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August 17, 20043 arrested for crossing police lineDissenters are kept away from the mediaByRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - Many of those who jeered President George W. Bush's visit to Traverse City are old hands at protesting this or that, but many others were newcomers to political rallies. "This is the first time I've ever bothered to demonstrate; I managed to get through the '60s without demonstrating," said Jim Abfalter, of Traverse City. Protesters arrived in the hundreds, perhaps over a thousand, and lined East Front Street and later congregated on Fair Street, east of the Civic Center. They hoped to make enough noise to be heard inside the rally. Blake Ringsmuth, an attorney with a local firm hired by Grand Traverse Democrats to ensure a protest could take place, said demonstrators were kept out of view of the national media. "They moved people back an inordinate distance when the press buses came in," Ringsmuth said. Albert Quick, an attorney monitoring the event for the American Civil Liberties Union, said two protesters who crossed a police line were arrested, followed by an attorney who went to their aid and who also crossed the police line. Otherwise, Quick said police mainly left protesters alone. "We didn't encounter anything that we would call a serious violation of First Amendment rights," Quick said. Many demonstrators reported that they received mostly positive reaction from passers-by and only occasionally met with negative comments. One protester, though, said she was assaulted by a Bush supporter. Pat Nowland, of Traverse City, said she was attacked as she carried a Kerry-Edwards sign while Bush supporters walked to the Civic Center. "He elbowed me, just as hard as he could. I wasn't expecting it," said Nowland, a gray-haired woman who would not disclose her age. Protesters came out for a wide variety of reasons - to protest the war in Iraq, Bush's environmental policies, or to support women's rights to legal abortion. "My son just got back three days ago from Iraq. Ask me how he's going to vote," said Marsha Gillispie, of Traverse City. She said her son spent 16 months in Iraq with the National Guard. First-time protester Jodi Garcia, in a wheelchair because of a leg injury, carried a sign that read, "Texas called: Their idiot is missing." "I think my favorite part of the day was a guy in a very large truck with Texas plates going by and giving us an expletive," Garcia said.
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