A man named Sidney Hill, sporting a bushy, white beard and a big sign invoking the impeachment of President Obama, showed up at the Alaska State Fair on Thursday, prepared to engage in a vocal protest.
From video that surfaced on the Internet a day later, it appears he got more than he bargained for.
In the 10-minute clip, Hill, a supporter of fringe presidential candidate Lyndon Larouche, can be seen holding his sign and cheering at the large crowd, "Impeach Obama!" and "Who wants to impeach Obama and save America?"
Two security guards are hovering over his shoulders at the beginning of the video, then one turns to the cameraman and says, "Could you turn that off?"
"Nope," the cameraman replies.
"This is public access!", Hill shouts at the guards. "What are you, deaf? Did you get hit in the head too many times? FREE SPEECH!"
"He's right!" someone jeers. One of the private security employees pulls out a phone. It's not long thereafter that they take action to put the man on the ground.
He screams for onlookers to help, but nobody steps out. The cameraman reminds private security that they're being filmed.
At one point, an unidentified state trooper intervenes on the guards' behalf, trying to keep the crowd away from the two men as they smother the old protester.
Guards later said they found a loaded pistol in the man's possession. While in the video Hill did not once appear to be wielding a weapon, Cmdr. Tom Remaley of the Palmer Police Department told the Mat-Su Frontiersman that Hill admitted he had a loaded weapon on him.
Alaska State Fair marketing director Dean Phipps said the fairgrounds are private property and the fair reserves the right to ask political protesters to leave. Read Full Story
Comment by:
Anthony Zufelt (#031189) Entered on: 2010-08-30 15:33:58
This sort of thing is why physical and visual proof of unity are needed! No one dares act alone! www.unitedforfreeagency.com
Comment by:
Anthony Zufelt (#031189) Entered on: 2010-08-30 15:31:42
Observers at that event should have physically done something to help that man! It is absolutely disgusting to see such a thing happen! At some point, physical action is required against these authoritarian types!
Comment by:
Nathan Barton (#023244) Entered on: 2010-08-29 20:41:52
If THIS means that free speech is dead, then it died a LONG TIME ago. I was arrested and hauled to jail in Huron, South Dakota, at the South Dakota State Fair in 2002 simply for asking why the debate for the US House of Representatives seat at the Fair did not include all three certified candidates and not just the Republican (at the time, the serving state governor) and the Democrat (now the current Representative for South Dakota). I was later convicted of "disobeying the instructions of a state employee" (a city cop hired by the state fair board for security duties at the fair) and my sons were evicted from the fairgrounds even though we had a paid booth. If free speech is dead in Alaska in 2010, it was dead in the Lower 48 at least eight years ago.
Comment by:
Powell Gammill (#013871) Entered on: 2010-08-29 07:34:46
