Document text
Anti-war rally keeps the peace at local park By Sean Wolfe Ashland Daily Tidings As troops prepare to shift to wartime, Ashland residents roused themselves for a rally, staging a peaceful protest at Garfield Park, just across the street from the police station and council chambers. About 65 demonstrators turned out Tuesday afternoon, bearing anti-war placards and banners. Street theater was in effect, as a demonstrator wearing a President Bush mask held effigies of infants aloft on the end of poles, while another protester in a military uniform held a handcuffed, gagged, and bruised Statue of Liberty at bay with a flag-clad replica of a rifle. Street theater dominates the landscape at Garfield Park Tuesday as an anti-war activist dons a Bush mask while holding effigies of infants, while another in uniform prods a battered Liberty replica with a flag-wrapped stick in protest of Iraq war. Ashland Daily Tidings/CHRIS MILLER An impromptu march was staged from the park to Ashland's Plaza, but this time protesters kept to the sidewalks. Other than a few passes made by police vehicles, a law enforcement presence was kept virtually invisible, and no arrests were reported. Charles Carreon, 47, and a former Jackson County prosecutor, turned up at the protest, saying the president had inspired him. "The president said it would be suicide for us not to act, and I agree with him. For Americans to remain silent would be suicide for our national dignity and civil rights," Carreon said. "American citizens are waiting for people in other nations to prevent us from doing something we would hate to see happen. "I think we should show our face next to our political beliefs, and if that exposes us to criticism - so much the better. Jeremy Dahl, a 20-year-old transient and peace activist, had been before Ashland Municipal Judge Allen Drescher earlier in the day to answer multiple charges for his participation in a March 5 rally. "A bunch of us were at the (Ashland Food) Coop, and were talking about a rally. We said 'the deadline's coming up,' and were trying to plan a protest for Tuesday or Wednesday. We were already planning another camping ban protest, but with the war coming up, we just decided to do one," Dahl said. Former Farmer's Market employee Chelsea Reha, 19, showed up wearing an oversized pair of eyeglasses bearing the "No War" slogan. She said she was there to protest what she considered to be an inevitable war in Iraq. "I don't know if we'll march today. I heard about the rally through a guy, and I just feel like I need to get involved," Reha said. As the crowd began to gather in the late afternoon, Marc Likens, 21 - a cook at The Wild Goose - practiced tai chi on the park's thick lawn. "I think this is another case of the U.S. going against the world. We're trying to become the world order, instead of following the world order," Likens said. "It's rather like what we've done in Nicaragua, and in Yugoslavia to some extent." As streams of cars passed the protest, most honked their approval, while a few yelled epithets like "Go back to Iraq." Cries of "Support our troops," were answered by many demonstrators, shouting "We are" in response. Given Carreon's legal background, The Tidings questioned him closely on his views relating to the right of citizens to march on public streets. "I studied this issue when I was at UCLA, and that case has been settled early on, thanks to (case law relating to) the Jehovah's Witnesses. Hat's off to them. The streets are public property. Authorities nonetheless can be relied upon in every generation to show their disapproval of unpopular ideas � That's why the Constitution puts it in the very first amendment, that the right of the people to assemble shall not be abridged," Carreon said. "This battle is one every generation has to fight. For me, I'm happy to do it again." LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -