UPDATE: 111109: The man arrested for theft and assault at the rally writes letter to the Maui News explaining his actions and denying assault. A previous letter to the Maui News, apparently by the same man, opposes competition in health care and supports “universal single-payer health care”.
UPDATE 102909: Today, Hawaii TEA Party followed up with the Hawaii business agent for the Boilermaker’s Union in Honolulu, Mr. Gary Aycock. The agent related that the Union was unaware of the incident and can neither confirm nor deny whether Mr. Wilson is a member of the Boilermaker’s Union. Mr. Aycock emphasized that the Boilermaker’s Union does not condone violent behavior.
On Friday, October 23rd, Hawaii TEA Party members joined with Maui PTAs, parents, students and teachers to rally against the State Department of Education’s (DoE) furlough of public school teachers in Hawaii for 17 days annually for the next two years. Hawaii TEA Party has joined with others in calling for cuts to the bloated DoE’s central bureaucracy to close state budget gaps instead of furloughing teachers and instead of raising taxes.
Bearing signs with messages lilke “Taxed Enough Already”, “The Answer is Charter Schools”, and “Cut Waste Not Classes”, Hawaii TEA Party members stood with the parents, students and teachers fronting the State Building in Wailuku, Maui.
The peaceful rally, which included a variety of messages and suggested solutions, was attended by many young children who were out of school that day because of the furloughs.
The rally was marred by an agitator who later identified himself to persons at the rally as a member of the Boilermaker’s Union. However, there was no evidence that the agitator was instructed by others to disrupt the rally and he appeared to be acting on his own.
The agitator, identified later by Maui police as Ben Wilson, 31, of Haiku, Maui, took issue with message of the signs reading “Taxed Enough Already” and “Cut Waste Not Classes”. Loudly exclaiming “F***cking Republicans!!” and other epithets, Wilson grabbed the signs and began to make off down the street.
The signs, which were made of heavy wood, belonged to me. I several times called after Wilson asking that he return my personal property. Wilson continued moving away and refused to return the signs. As I notified him that I must call police and place him under citizen arrest for the theft, he returned quickly, and yelled at me “I’m gonna kick your a**!!”. Wilson threw the heavy wooden signs at my feet, cutting my leg through my jeans, and proceeded to jump and down on the signs with both feet.
I advised Wilson he was under citizen’s arrest and stood by until Maui police took him into custody. Based on statements and evidence, police accepted the citizen’s arrest and took Wilson to the station where he was charged with Theft in the Fourth Degree and Assault in the Third Degree.
Wilson was released on $300 bail and later returned to the rally where, after being spoken to by rally participants, he apologized for his actions. I accepted his apology and we parted in peace and forgiveness.
Further details are here and here.
Based on his statements to me, Wilson’s actions were politically motivated, apparently by hatred for messages and people he believed to be Republican and by an attempt to suppress free speech.
As a former Maui police officer, I am familiar with the effects that extreme tension can have on people. As a longtime Hawaii Democrat and union member, I’m sympathetic to the needs and fears of the union rank and file. However, violence and suppression of free speech are counterproductive.
We all agree there are immediate challenges with our economy that must be addressed. Our task is to identify and implement positive solutions together.
That’s why Hawaii TEA Party is working with parents and forward-looking government officials to coordinate community volunteers to staff the public school classrooms on furlough fridays to keep the classrooms open for our students.
Hawaii TEA Party is also calling on all faiths to open for free the doors of their churches, temples, synagogues and other places of worship as a safe place for the students whose public school classrooms cannot be kept open on furlough fridays. Charity is the proper role and task of the faith community and private citizens, not the government. Now is precisely the right time to reaffirm and demonstrate the renewed commitment of the faith community and the citizens to the service of those in need. This is also the right time for the faith community to offer and emphasize the kind of instruction so many now find lacking in the public schools: the foundation of faith and morality that is essential to our mutual success.
Marc Hodges
Hawaii TEA Party.org
808.281.3508
Good job and great site, Marc. I forwarded your blog article to Michelle Malkin at http://michellemalkin.com/. I’m a bit surprised that you consider yourself a Democrat, even though most in the party seem to oppose your 5 pillars of freedom, in actions if not in words..
Aloha Barney,
Thanks for your support and thoughtfulness. As you know, the 5 pillars of human freedom are for everyone and they transcend all labels. As is the nature of truth, some folks take longer than others to realize and accept it and some never will. I am one of those who has been slow to understand these principles, so I’m not discouraged about the many others who do not yet grasp their crucial nature.
I hope to hear more from you on this blog.
Aloha
Marc
Marc,
Wow- so sorry to hear about your union attack!
The way you handled it sure has taught me why it is important once again to know the law, and your legal rights! God Bless America and God Bless you…
Oh, I had wondered what happened when I saw that guy get arrested. Wow, great way to deal with that guy, good thing the police where there after all!
maybe the dude will join us..i couldn’t believe he showed back up..i’m glad he apologized..aloha.
Ignorance is what we fight, along with trying to educate those who have no idea what our great country is founded on, and have no idea how many of US there are nationwide, we will not go away, and we are educating our youth. We await the upcoming elections, in which all will see many have made a mistake in the last election, thats ok , its ok to make a mistake, its not ok to blindly make another. many misunderstand the tea party, and our motives, on freedom our cause stands, on freedom our nation founded. Mr. hodges is a hero to more than many are aware. I am in the mainland at the moment, where i see we are growing tremendously, the light of freedom shines very bright. So many more are standing up without fear, for there is nothing to fear, we are lawfully continuing to move forward. Before anyone opens their mouth, they should READ the constitution, and they will find it is the most noble of all laws, the basis for all freedoms. We will not be socialized, we will be free in heart and mind. This should serve as a lesson to those who would try to take our most basic freedom, the right to free speech, the right to assemble. Onward in solidarity.
Keep up the great work Marc. However, from one former cop to another, watch your back. Mr. Wilson had a letter to the editor in the Maui News on 11-04-09. Apparently he’s not as apologetic as you may think:
“Protest protester explains his actions
At the Furlough Friday demonstration outside the state building on Oct. 23, I got into a heated argument with a TEA Party member which ended in him putting me under citizen’s arrest.
I did not have a chance to talk to reporters, so I would like to explain my side of what happened.
I did not appreciate the far right trying to hijack the demonstration and use it as an opportunity to yell about taxes and supposed government waste, and to assert that charter schools or other privatization schemes would be the answer. It is very important that this nation have strong, well-funded public schools. I emphasize public because public agencies are held accountable to the people, where private companies serve only to make profit.
The money to pay teachers is already there in the state emergency fund, and it is deplorable that Gov. Linda Lingle is trying to force a pay cut on teachers at the expense of our children’s education.
In America, citizens still have the right to free political discourse without the fear of incarceration.
The TEA Party member claimed that I threw signs at him and hit him in the shin. This was not true. The citizen’s arrest was politically motivated and vindictive. We later parted under decent terms.
Ben Wilson
Haiku”