Thursday, July 15, 2004

Notorius T-Shirt Terrorists Set Free

About a million posts ago I wrote about FEMA employee Nicole Rank and her husband Jeff, who were arrested for trespassing because they *gasp* wore anti-Bush t-shirts to a Bush rally. Even though they held tickets to the event, the Ranks were arrested and sent back to Texas.

Well, the Ranks won their day in court:

Jeff Rank says he's empowered by the decision. He says, "It reaffirms my belief in our Constitutional rights and it's certainly heartening to find that those are upheld, that the system works." In fact, both say all the controversy was well worth it. Nicole says, "I think we had the right to be where we were and this morning we were proven that we were right in that."

Jeff says he was surprised by all the media coverage and certainly never meant to make an issue of it. "We didn't look to bring it to the forefront. I'm not sorry that we were a focal point for it. I'm not happy about that but I'm not sorry about that, it just is and that's okay. We're willing to accept that in order to uphold our Constitutional rights."

Several supporters joined the Ranks during their hearing. At least two people wore white anti-Bush T-shirts, much like the Ranks did on the 4th of July. Supporter Julian Martin says the two were certainly within their rights. "I'm exercising my support for these brave people for exercising their right to say that they don't like George Bush. You outta be able to say that anywhere, anytime in this country."


Thanks to Luther English for the link.