Another courageous American whose name will be scrawled on the John O'Neill Wall of Heroes...
Paul J. Nyden, West Virginia Gazette: Nicole Rank, who was working for FEMA in West Virginia, and her husband, Jeff, were removed from the Capitol grounds in handcuffs shortly before Bush's speech. The pair wore T-shirts with the message "Love America, Hate Bush." The Ranks were ticketed for trespassing and released. They have been given summonses to appear in court, Charleston Police Lt. C.A. Vincent said Wednesday.
FEMA spokesman Ross Fredenburg would not say Wednesday whether Nicole
Rank had been fired.
Save the US Constitution, Show Up for Democracy in 2004: Defeat Bush (again!)
http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/2004070734
July 08, 2004
FEMA worker ordered home
Woman, husband wore T-shirts with anti-Bush logo at July Fourth rally
By Paul J. Nyden
Staff Writer
A worker with the Federal Emergency Management Agency who wore an
anti-Bush
T-shirt at the president's July Fourth rally in Charleston has been
sent
home to Texas.
Nicole Rank, who was working for FEMA in West Virginia, and her
husband,
Jeff, were removed from the Capitol grounds in handcuffs shortly before
Bush's speech. The pair wore T-shirts with the message "Love America,
Hate
Bush."
The Ranks were ticketed for trespassing and released. They have been
given
summonses to appear in court, Charleston Police Lt. C.A. Vincent said
Wednesday.
FEMA spokesman Ross Fredenburg would not say Wednesday whether Nicole
Rank
had been fired.
"All we can say is that our federal coordinating officer, Lou Botta,
sent
Nicole home," he said. "We cannot comment further, to protect her
privacy.
Federal privacy laws prevent us from saying anything."
Rank was doing environmental work for FEMA, Fredenburg said. "Nicole
was
deployed here after the Memorial Day flooding. I knew her personally
... We
are reservists and work for intermittent periods of time."
Fredenburg said Jeff Rank did not work for FEMA. He would not say where
in
Texas the Ranks live.
On Sunday, Charleston Police Sgt. R.E. Parsons said Nicole and Jeff
Rank
were in a no-trespassing area and refused to leave.
The White House coordinated the president's visit to the state Capitol.
Organizers described it as a presidential visit, not a political rally.
State and federal funds were used to pay for the presidential visit.
Dozens of people who attended Sunday's event wore pro-Bush T-shirts and
Bush-Cheney campaign buttons, some of which were sold on the Capitol
grounds outside the security screening stations.
U.S. Secret Service officers coordinated security workers, including
West
Virginia State Police, state park officers and Capitol security
officers.
Those who attended Bush's speech were required to have tickets that
were
distributed by various employers in the area and by the office of Rep.
Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.
Those who applied for tickets were required to supply their names,
addresses, birth dates, birthplaces and Social Security numbers.
A two-page document given to ticket holders said they were prohibited
from
bringing certain items to the event, including: weapons,
video-recording
equipment, food, beverages, umbrellas, signs and banners. T-shirts,
political buttons and lapel pins were not on the list of prohibited
items.
Robert Bastress, a West Virginia University law professor who
specializes
in civil liberties, questions whether people like the Ranks can be
legally
prohibited from wearing anti-Bush shirts or buttons.
"Obviously, you have a right to engage in nondisruptive protest," he
said.
"If you were legally there, you cannot be asked to leave because of
whatever message is on a button or a T-shirt or a hat."
He said key questions are "whether the [Bush speech] was a public
forum,
whether you were lawfully there and what was the manner in which you
were
engaging in your expression."
Event organizers could prohibit signs, designating a place where people
could carry signs. "But they can't make those decisions based on what
the
content of any sign says."
Bastress also said it makes no difference whether Sunday's event was an
official presidential visit or a political rally.
"That area was open to anybody who had a ticket," he said. "Once you
were
lawfully in there, you were entitled to even-handed treatment."
To contact staff writer Paul J. Nyden, use e-mail or call 348-5164.