AUGUST 14 . 2004 • Q-NOTES
National
23
Pride Parade faces smelly predicament
Protesting farmer dumps tons of
cow manure along parade route in
rural Arkansas
by Mark Johnson
CONWAY, Ark. — An Arkansas farmer
in the tiny town of Conway says he was
exercising his constitutional right to free
The town of Conway, Aric., gof a stinky
surprise when a farmer 'protesting' a gay
pride parade dumped three tons of horse,
cow and pig manure along the route of
the event.
speech when he dropped three tons of
horse, cow and pig manure along the rpute
of the community’s first gay rights parade
June 27.
Wesley Bono, 35, pleaded innocent
Aug. 2 to dumping manure on the parade
route and in front of the home of a couple
who organized the pride weekend.
Bono told the judge that he was "exer
cising his constitutional right to free
speech.”
Outside the coupt Bono expanded on
what, he sees as a civil rights issue.
“Under the First Amendment,- a man is
allowed to protest. That’s what
I was doing,” Bono told KATV.
“I didn’t do it as a hate crime or
any crime at all.”
But Brian Chase, a staff
attorney for Lambda Legal, dis
agreed; “In the first place, he
didn’t spread [the manure]
along the street, he also target
ed a local home. Spreading it
on a public road is one thing,
targeting a specific house is
another.
“The First Amendment
doesn’t allow you to do what
ever you want," added Chase.
“It allows you to say whatever
you want. He’s not' free to
waste thousands of tax dollars by dumping
refuse all over the street.”
His trial is set for Sept. 16. If convicted,
he could be sentenced to perform commu
nity service and pay for the cleanup.
Conway officials have not said how much
it cost them to clean up the mess.
City crews worked for hours removing
the manure. Once the streets were
cleared and hosed down, about 275 par-
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ticipants in the town of 26,000 continued
their march.
Two radio disc jockeys, Phillip Beard
and Christine Brown, were also at the
parade, making fun of the marchers by
handing out gay pornography. The stunt
backfired when a 16-year-old boy told
authorities that Beard, dressed only in a
skimpy black swimsuit, gave him a DVD of
gay porn.
The two radio personalities were
charged with two counts of possessing and
giving away obscene materials to minors.
KABZ-FM cancelled their show, and they
now face up to five years in prison and
. $2,000 fines if convicted.
Prosecutor H.G. Foster said he doubted
Brown or Beard would do time.
“This is an important case, but it’s
mostly important as a societal statement,”
Foster said in a quote published by the
Associated Press. “There are very few who
would disagree that when it comes to dis
tribution of explicit materials, generally as
a society, we think that’s unacceptable.”
But Chase said that Foster’s remarks
■show that these cases “are not being taken
as seriously as they should.
“if gay people did that, they would be
prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,”
Chase said, “Especially in Arkansas.”
—Wire services contributed to this report
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