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Satanica

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http://poststar.com/news/local/rest...cle_6a330ca3-3543-5abe-a3d4-062d1eae60b0.html
Founders of Hands Across New York have held dozens of rallies around the region in recent years, trying to raise awareness of child abuse, the group organizing after a spate of child homicides in the Glens Falls area.

Saturday’s rally in Glens Falls was the first time they had police sent to one of their events. And that police response, along with tickets issued to some of the drivers who honked their horns when passing the event, has resulted in a social media firestorm and questions about what prompted police intervention.

“We’ve done these rallies all over the place and never had a problem before,” said co-organizer Laurie Russell of Glens Falls.

The rally Saturday afternoon and evening on the Ridge Street side of City Park was apparently disturbing customers at Morgan & Co., the upscale eatery at the corner of Ridge and Maple streets. Rebecca Butters, co-owner of the restaurant, said car horns honking bothered diners on the restaurant’s porch.

Butters went to talk to people at the rally at about 5 p.m., an hour into the three-hour event.

The substance of that conversation is disputed. Rally attendees said she asked them to cut the event short or move, but Butters said she asked them to move a bit north to the corner, because her patrons had concerns about noise and people at the rally leaning on their parked cars.
[....]
co-owner Stephen Butters said obscene gestures were made toward the restaurant after the conversation, and rally-goers seemed to make efforts to be louder and to direct noise toward the eatery.

“They were interfering with the operation of our restaurant,” Rebecca Butters said. “After we talked to them, they started harassing us.”

The conversation between Rebecca Butters and rally attendees resulted in one rally organizer coming onto the restaurant porch to talk to staff about the matter, which Butters said she found inappropriate.

A short time later, she said, she called Glens Falls City Attorney Ron Newell, who is her father and one of the owners of the three-story former mansion that houses the restaurant, to ask him to see what was going on.

Newell said he found the rally was “quite animated” and “seemed to be getting a little out of hand.” While he said he supports the protesters’ cause, it seemed they were going out of their way to squeal car tires and honk horns.
[....]
Demonstrators were in the street, and some in vehicles seemed to repeatedly be passing by and hitting their vehicle horns for extended periods of time, Newell said. He walked across Ridge Street to the Glens Falls Police Department to ask for police assistance.

Minutes later, officers who, Russell said, had earlier walked through the rally and expressed no concerns, were directing marchers to stay off the sidewalk or stay in the park, move tables with information on them and stop using a sign that directed passersby to honk their car horns.

A person attending the rally videotaped the discussion between police and rally attendees. At one point, an officer says the rally participants could be charged with disorderly conduct.

“A business owner is complaining there is a disturbance that is disturbing their business; there are people eating out on the porch,” the officer said.

“It’s just funny that a business is more important than child abuse,” one woman quipped during the videotaped discussion.
[....]
“It’s called disorderly conduct. You can walk up and down but you can’t yell or yell at passing motorists. You can speak.”

Officers who were watching the rally from their station next door then began pulling over cars that were honking horns in support, and numerous tickets were issued to the drivers, rally organizers said.

Russell and co-organizer Colleen Lyon said they felt bad for the drivers who were ticketed and talked to them about what happened.

A city bus stop and a high-rise apartment complex are located next to the restaurant. No permits are needed for a demonstration at the park, although Russell said she asked at City Hall beforehand to make sure.

It is illegal to honk a vehicle horn for a purpose other than a traffic “danger.”

Acting Glens Falls Police Chief Tony Lydon said officers received numerous complaints about noise, people in the street and obscene gestures, and those at the rally had to be asked to stay out of the street and off the sidewalk a couple of times.

Tickets were also issued to drivers whose horn use was deemed “excessive,”
[....]
Among the people attending the rally were siblings and other family members of two children who died in Glens Falls homicide cases in recent years, Russell said. It was a slap in their faces to call police, she said.

“How do you tell a child like that that they can’t ask someone to honk their horn for support?” Russell said.

The repercussions for Morgan & Co. continued Tuesday.

Stephen Butters said the restaurant’s Facebook page received a number of angry messages and “reviews” from people after Hands Across New York posted information about the interaction at the rally. The criticism is unfair, as the business makes plenty of charitable donations to local organizations, Rebecca Butters said.

“We are being cyberbullied by an antibullying group. They are saying we don’t care about child abuse, which isn’t true,” Mr. Butters said. “They have a right to have a peaceful demonstration, but they can’t interfere with our business.”
 
A peaceful gathering does not disturb the whole town and a peaceful gathering is respectful when asked to tone it down. We all have to co-exist and your group is not any more important than the businesses that are there daily.

You can do things in a more quiet and respectful way to honor children that have been harmed by child abuse or murder.

Now you come across as bullying, has that helped you at all? I think not.
 
Unfortunately, representing a cause as noble as child abuse awareness can make people feel a little too self-important and justified in what would normally be abusive behavior.

I hope the town rallies around the restaurant, and I hope the awareness group makes the attempt to avoid businesses in the future.
 
A short time later, she said, she called Glens Falls City Attorney Ron Newell, who is her father and one of the owners of the three-story former mansion that houses the restaurant, to ask him to see what was going on.

Every one should have their daddy in town office so life goes your way.
 
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