Santorum’s People Toss Young Women out of B&N, Trooper Threatens Prison

[GreenPartyVoter]

This is outrageous!!!


On the evening of August 10, Hannah Shaffer of Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, decided to go to the nearby Barnes & Noble outside of Wilmington. She wanted to see Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, who was promoting his book, “It Takes a Family.”

The event was billed as a “book signing and discussion,” Shaffer says.

But discussion was the last thing that the Senator’s people wanted.

Shaffer, her friends, and two other young women were booted out of the store and threatened with imprisonment even before they had a chance to say a word to Santorum, as Al Mascitti first noted in the Delaware News Journal.

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0820-20.htm

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Don't tell me

Let me guess before I read the entire article.

She was wearing an 'offensive' t-shirt?

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Even stupider than that, she told a joke and was overheard by a **bot

[tabasco]

3. Boycott the fucking place.

Most readers are liberals. I wouldn't set foot back in the place.

[Skink]

11. We've had Madeline Albright and Jorge Ramos at ours.

No right wing freaks either although we do give equal time to books from both sides. Colonel David Hackworth did a signing at our store right after 9/11. He along with everyone else assumed we'd go in to Afghanistan with overwhelming force and that would be it.

[Wizard777]

24. No way ! I believe the Asst. Manager. No complaint made to the officer.

That makes this a malicious act under the color of authority. Since he was not acting on a real and legal complaint of trespassing from the store management. That makes the unlawful transportation of the minors out of the store and mall Kidnapping. Since he was an off duty State Police officer. I will be nice and assume that the kinapping of the minors was not for the purpose of molestation or rape. Unless the minors have indicated otherwise. Their parents should file criminal complaints for the kidnaping with Delaware State Police Internal Affairs division.

[SmokingJacket]

4. Hmmm. Barnes and Noble should do better

insofar as protecting free speech. After all, without liberals, they'd be out of business, big time. Outside of the rare tract by Coulter or Sanctorum, freepers don't read.

And hey, arent' they a blue company?

Maybe they need some letters written to them.

[teamster633]

5. Just sent this in reply to one of B&N's weekly spams...

...along with a copy of the article.

To Whom It May Concern,

I just read this article. I would like to hear your response. Unless you can convince me that it is in some way inaccurate, I respectfully request that you take me off your mailing list. Needless to say, whether or not I ever shop at any of your stores in the future hangs in the balance.

A Likely Former Customer


You would think that the people selling books wouldn't want to consort with the people who want to burn them.

[Hekate]

15. That is a great line...

"You would think that the people selling books wouldn't want to consort with the people who want to burn them."

Hekate

[DesEtoiles]

6. Call the Barnes and Noble - Wilmington, Delaware

Tell them to ask their national management to tell Santorum he is no longer welcom in ANY of their stores because he used tax-payer funded security thugs to abuse Barnes & Noble customers and suppres their free speech rights.

[starroute]

7. Shirley & Banister -- that's an interesting connection

According to the article, "Senator Santorum’s office did not provide comment on this story. Robert Traynham, communications director for Santorum, told me to contact the public relations firm that was handling the book tour, Shirley&Banister, in Virginia. Account Supervisor Kevin McVicker at Shirley&Banister failed to return three calls for comment."

And here's a little on Craig Shirley:

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Craig_Shirley

Craig Shirley is the president and CEO of Shirley & Banister Public Affairs. Shirley, a long-time Republican PR man, counts as clients the Heritage Foundation, McDonnell Douglas, the Manhattan Institute, National Rifle Association, the National Taxpayers Union, Nuclear Energy Institute, Washington Times Foundation among others, as of February 2004.

According to Joe Conason, some of Shirley's more notable former clients were "Paula Jones, the Clinton sexual harassment accuser who later modeled for Penthouse; and Gary Aldrich, the retired White House FBI agent whose fabricated tales of Clinton motel trysts and pornographic West Wing Christmas trees made his book a bestseller."

<snip>

In 1988, according to Joe Conason, Craig Shirley was involved in the production of the infamous race-baiting Willie Horton advertisement, which helped finish off Michael Dukakis's campaign. . . . In November 2003 O'Dwyer's PR Daily reported, "Shirley and Banister Public Affairs has been selected to promote Harper Collins' Because Each Life is Precious, the account by Iraqi lawyer Mohammed Odeh al-Rehaief of Pfc. Jessica Lynch's capture and rescue during the Iraq invasion."

<snip>

Shirley's company did public relations work for the anti-Kerry attack movie Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal, and was involved in attempts to squash media coverage of Kitty Kelley's book The Family: The Real Story Of the Bush Dynasty.

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. Things that make you go

"Duh-oh!"

[Liberal In Texas]

8. A few thoughts. BN is by and large a blue company. What the local

managers did probably does not reflect the general position of the company.

They were on private property and if asked to leave, they really have no standing, but must go.

I would wait a few days and then contact the manager of that branch and tell him that their disgraceful behavior will result in me and my friends and family not patronizing their store in the future. A follow-up letter to the BN manager and copied to the BN headquarters might also be be helpful.

[wli]

10. what about picketing the B&N franchise involved? n/t

[Liberal In Texas]

21. Nah...Letters that point out that their bottom line might suffer are far

more effective.

[Rex]

12. Welcome to the real world.

Nazis really do exist and work for Rick "Horsefucker" Santorum. So naive.

[yewberry]

13. It wasn't B&N's decision.

The trooper was not acting as an agent of the company.

"A state policeman, without consulting management, removed the students from the store." (from B&N's spokesperson)

Unfortunately, the article does not state clearly whether the officer was hired as security by B&N or by Santorum's people.

[Skink]

14. At the store I work at we always hire police but we have no control over t

police.

[Mz Pip]

16. This from Arianna's site by a friend of mine

I posted this a couple of nights ago right after Mary sent this to me. It's worth the read.

Mz Pip
:dem:
*******************************************************************
Fellow fans of the U.S. Constitution:

When I began a 21-city book tour to support A Thread of Grace, I was prepared to deal with Holocaust deniers and anti-Semitic skinhead nutjobs who might show up at bookstores to harass me. I figured I could do that without an armed guard, but evidently Senator Rick Santorum isn't as confident that he can handle folks exercising their constitutional rights to free speech and freedom of assembly.

The Republican from Pennsylvania has written a book called It Takes a Family, which outlines his beliefs that women shouldn't work outside the home, that the government should discourage birth control, and that gay marriage will inevitably lead to the legalization of polygamy and bestiality. Evidently Senator Santorum anticipated that his ideas would spark controversy.

For his August 10, 2005 visit to the Barnes and Noble Bookstore in Concord Mall (4801 Concord Pike, Wilmingtom DE 19808), Santorum had Delaware State Police Sgt. Michael DiJiacomo to protect him -- not from skinheads, anti-Semites, and Holocaust deniers -- but from two teenage girls. Although he was off-duty and privately employed by Senator Santorum, Sgt. DiJiacomo was in his state trooper's uniform.

I know one of the girls personally. Miriam Rocek is the daughter of old friends of mine, Dr. Tom Rocek and Dr. Karen Rosenberg -- married, by the way, to each other for 30 heterosexual years without benefit of a constitutional amendment forbidding gay marriage.

The Barnes and Noble event was billed as a book signing and discussion, but the girls were told to leave by "Santorum's private security detail." When they said they hadn't done anything wrong, Sgt. DiJiacomo told them they were under arrest, and took them outside. There, he made them stand for frisking, and while he didn't actually arrest them, he told them they were "banned" from the Barnes and Noble and from Concord mall.

Barnes and Noble's Amanda Winnington, the community relations manager for the store, confirmed that the girls were asked to leave because "Rick Santorum's security team felt they were going to be a security threat." She also confirmed that only customers who had a receipt for Santorum's book were allowed to come near him.

After 5 book tours, I can tell you that nobody is required to buy my books before they dare to approach me. I talk to anyone who cares to listen, and I hope that my presentation persuades them that reading my books will be worth their money and their time.

I am not terribly surprised that Senator Santorum feels his ideas are so indefensible, he needs armed guards to protect him from those whose opinions differ from his own. Bullies always seem to need a group of enforcers to back them up. However, I was amazed that the staff of Barnes and Noble failed to stand up for the rights of their customers, and ALL United States citizens, to assemble at a public event in a public place and ask questions of a public servant who was there to hawk his book like any other author.

This morning, I spoke to the manager of the Delaware store, and she says that the store staff was taken by surprise and deferred to the senator's security team. I pointed out that if Senator Santorum did not wish to be in a public place with other U.S. citizens exercising their constitutional rights, the senator should have been told he could leave. According to the manager, the incident has been discussed within the store, and their district manager has now given instructions that the store staff is never to cede its authority to conduct business in a perfectly legal manner to anyone -- not even pushy off-duty cops in the employ of an author, regardless of that author's day job.

You've got lots of choices for where to buy your books, and I hope you'll take this into account when you decide which bookstore to patronize. I believe B&N owes Miriam Rocek and the other girls an apology, and should formally bring its policies regarding signings into compliance with the U.S. Constitution.

Mary Doria Russell

P.S. If you would like to express your opinions about this incident, feel free to contact:

Barnes and Noble Corporate Headquarters
122 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10011

They don't have an email address, probably to cut down on mail like I hope you'll send.

To read the news article about the Santorum event, go to:
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID...

[GreenPartyVoter]

23. Thanks for sharing that

[peacetalksforall]

17. Is anyone bothered by the ultra partisan and strong arm tactics of

citizen paid state employees acting on behalf of a single politician?

Is anyone bothered that State Troopers acted unilaterally on behalf of two unhappy ladies? On what authority? On what precedent? Was their an agreement with the mall and B & N that a State Trooper action or is this a matter of course? What does the law say? What do any signed contracts say?

Aren't State Troopers supposed to enforce the laws of the roads and highways?

What form of free speech is going to be inhibited and cause threats and removal? What are all those people in B & N writing in their notebooks in the coffee shop? What are two people at one of their coffee or book tables talking about? Should the State Trooper move in if another customer is unhappy with what they heard or read?

What are the limits of threats?

What if the comments had been made by young males of an equivalent age with darker than white skin?

How much power do two little old ladies have? How much power does Santorum have?

Are we paying taxes for equal treatment or not? What are we going to put up with?

Were those girls terrorists?

There are two side to a story?

I think there should be a lawsuit to get the law straightened out if there is anything fuzzy about it.

Is this all just another prissy Santorum story to add to the list? He is certainly a priss. There is nothing magnanimous about that boy-man. Why did he go to a public bookstore in a public mall? Why didn't he go to a church basement or hall?

Evidenly the PR firm arranged for a State Trooper. What does their contract with Santorum and with the State say?

[Hekate]

18. Just read the whole article -- way scary

Takes my breath away just to read it.

Who the hell gave that trooper permission to act like the Gestapo or KGB? And what are the consequences for him? and on up the chain of command?

No wonder the kids were scared to death, with one girl being "hysterical for two days" and another afraid to tell her parents.

Hekate

[damntexdem]

19. I certainly hope that some action will be taken.

And I hope that Barnes and Noble will be more responsible in the future about allowing disreputable types hold events in their stores.

[Wizard777]

20. What does Joe Biden have to say about this Del. state goon for hire?

[dansolo]

22. The trooper should be reprimanded

This is clearly a violation if he acted in this manner while off duty. Complaints should not only be sent to Barnes and Noble, but also to his superiors.

[applegrove]

25. Okay kids - this is war. We now have to shave before we

go to book signings & events. Our legs if we are gals - chinny, chin chins if we are guys. This requires fitting in.

Actually - think of the fun one could have dressing up as a freeper.