Bush protester acquitted
By SCOTT BROOKS
Union Leader Correspondent
NASHUA ? A former state representative was acquitted yesterday in a case that tested the police?s authority to remove protesters during a Presidential visit.
A judge ruled that Nashua police acted unlawfully when they arrested 83-year-old Betty Hall of Brookline for refusing to back away while protesting President Bush?s last trip to the city in March.
Police physically carried her into a squad car after repeatedly pleading with her to leave the designated ?safety zone,? where Hall sat on a portable stool and propped up a sign reading ?Bush is bad for America.?
Before the President?s motorcade arrived, she was hauled to the Hudson Police Station and charged with disorderly conduct.
Judge Clifford Kinghorn said he could not find Hall guilty because she had not substantially interfered with the police?s traffic and pedestrian management efforts, as the state?s criminal code requires for a conviction.
Hall, who had earlier defined her case as a matter of civil rights, called the judge?s decision an affirmation of her right to speak freely.
?I still live in a free country and a free state,? Hall said after the ruling.
The case comes just days before Bush?s expected return to Nashua. Bush is scheduled to campaign Monday at Nashua High School North, where he will be joined by his wife and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
As usual, police are expecting a healthy gathering of protesters.
Deputy Chief Donald Conley of the Nashua Police Department said his officers will enforce the safety zone just as aggressively this time around and will not hesitate to press charges. The difference, he said, will be in the types of charges they press.
?There won?t be any additional state charges forthcoming,? Conley said, ?but there could very well be federal charges as a result of anybody violating the safety zone of the President.?
Conley said the department would work with the U.S. Marshals office or the Secret Service to ensure they have legitimate grounds for arresting disobedient protesters.
Hall hasn?t made up her mind, but it?s likely she?ll be in the thick of it again come Monday, holding a sign for the President to see.
?Chances are excellent that I will,? she said.
The March 25 arrest was a first for Hall, who has a long record of public service in New Hampshire. Hall served 11 terms in the State House and has held several elected positions in Brookline. She is a member of the Hollis-Brookline Cooperative School Board.
Outside the district courthouse, as Hall made her entrance, a pair of supporters displayed signs accusing the police and President Bush of squelching free speech.
Inside, Hall found support from more than two-dozen friends and like-minded activists.
Hall?s attorney, Michael Pignatelli, questioned the officers who arrested Hall about their reasons for asking her to relocate. Hall had already complied twice when officers asked her to move back for her own safety, he said.
But she had her limits, he said, when the officers asked her to get up yet again after she had already settled on the far side of Amherst Street, about 70 feet from Bush?s expected entrance point to the Nashua Community Technical College.
Hall walks with the help of a cane and told the officers it would be hard for her to move again, she testified. In any case, she said, it wasn?t fair.
?I didn?t think it was lawful to make me move,? she told the court. ?I was all by myself. I wasn?t threatening anybody.?
Officer Daniel Mederos said he wanted Hall to move back another 75 or 100 feet, to the limit of the safety zone. But Hall said she didn?t see how Bush could notice them from so far away.
?I just feel our country is going down the wrong road, telling people they can?t stand up for what they believe in,? Hall said, prompting her supporters in the pews to applaud.
Two other protesters were arrested during Bush?s visit: Howard Morse, 73, of Amherst; and Valerie Farrell, 54, of Merrimack. Whereas Hall initially conceded to police requests to move the protesters, Morse and Farrell resisted from the start.
Both are scheduled to face trial in Nashua District Court Sept. 30.
Morse, who came to court yesterday to support Hall, said Kinghorn?s ruling yesterday bodes well for his own case.
He?ll be out of town when the President returns Monday, though.
?I think I made my point,? he said.
Goooo Betty!
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