campaign staffer clashes with homeless advocate FWD
Tom Boland (wgcp@earthlink.net)
Sun, 11 Oct 1998 22:31:16 -0400
http://detnews.com:80/1998/election/9810/10/10100032.htm
FWD The Detroit [Michigan] News - October 10,1998
FEIGER STAFFER CLASHES WITH PROTESTER
Associated Press
ST. IGNACE -- Members of Geoffrey Fieger's campaign staff clashed with a
demonstrator who shadowed the Democratic gubernatorial candidate during his
bus trip across northern Michigan.
Ron Parton, 34, a self-described advocate for the homeless from Boyne City,
said Fieger aides wrestled a banner away from him Thursday near the state
welcome center just north of the Mackinac Bridge.
June West, spokeswoman for Fieger, confirmed the clash had taken place. She
said Parton was "creating a ruckus" at campaign appearances.
The banner carried the slogan "Protest and fight -- housing is a human
right," Parton said Friday in a telephone interview. A number of tattered,
upside-down U.S. flags were attached.
Parton said he displayed the banner at Fieger events in Petoskey and
Cheboygan. He said campaign workers asked him to remove it, accusing him of
working for Fieger's rival, Gov. John Engler. Parton said he was acting on
his own and didn't support Engler.
Before the Cheboygan rally ended, Parton headed for Sault Ste. Marie,
Fieger's next destination. He said he raised the banner beside Interstate
75 adjacent to the welcome center parking lot.
A short time later, Fieger's bus arrived. Parton said two staffers got out,
snatched the banner and raced for the bus. He said he caught up with them
on the bus steps, grabbed one end of the banner "and we're having the tug
of war of our lifetime."
The Fieger aides finally yanked the banner away, Parton said.
State and local police and Mackinac County sheriff's deputies showed up.
Parton said he wanted to file charges but the officers wouldn't get
involved.
"I should not be personally violated, nor should my property be stolen,"
Parton said.
West said Fieger staffers took the banner because they believed it
desecrated the American flag.
"The police arrived to get this guy under control," she said.
State police trooper Mike Johnson of the St. Ignace post said no charges
were warranted and the case was closed.
"It's not legal for (Parton) to place those type of signs on the state
highway right-of-way, and if you do and they turn up missing that's just
how it is," Johnson said.
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