Peace coalition claims censorship

Members say marchers forced to drop sign

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

By CHRIS ETHERIDGE

The Register-Mail

GALESBURG - Members of an area anti-war group are claiming harassment after they say they were told not to display certain signs at Monday's Memorial Day parade.

Don Blaheta and Tom Foley, members of the Knox County Peace and Justice Coalition, said a member of the Patriot Guard Riders - another group in the parade - inspected their signs before the parade and told the peace group they could not display a sign with the numbers of Americans killed and wounded in Iraq.

The Patriot Guard Rider, later identified as Chris Brocksmith, Illinois State Ride Captain, said he was simply warning the group that he has heard of instances where people have been injured for carrying signs with words like "dead" on the poster and was trying to protect the group from the same fate. He said no harassment of any kind took place.

Blaheta said Brocksmith gave the Peace and Justice Coalition a "general advisory" not to show disrespect during the parade and told them to remove a sign that listed 2,464 Americans killed in Iraq because "some people" could be offended by it. When the group modified the sign but refused to take it down, the Patriot Guard Riders returned with several members who surrounded the peace group and made them remove the sign, Blaheta said.

But Brocksmith denied coming back to the group with more members of the Patriot Guard Riders and said the peace group voluntarily put the sign away.

Blaheta said the sign - similar in design and wording to one in the group's display last year - was meant to respect and honor the soldiers who have died in Iraq in the past three years. The peace group added the words "we remember" and "never forget" to the sign, but members of the motorcycle group made vague threats of bodily harm and legal action, Blaheta said, so the group removed the sign from its car.

The Patriot Guard Riders is a private, nationwide organization that was formed less than a year ago and is not affiliated with Galesburg's Memorial Day Parade. The Patriot Guard's Web site claims its mission is to honor veterans and shield those in mourning from protesters. The site says the group is non-violent and does not break laws to complete its mission.

"They kept saying 'some people' would get offended," Blaheta said. "But I got the impression that they were the 'some people.' "

Parade organizer Paul Peck said the parade organizers do not inspect signs or tell any group what words they are allowed or not allowed to use on the sign. Peck said he had not heard complaints about either group Monday and people were generally happy with the parade.

Blaheta said the Knox County Peace and Justice Coalition protests the conflict in Iraq in the Galesburg community, but its purpose was not to protest Monday. Signs that the group did carry during the parade said things like "no disrespect, just concern" another had a peace symbol and the word "peace" on it.

Brocksmith said he was not concerned with any of the other signs and offered to put one of the peace signs on his motorcycle. He said he is personally opposed to the war, but that was not the purpose of Monday's parade.

In the future, Brocksmith said he will not make attempts to protect the peace group from harm.

"If they want to get offended by me warning them, next time I'll let them get their (expletive) kicked," he said.

The peace group has used signs similar to the one that was removed in the past - and some in the crowd have frowned - but the group has never received this type of reaction before, Blaheta said. The Patriot Guard Riders did not participate as a group in last year's parade because it had not yet been formed.