Fox News pet rock debunked by sheriff

[SoxFan]

Fox has been trying to say that Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter booted a guy out of her town meeting last weekendfor political reasons; the law enforcement officer on the scene begs to differ with the "fair and balanced" spin.

From James Pindell at NH Political Report:

A police officer involved with Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter's highly publicized town hall meeting last weekend released a statement today saying the man removed from the event was repeatedly warned and that Shea-Porter had nothing to do with him being removed.

All week Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter has come under criticism about her town hall meetings on Saturday. At the Manchester meeting Carl Tomanelli, a former New York City police officer and current Londonderry resident, was thrown out. The moment was captured on video and has been played over 50,000 times on YouTube and nearly everyday since on YouTube. This morning the Union Leader's John DiStaso called Tomanelli "a cult hero of the right."

Lieutenant William Barry of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office released the following statement:

I was at the town hall meeting on August 29, 2009 that was held in Manchester N.H. at the federal building. I was there working in the capacity of helping out with security for the Federal Protection Service. I arrived at the federal building at approximately 10:15am. I was told that the people who would attend the meeting were already screened and were upstairs in the meeting room. I was told that the first 100 people that were in line were allowed access. I was also told that raffle tickets were given out and that numbers would be drawn randomly for people to ask questions.

I went to the room where the event was going to be held at approximately 10:30am. I noticed one person who was arguing with several people accusing them of not being from the district or that they were from another state. At this time an agent for the Federal Protection Service told the audience how the event was going to be held. He told them to be respectful and allow people to ask their questions and make their statements. He also told them that they would be asked to leave if they became disruptive. He explained to them that people were going to be drawn randomly to ask questions.

The meeting started at approximately 11:05am. Towards the end of the meeting, Mr. Carl Tomanelli was escorted out of the meeting. Mr. Tomanelli was very disruptive throughout the meeting and was told repeatedly to quiet down. He continuously interrupted people who were asking questions or making statements that he didn’t agree with. At no time did Representative Shea-Porter advise an officer to escort Mr. Tomanelli from the building.

Link (registration req'd) http://www.nhpoliticalreport.com/component/content/article/547-police-lt-says-shea-porter-had-nothing-to-do-with-tomanelli-being-removed-from-town-hall

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. I thought this was going to be an Onion spoof on the petrified wood moon rock.

:shrug:

[SoxFan]

2. The Onion has nothing on some of these town hall people