spacemanspiff
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http://www.adn.com/alaska/story/2913137p-2948461c.html
COLD WATER: Man whose son is a Marine in Iraq is cited by police in incident.
By TOM KIZZIA
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: April 9, 2003)
Several anti-war protesters, including a middle-aged Quaker woman holding a sign saying "Consider the Children," were doused with a bucket of cold water at Soldotna's main intersection last week by a man standing in the back of a passing pickup truck.
Soldotna fishing guide Jeff Webster, who has a son in the Marines in Iraq, was tracked down by Soldotna police and cited for harassment, a misdemeanor.
A week earlier, he had done the same thing to two women holding signs at the same corner. At first the protesters turned the other cheek, despite freezing temperatures.
"We said pressing charges didn't seem in keeping with the peace theme," said Sherry Kasukonis, 55, one of the small band of war opponents who carry signs to the Soldotna "Y" corner every weekday at 5 p.m.
"It's a hostile environment, no question about it," she said. "We get so much absolutely filthy abuse out there. It's nothing you can repeat in the paper."
In an interview, Webster said he did it and he's glad -- though he said he doesn't plan to do it again.
"I warned 'em both days. You can't get through to them," Webster said. "They sure scattered once they got wet."
Webster said he's been gratified by the number of total strangers calling up to thank him and offer to pay any fines. He said he has a digital video of the incident that he's passing along via e-mail.
"At the troop rally over the weekend, a guy I didn't know suggested doing a spaghetti feed to pay any legal fees."
There won't be any legal fees, Webster said. He plans to plead guilty when he is arraigned in Kenai court April 17.
"I threw water," Webster said. "I was just trying to get my message across. Go home."
The case is the only known criminal incident around war protests in Alaska so far. The charge of harassment, which falls short of an assault, can be filed when a person is subjected to "offensive physical contact." Penalties extend up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.
The first drive-by dousing took place March 24, Soldotna police said. Webster stood in the back of a pickup truck driven by a friend and dumped a 5-gallon bucket of water on Kasukonis and another woman at the corner of the Sterling Highway and the Kenai Spur Highway.
Kasukonis said they were soaked but didn't budge.
"I would have stood there and frozen to death before I'd have left," she said.
Her poster that day had a picture of an Iraqi girl holding a lamb.
"We've been real careful not to have offensive or inflammatory signs," said Kasukonis, a Quaker and a pacifist. "The question is how can you keep this message of peace before people without inflaming people and making it worse?"
She said the daily protest is informal and reflects different opinions. She said the group has included students, teachers, retirees, lawyers and her husband, a doctor.
The group, never more than a dozen, admits it's a minority. Kenai-Soldotna has been the scene of several large flag-waving support-the-troops rallies in recent weeks.
But many who disagree with them have been polite, members said. They've also received support from people who say they feel too intimidated to join, they said.
"There's been a lot of positive reaction. I was really surprised by that," said protest organizer Karli Kay, 19, a Soldotna native whose husband is in the Air Force in Germany.
Kasukonis said the group was worried about threats of violence on a local radio call-in show and on fliers taped to lampposts at the intersection. The fliers recommend punching advocates of nonviolence repeatedly in the nose "until the desired results are obtained and the idiot realizes how stupid an argument he/she is making."
The group asked police to talk to Webster after the first incident.
"The fellow who dumped water does have a son serving over there," Kasukonis said. "I'm sure that to him he sees us as a direct threat to his son. It doesn't excuse it but you have to be aware of the stresses he's under."
When Webster wouldn't promise police he would stop, the group was advised to keep their cell phones handy.
Webster returned on April 1, this time with two full buckets.
"I'm highly offended by what they have to say," Webster said this week. He lives a long block up the road from the protest, in a house whose yard trees are swaddled with yellow ribbons. His son, Shawn, a 22-year-old Soldotna High graduate, is now fighting with the Marines.
Webster said he grew frustrated driving past the intersection every evening.
"There's nobody driving through the Y that's making any decisions about this war. All you're trying to do is divide the population," he said. "I think they're showing our future enemies how to beat America from within."
He was asked whether dissenters had the right to speak freely.
"That's a valid right. It's their right. It doesn't mean it is right," he said. "You protest before the war. But not right now. There's a time to talk your way out of a fistfight. That's before it happens. Once it starts, the way out of it is to win it."
Reporter Tom Kizzia can be reached at [email protected] or in Homer at 235-4244.
COLD WATER: Man whose son is a Marine in Iraq is cited by police in incident.
By TOM KIZZIA
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: April 9, 2003)
Several anti-war protesters, including a middle-aged Quaker woman holding a sign saying "Consider the Children," were doused with a bucket of cold water at Soldotna's main intersection last week by a man standing in the back of a passing pickup truck.
Soldotna fishing guide Jeff Webster, who has a son in the Marines in Iraq, was tracked down by Soldotna police and cited for harassment, a misdemeanor.
A week earlier, he had done the same thing to two women holding signs at the same corner. At first the protesters turned the other cheek, despite freezing temperatures.
"We said pressing charges didn't seem in keeping with the peace theme," said Sherry Kasukonis, 55, one of the small band of war opponents who carry signs to the Soldotna "Y" corner every weekday at 5 p.m.
"It's a hostile environment, no question about it," she said. "We get so much absolutely filthy abuse out there. It's nothing you can repeat in the paper."
In an interview, Webster said he did it and he's glad -- though he said he doesn't plan to do it again.
"I warned 'em both days. You can't get through to them," Webster said. "They sure scattered once they got wet."
Webster said he's been gratified by the number of total strangers calling up to thank him and offer to pay any fines. He said he has a digital video of the incident that he's passing along via e-mail.
"At the troop rally over the weekend, a guy I didn't know suggested doing a spaghetti feed to pay any legal fees."
There won't be any legal fees, Webster said. He plans to plead guilty when he is arraigned in Kenai court April 17.
"I threw water," Webster said. "I was just trying to get my message across. Go home."
The case is the only known criminal incident around war protests in Alaska so far. The charge of harassment, which falls short of an assault, can be filed when a person is subjected to "offensive physical contact." Penalties extend up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.
The first drive-by dousing took place March 24, Soldotna police said. Webster stood in the back of a pickup truck driven by a friend and dumped a 5-gallon bucket of water on Kasukonis and another woman at the corner of the Sterling Highway and the Kenai Spur Highway.
Kasukonis said they were soaked but didn't budge.
"I would have stood there and frozen to death before I'd have left," she said.
Her poster that day had a picture of an Iraqi girl holding a lamb.
"We've been real careful not to have offensive or inflammatory signs," said Kasukonis, a Quaker and a pacifist. "The question is how can you keep this message of peace before people without inflaming people and making it worse?"
She said the daily protest is informal and reflects different opinions. She said the group has included students, teachers, retirees, lawyers and her husband, a doctor.
The group, never more than a dozen, admits it's a minority. Kenai-Soldotna has been the scene of several large flag-waving support-the-troops rallies in recent weeks.
But many who disagree with them have been polite, members said. They've also received support from people who say they feel too intimidated to join, they said.
"There's been a lot of positive reaction. I was really surprised by that," said protest organizer Karli Kay, 19, a Soldotna native whose husband is in the Air Force in Germany.
Kasukonis said the group was worried about threats of violence on a local radio call-in show and on fliers taped to lampposts at the intersection. The fliers recommend punching advocates of nonviolence repeatedly in the nose "until the desired results are obtained and the idiot realizes how stupid an argument he/she is making."
The group asked police to talk to Webster after the first incident.
"The fellow who dumped water does have a son serving over there," Kasukonis said. "I'm sure that to him he sees us as a direct threat to his son. It doesn't excuse it but you have to be aware of the stresses he's under."
When Webster wouldn't promise police he would stop, the group was advised to keep their cell phones handy.
Webster returned on April 1, this time with two full buckets.
"I'm highly offended by what they have to say," Webster said this week. He lives a long block up the road from the protest, in a house whose yard trees are swaddled with yellow ribbons. His son, Shawn, a 22-year-old Soldotna High graduate, is now fighting with the Marines.
Webster said he grew frustrated driving past the intersection every evening.
"There's nobody driving through the Y that's making any decisions about this war. All you're trying to do is divide the population," he said. "I think they're showing our future enemies how to beat America from within."
He was asked whether dissenters had the right to speak freely.
"That's a valid right. It's their right. It doesn't mean it is right," he said. "You protest before the war. But not right now. There's a time to talk your way out of a fistfight. That's before it happens. Once it starts, the way out of it is to win it."
Reporter Tom Kizzia can be reached at [email protected] or in Homer at 235-4244.
I saw them out there a couple weeks ago. All I could do is laugh.
