Protest at Rep. Gus Bilirakis
Military Recruitment Fair
Aug. 2008, East Lake HS,
Tarpon Springs, FL
 YouTube
Video of the protest
Bay News 9 coverage (watch)
More photos
Tampa Bay Peace Community Scores!
Words of appreciation are pouring in to 5 Years Of War.com for pulling
together folks from across Tampa Bay to come together as one for
peace. The second annual Military Day and Veterans' Resources
Fair hosted by U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis at East Lake High School in
Tarpon Springs on Aug. 9 was the scene of several major successes for
the Tampa Bay peace community.
GREAT MEDIA COVERAGE: Did you catch the news - we grabbed the
headline on the Bay
News 9 report
EXCELLENT INTERVIEWS: Dwight Lawton and Linda Hubner of Veterans for
Peace provided the viewers with excellent perspective - it is not often
that the peace community gets this much airtime!
MAJOR SUCCESS: We were told by Bilirakis' event coordinator
just
three days before the Fair that they were bringing in a Florida Army
National Guard rescue helicopter and an Armored Humvee. We
did
NOT see those at the Fair! Gee - could it be that we shamed
them
into leaving them back at their military installations where they
belong??? Did they not want to be asked how much the
taxpayers
were paying to gas up those big behemoths so Bilirakis could use them
to promote his re-election campaign???
SHOCKING: Bilirakis had gun dealers there on the school
grounds
selling weapons and letting kids play with them. Anita
Stewart
from Code Pink took
this photo of a teenager aiming a high-powered rifle at some
young kids at the gun-dealer's display.
And we had a "spy" from our side collecting recruiting
materials.
So contrary to the Bilirakis event coordinator’s statement,
there was
SPEAKING OF VETERANS - Anita and Debra Kay – both USAF
veterans -
were told they were not welcome at this VETERAN'S event by a Pinellas
County Sheriff’s deputy because they were part of
“that
group” – pointing to the protesters across the
street.
Debra asked for a copy of the guidance that defines which veterans were
welcome and which veterans were not welcome. When he said he
could not produce this, she asked to speak to his supervisor.
He
radioed for help, which came in the form of two young men from the
Bilirakis team.
Anita kept her video camera running during all of these
conversations. Finally it was decided that these two veterans
could be on the property as long as they were not protesting.
NOTE: Debra was wearing her “I Support Iraq
Veterans
Against the War” T-shirt and was made up to look like an IED
blast victim. Anita had her CODE PINK button on - so they
really
did protest inside the event, although they carried no signs.
TOUCHDOWN! Check out
more photos of this event from Anita.
MORE SHOCK AND AWE: Late in the day, faced with our some of
our
protesters who were willing to disobey their orders to keep off the
public school property in order to practice their FIRST AMENDMENT
RIGHTS – you know, that free speech thing in the U.S.
Constitution - the Pinellas County Sheriffs Dept. brought in
an
armored riot control tank and positioned it near the parking lot of the
school in front of our protest area. Were they thinking we
were
going to storm the school or what? How much do you think that
cost the taxpayers???
ARE YOU OUTRAGED YET? Can you spell C-O-L-U-M-B-I-N-E ??? The
law
states that if a child so much as displays a plastic pirate sword
during a Halloween party on school grounds that he or she gets
expelled, but they can set up weapons displays and invite gun dealers
to have booths where children can point weapons at each other at our
public schools?
And they can tell taxpaying citizens and veterans who served their
country honorably that they are not welcome at an event open to the
public on property paid for by your tax dollars? And they
bring
in an armored tank to enforce all of this???
REACT NOW! Put your outrage into words NOW and send them as a
Letter to the Editor of one of these newspapers: the Tampa
Tribune and the St.
Petersburg Times.
To get published – please reference the date, location and
official name of this event: “The second annual
Military
Day and Veterans' Resources Fair hosted by U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis at
East Lake High School in Tarpon Springs on Aug. 9.”
DO NOT SEND THE SAME LETTER TO BOTH – this will get
your
letter deleted.
To express your outrage on other blogs and media outlets, please make
sure to send a different letter, not the exact same one that you sent
to the newspaper, to increase your chances of getting published in the
mainstream. We really need the general public to be aware of
what
was really going on out there! Just a little trick
we got
from Debra Kay, who teaches media relations.
CONGRATULATIONS, SIGN MAKERS! The television coverage that we
received and the reaction of the Pinellas County Sheriffs Dept. and
Bilirakis’ event organizers to our presence can largely be
attributed to the huge, hand-painted, clearly worded signs made for
this event. Powerful visuals like these make all the difference in the
world to the success of a public protest.
LESSONS LEARNED: Most likely the gun dealers had a booth
there
because they were paying for the resources at the Fair so that
Bilirakis can say it was not funded by the taxpayers. This is
standard operations at military airshows. More to
follow.
NEXT YEAR: Debra Kay is asking us to think about a
“Silent
T-Shirt Protest” inside the auditorium during the festivities
at
this Fair. Wear your protest on your T-shirt, then cover it
with
another shirt or jacket until you are inside the auditorium.
Then
take off the outer layer to shout the message that is on your
shirt. What are they going to do to prevent this –
strip
searches?
THANKS EVERYONE - WE SCORED A BIG
ONE FOR PEACE TODAY!
that kicked off the coverage of this event - “Protesters line
street leading to veterans fair” - no doubt a major
disappointment to the Bilirakis team, who were seriously overshadowed
by our presence in this report, which was the only coverage of this
event in the mainstream media. And the only photo used for this report
online was one of our protest signs!
military recruiting going on there!
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Photos:
Bob and Marianne |
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E-mail: info@stpeteforpeace.org
