Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Bursey deserves exoneration COREY GARRIOTT GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM The evidence shows the Secret Service probably obstructs protests. Progressive activist Brett Bursey will butt heads in court with the federal government next week. He’s hoping to stop what he thinks is the Secret Service’s pat tern of obstruction. Last October, Bursey and the usual suspects from the Carolina Peace Resource Center set up a protest during President Bush’s speech at the Columbia airport. The protest was the third the . CPRC has scheduled for Bush’s visits to Carolina, he said. At their last two protests, local police tried to corral the protesters into a specified protest zone. “At both of those events we told them no, and they threatened us and then left us alone,” Bursey said. “At both of.those events, the free-speech zone was completely** out of sight.” At Columbia, the Secret Service itself approached Bursey and de manded that he move’, he said. He refused and was arrested. Though South Carolina has dropped the charges, he said, the federal gov ernment will see him August 28 in the federal courthouse at 1845 Assembly St. — and he wants you to come. Bursey makes one good point: while it’s obvious that the presi dent needs to have his physical well-being secured, it’s not at all obvious that his political securi ty should be protected. On the other hand, free-speech zones have been used for about 20 years as a way to control protests. Protesters at Seattle, for instance, let mob hysteria take over their emotions. “They designate protest areas for Democratic presidents, too,” said Adam Shaw, a fifth-year po litical science student who has worked at the Republican party. “Typically, the protest areas are well within viewing ranges from the crowd.” But Columbia’s protest area, said CPRC board’s president Jerry Rudolph, was a half-mile from the speech and not even on the road where onlookers park. The spot he described isn’t even on Airport Boulevard, the main drag into the airport. Bursey said his court case will detail a pattern the Secret Service seems to have followed at similar protests in Michigan and Pennsylvania. He even said he will present testimony from local police who said that the Secret Service instructed them to keep protesters out of sight of the pres ident, rather. If free-speech zones are taken advantage of, and arguably they will inevitably be, then they don’t serve free speech at all. The service ought rather to es tablished restricted zones where no one can go, including Bush’s supporters. After all, those hold ing “South Carolina is Bush Country” signs were allowed in the hangar. Bursey and his protesters seem, suspiciously enough, to have been shunted outside Airport Boulevard because of the content of their signs rather than the fact that they held signs. Corey Garriottisa third-year philosophy and economics student. . PHOTO BY COREY GARR10TT/THE GAMECOCK Above, the Jimmy Doolittle Flight Facility where Bush gave a speech Oct. 21,2002. According to Jerry Rudolph of the Carolina Peace Resource Center, protesters who met across the street were asked to move to a free-speech zone half a mile away, pictured below. Gay marriage is normal, private and shouldn't be regulated CHRISTOPHER HARROP KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGIAN Episcopalian bishop, TV shows renew interest in the issue of sexuality. For many Americans, it has taken a summer filled with Supreme Court rulings, church controversies and celebrity scan . dais to really ponder the issue of sexuality with some depth. Taking only a cursory look, it is obviously a huge issue right now in America, which inevitably leads the federal government to try to get involved. Somewhere between the rift in the Episcopal Church over admit ting a gay bishop and the ratings explosion of such TV shows as “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” exists a renewed interest in sexuality as a serious topic of discussion. For example, there is the peti tion for a Federal Marriage Amendment. The fine folks at the American Family Association have set up www.no gaymarriage. com to petition for an Con stitutional amendment to prevent legal recognition of same-sex marriages. The logic and facts behind many of their arguments are solid. It is true that unwed couples can receive a number of the same ben efits that spouses are entitled to in state-sanctioned marriages. It is also true, proven by survey after survey, that a majority of Americans feel that marriage is traditionally a union between a man and a woman. There still is one question that lingers: Why are people afraid of gay marriage? Many of the amendment’s pro ponents contend that if same-sex marriages are legalized, the sanc tity of traditional marriages will be tarnished. Never mind the notion that these traditional marriages are supposed to be ordained by God and not the state. America does not have a healthy track record in telling its citizens who they can and cannot marry, as with many social issues that have been tackled by the fed eral government. For an issue that’s more often than not listed as a “cornerstone of our society,” people certainly have not shown much interest in upholding the inviolability of mar riage until a minority wants the same rights as those granted to the majority. Maybe it’s a religious thing. Of the many types of families that can be found in the Holy Scripture, it is a bit surprising not to find same-sex couples included. There’s a bit of shock while browsing through Deuteronomy to find that rape victims should settle down with their attackers. Many cite the passages pertain ing to Sodom and Gomorrah to condemn same-sex marriages, but the connections are inapplicable. If I’ve read the Book correctly, they got their comeuppance from God for being rapists and abusive, not simply for being gay. On a legal basis, the American Family Association and their co horts are correct in noting that the right to have a same-sex marriage is not fundamental to our society; however, they neglect rights re lated to the issue, such as freedom of association and the basic hu man right of entering into a civil contract. When the government stays out of our bedrooms, our homes and our places of worship, the government is significantly lim ited in its capability to deny liberties. — THE BIGGEST BACK TO SCHOOL TER SALE Where: Russell House University Union 2nd Floor Lobby When: Ek Mon, Aug. 25 thru Fri. Aug. 29 ||g Time: «ng| 9 AM - 5 PM Sponsor: Russell House University Union