Why don't we EVER hear about republicans/conservatives pulling shit like this?
www.mlive.com/news/sanews/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1097590927324980.xmlInstead of parade, Caro man ends up in jail
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
JOE SNAPPER
THE SAGINAW NEWS
CARO -- Prosecutors say a 70-year-old man fought police tooth and nail to get his gory political float into a weekend pumpkin parade here.
The float featured a 5-foot effigy of President George W. Bush impaled by a "bloody trident spear" and a magnetic sign insulting "Little Dick Cheney," the vice president, Caro village police said.
"We try to keep this a family event," Sgt. Dale Stevenson said of the 170-float parade, adding of the man: "He's a (hard-core) Democratic supporter."
Tuscola County Magistrate Steven Sattler arraigned Charles R. Van Allen, 70, of Caro on three counts of resisting and obstructing a police officer. Van Allen remained jailed Monday on a $2,500 cash or surety bond.
Stevenson said Van Allen drove his black sport utility vehicle into the line for the Tuscola County Pumpkin Festival Parade without permission Sunday near Sheridan and Quinn.
When festival officials asked him to leave, the man said "he was going to be in the parade anyway and they couldn't stop him," police said in a statement.
A "full-bodied caricature" of Bush stood in the truck's bed, an arrow stuck in its head, police said. A Kerry-Edwards sign hung off the truck's rear.
"It was a Halloween prop," Stevenson said of the Bush effigy. "The blood kind of moves inside the spear."
He said the float had "a vulgar nature" and added, "There were kids from a local church in the next float."
A Caro police officer responded about 2:30 p.m. to parade officials' concerns and told Van Allen to leave the parade line.
Van Allen, whom police described as six feet tall and 350 pounds, started cursing and then reached out his window and "backhanded" the officer, Stevenson said.
When Van Allen got out of the truck, it took three police officers to subdue the combative senior, Stevenson said.
"He basically attempted to bite and thrash or punch everyone," he said.
None of the injuries required medical treatment, he said.