There’s only so much harassment a farmers’ market can take.

That’s what market manager Alan Ward and two vendors were thinking on Wednesday, Feb. 13, when a certain attention-hungry Mexican flag-burner descended in front of the downtown Bank of America building to get on his bullhorn.

When he turned his bullhorn in the direction of the farmers’ market–with some not-so-kind expletives about the bleeping vendors–Ward and two vendors got Martha Stewart on the anti-immigration yahoo with some fabric and a few umbrella poles. 

The trio went to the B of A and blocked him out, using the fabric and poles as a sort of curtain. According to Ward, no one talked to the asshat. They just stood there covering the protester, outside of his little circle.

Then Mr. Asshat began to hit the poles with his bullhorn. This led to a gaggle of Tucson Police Department officers handcuffing him and taking him away in a police car. 

Ward says one of the vendors was asked if they were interested in pressing charges, but she declined. She probably should have pressed charges: Mr. Provocateur responded by unlovingly filing a harassment injunction against Ward on Valentine’s Day. Ward says he was served the papers at his home on Saturday.

“He claims in the injunction that we attempted to steal one of his banners and attempted to tear down his property,” Ward says. “It’s crazy. Now I’m wondering if this were actually approved, what would happen to the market? How would I manage the market if I couldn’t be here?”

Meanwhile, just this afternoon, Mr. Asshat Provocateur sent out his semi-regular e-mail bulletin. In the latest missive, he announced that a Tucson Municipal Court judge has issued an order prohibiting him from protesting near the farmers’ market Never fear: He’s says he’s still planning on being there this Wednesday, Feb. 20 at the B of A building “… rocking and rolling and Burning Mexican Flags.”

He declares his protest is about evil American corporations taking advantage of Mexican labor. If that’s really his POV, then why not burn an American flag and a paper mache doll of George Bush?           

This article appears in Feb 14-20, 2008.

13 replies on “Flag-Burning Asshat Gets Legal With Farmers’ Market”

  1. #1: The Mexican flag-burner, bullhorn-toting guy (who can’t be identified from your link — I assume it’s one of the letter writers, but which one?) is a putz, no doubt about it. A schlamecky. A doinkus.

    #2: Alan Ward and his buddies are morons for attempting to block the guy’s signs. You don’t fight assholes by being an even bigger asshole. You let the guy stand there in all his cockholian glory, exposed to the world for all to shun. What the [bleep] did Alan Ward think he was accomplishing, and didn’t he have a market to run? Moron.

    #3: He hit the poles with his bullhorn, and the police took him away in shackles? What are they going to charge him with: “Violation of city ordinance 3592, No Hitting of Poles With a Bullhorn”? Maybe Anal Wart should be charged for violating the guy’s right to free expression while we’re at it?

    #4: Who cares if the guy burns a Mexican flag? Let him burn all the flags he wants as long as he doesn’t set anything on fire. Let him burn an American flag while he’s at it. Or the flag of Togo. Or Senegal. Or Kyrgyzstan. Or Camaroon. Who cares?

  2. The problem with letting the guy do his thing is that he’s disrupting a completely unrelated activity, every friggin’ week. Let him move to some official speakers’ corner, where people can gather to hear him, or avoid him, but not be subjected to his rants when they’re just trying to buy a tomato. By the way, in the punctuation department, that should be “Mexican-flag burner.” “Mexican flag-burner” describes the guy as a Mexican who burns flags, which I’m sure Mr. Asshat would not appreciate. Poor thing.

  3. Thanks for the grammar check James. You are absolutely correct. And while I didn’t think of this when I wrote the entry, the last time I talked to Mr. You-Know-Who, he confided in me that there is a single ancestor he and his family have identified as – yes – Mexican. I don’t know if this was for my benefit, or just part of his on-going love ’em and hate ’em philosophy. I wonder if that person was here when it was territory or here illegally?

  4. Couldn’t it just be “Mexican flag burner”? I think there is no need for a hyphen here. Can we get a copy editor or an English teacher to weigh in on this?

  6. “The problem with letting the guy do his thing is that he’s disrupting a completely unrelated activity, every friggin’ week.”
    .
    Problem? Yes and no. Is this on public property that allows for free speech? If so, then he’s using what is legally acceptable under the black and white methodology of the law. Common sense is irrelevant here as this is inalienable and protected free speech.
    .
    Kind of smart placement, too: by being a public spectacle around a trafficked area, you’re going to get your message seen, even if it is backwards or misdirected.
    .
    Due to this, the farmer’s market has two — maybe three — options. The first one is to move to a private property location. The second is to enact your free speech rights to override or block Roy Warden by diluting or muting out his message (which was what happened in this case). The third is for the farmer’s market to possibly sue on business grounds that Warden’s actions are harming their profitability. That third one is a weaker option.
    .
    The beauty and curse of the First Amendment is that most every message is protected, which includes what you believe in and what might well repulse you.

  7. Supposedly he offers to the bullhorn to anyone who wants to share an opinion. Why not head down there and talk about aphids eating roses or get Simon Bollinger down there to talk about postal service or aliens. I mean really, where is the Doctress when you need her. He calls his free-speech area the Tucson Weekly Public Forum – but if we took it over and called it the Tucson Weekly (italics here) Public Forum… we can keep the spirit of Project Whitehouse alive.

  8. From the dept of “Don’t give him ideas, Red Star!” we find the possibility that asshat, if he has cojones, will attend tomorrow’s beloved La Fiesta de los Vaqueros parade in his own special way…there’s every indication that The Man is just not in the mood for it.

  11. The guy was down there again today only he parked himself across the street facing the farmer’s market. There were at least three cops standing around. Some guy came up to him and must’ve asjed to “speak” because asshat let him in his little cordeed off area. The light changed before I could hear what the other asshat said.

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