savage, “Post-9/11 limits on dissent claimed: Law enforcement cites terror threat” (Boston Globe, Dec. 14 2003). “‘They’re checking your driver’s license. They want to know your name, your Social Security number, how long you’ll be there, and what your intent is.’”

James Bovard, “Quarantining dissent: How the Secret Service protects Bush from free speech” (San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 4 2004). “In a May terrorist advisory, the Homeland Security Department warned local law enforcement agencies to keep an eye on anyone who ‘expressed dislike of attitudes and decisions of the U.S. government.’ ... Mike van Winkle, the spokesman for the California Anti-Terrorism Information Center told the Oakland Tribune, ‘... if you have a protest group protesting a war where the cause that’s being fought against is international terrorism, you ... can almost argue that a protest against that is a terrorist act.’ ... One FBI internal newsletter [1976?] encouraged FBI agents to conduct more interviews with antiwar activists ‘for plenty of reasons, chief of which it will enhance the paranoia endemic in such circles and will further service to get the point across that there is an FBI agent behind every mailbox.’”

Clif LeBlanc, “Bush protester ordered to pay $500: Brett Bursey’s free speech defense fails to sway judge” (The State, Columbia South Carolina, Jan. 7 2004). “‘He is no hero for First Amendment free speech rights,’ Barton said after the ruling. ‘As shown by the judge’s verdict today, he’s a criminal.’”

Clay Barbour, “Activist found guilty of entering restricted area around president” (The Post and Courier, Charleston South Carolina, Jan. 7 2004). “Bursey said on presidential visits, the Secret Service clears out huge ‘sanitized’ zones to make sure there are no camera shots of protestors with the president. ‘And that concerns me because people watching television all around the world think that all Americans love George Bush and his policies,’ Bursey said. ‘And what concerns me more is that George Bush may think the American people love him.’”

Pamela Hamilton (Associated Press), “Protester fined for entering restricted area around President Bush” (The State, Columbia South Carolina, Jan. 7 2004). “Bursey presented no evidence showing that any other person not attending the rally was allowed to remain in the restricted area or that other protesters received favorable treatment, Marchant wrote.”

Clif LeBlanc, “Bush protester’s conviction sends message that federal government can quash protests: Critics say ruling threatens free speech” (The State, Columbia South Carolina, Jan. 11 2004). “Bursey contends his First Amendment rights were trampled because police would not tell him the boundaries of the restricted area. Bursey twice moved farther from the hangar where Bush spoke, but police insisted that protesters go only to the demonstration area, Bursey testified.”

J. Strom Thurmond Jr. (U.S. Attorney, Columbia South Carolina), “As court ruled, Bursey’s free speech not trampled” (The State, Columbia South Carolina, Jan. 13 2004). “... wild claims ... antics ... lawful orders ... broke the law ... imagined plight ...”

Brett Bursey, “Prosecuted for politics, not security” (The State, Columbia South Carolina, Jan. 31 2004).

“Mr. Thurmond said:

I couldn’t have said it better.”

State v. Larry Hanapole and Terry Cobb, 255 S.C. 258, 178 S.E.2d 247 (S.C., No. 19142, Dec. 17 1970). Same airport, different President: Richard Millhouse Nixon, May 3 1969. “Cobb ... had a camera ... taking pictures... Hanapole carried a sign with the American flag painted thereon and in the white stripes of the flag, the word “kill” was written several times”. Sentence: Sixty days on the chain gang. Reversed. This protest occurred before Nixon felony-murdered Rene Schneider and after Nixon decided to deport/exile the Chagos Islanders, both prima facie international crimes. Nixon never served on a chain gang. State v. Hanapole

Weatherford v. Bursey, 429 U.S. 545 (No. 75-1510, Feb. 22 1977), reversing Bursey v. Weatherford, 528 F.2d 483 (4th Cir., No. 74-2242, Dec. 2 1975). “On July 27, 1970, Bursey was tried and convicted of the crime of malicious destruction of property. This charge arose out of an incident during the early morning hours of March 20, 1970, during which a brick was thrown through the window of the Richland County Selective Service office in Columbia, South Carolina, and red paint was sprayed and splattered on the outside and inside of the building. {“Hell no, we won't go”} Bursey was sentenced to 18 months in prison and served his time. ... Jack Weatherford, an informant employed by the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED), participated in damaging the draft board property and then arranged his own and Bursey’s arrest. ... Weatherford ... an undercover agent on the University of South Carolina campus ....” 528 F.2d 483, 485.

W. Thomas Smith Jr., “Two Activists Were Worlds Apart 30 Years Ago: One went to Prison. The other to Vietnam.” (Free Times, May 31 2000).

Eric Lichtblau, “F.B.I. Scrutinizes Antiwar Rallies” (New York Times, Nov. 23 2003). “Tactics used during protests and demonstrations” {111kb.pdf} (FBI Intelligence Bulletin no. 89, Oct. 15 2003): “No portion of this Bulletin should be released to the media”.

Dana Milbank, “Secret Service Not Coddling Hecklers” (Washington Post, Sept. 10 2004). “An agent, who did not give his name, told one journalist who was blocked from returning to the speech that this was punishment for approaching the demonstrators and that there was a ‘different set of rules’ for reporters who did not seek out the activists.”

Jonathan M. Katz, “Thou Dost Protest Too Much: An old law turns protesters into threats against the president” (Slate, Sept. 21 2004). “[H]undreds of protesters are being rounded up at presidential visits all over the country, making Bursey the 56-year-old canary in a demonstrators’ coal mine.”

G. Jeffrey MacDonald, “A close eye — and tight grip — on campaign protesters” (Christian Science Monitor, Sept. 27 2004). “President Bush was about to arrive at a rally. A couple wearing T-shirts {photo} with anti-Bush slogans were sitting just feet from the stage. Charleston, W. Va., police working with the US Secret Service had a quick decision to make.

What ensued that July 4 was either a prudent choice in high-risk times or a blatant violation of free-speech rights. Police arrested the two for wearing the T-shirts and refusing to relocate to an area for protesters.

The arrests of Jeff and Nicole Rank, along with the suit they filed earlier this month against the Secret Service, have become symbols of a defining feature of campaign 2004: security so tight that candidates seldom hear or see their critics in person. ...

The Charleston City Council apologized for the July 4 incident, since the Ranks had tickets, were on public property, and made no obstructive noise.”