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What Would Jefferson Say?
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<blockquote data-quote="wkmac" data-source="post: 846540" data-attributes="member: 2189"><p>In April 2008 on Jefferson's Birthday, a group of about 20 folks at midnight went to the Jefferson Memorial to celebrate the birthday of TJ. The memorial is open 24/7 and at midnight, the place is typically vacant as it was that night. Each member of the group had their own ipod and earphones so noise was not a factor and at midnight they started to dance around the memorial. At some point a park service officer asked the group to leave, that authority was questioned and it went downhill from there. One of the group, Brooke Oberwetter was arrested and thus the saga began. All charges were later dropped against Oberwetter but she sued in Federal Court for false arrest and the courts dismissed the case. The final ruling that terminated the case was earlier this year and thus new action you see taking place.</p><p></p><p>I don't know this for sure but I would think that with the original group some thought had to have been given to the fact that a confrontation would come about. Whether that was the intent I can't say and I'm sure there will be those here who will draw that conclusion regardless and I may or may not join them. I guess the real question would be, why someone, even if it looks ridiculous, would be prevented from dancing in public when in the case of the midnight group and not a soul other than them was there, no one or nothing was harmed or disrupted by someone dancing. I know it's easy to blame the officer but did he even have any authority to think and consider alternative ways of handling this or is it like any other topdown power hierarchy and officers are told it will be like this and nothing else. Not knowing the full operational methods of the officer, the best approach would have been to make sure no one or nothing was harmed and let the midnight dancers have their fun. If the group was out for a confrontation, they'd get no satisfaction and thus depart and likely not return. If the object was to just dance, again they'd be left happy and the officer could smile, thank them for coming and wish them a wonderful evening. Geez, where do you go with that?</p><p></p><p>No I don't believe this is only about doing disco for TJ but it's about challenging power and authority and it comes down to a simple question of, What kind of country do we really have when you can't dance in public? When people were dancing out in front of the White House when OBL was killed, why was that allowed? Or what if a large group of people had gathered in Washington Mall to dance when GW announced "Mission Accomplished?" Barrack Obama being elected? If Obama is defeated in 2012' will dancing be allowed then as I'm sure many here will want to shake a leg? So dancing is only allowed when it serves a State purpose? In history, I wonder what other nationstates and leaders only allowed dancing and celebration when it only served State purposes?</p><p></p><p><span style="color: red"><a href="http://dcist.com/2008/04/14/woman_arrested.php" target="_blank">Here's</a></span> a link and some vids of the original event and you are free to decide for yourself.</p><p></p><p>Tourist, To my knowledge, no one was arrested this past Saturday as the Park Service just closed the memorial and cleared the area. As I understand it, everyone complied with those instructions from the Park Service officers. As to the arrests from the previous dance party, all were later released and no charges filed as I understand it. Venture to say this isn't over yet!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="wkmac, post: 846540, member: 2189"] In April 2008 on Jefferson's Birthday, a group of about 20 folks at midnight went to the Jefferson Memorial to celebrate the birthday of TJ. The memorial is open 24/7 and at midnight, the place is typically vacant as it was that night. Each member of the group had their own ipod and earphones so noise was not a factor and at midnight they started to dance around the memorial. At some point a park service officer asked the group to leave, that authority was questioned and it went downhill from there. One of the group, Brooke Oberwetter was arrested and thus the saga began. All charges were later dropped against Oberwetter but she sued in Federal Court for false arrest and the courts dismissed the case. The final ruling that terminated the case was earlier this year and thus new action you see taking place. I don't know this for sure but I would think that with the original group some thought had to have been given to the fact that a confrontation would come about. Whether that was the intent I can't say and I'm sure there will be those here who will draw that conclusion regardless and I may or may not join them. I guess the real question would be, why someone, even if it looks ridiculous, would be prevented from dancing in public when in the case of the midnight group and not a soul other than them was there, no one or nothing was harmed or disrupted by someone dancing. I know it's easy to blame the officer but did he even have any authority to think and consider alternative ways of handling this or is it like any other topdown power hierarchy and officers are told it will be like this and nothing else. Not knowing the full operational methods of the officer, the best approach would have been to make sure no one or nothing was harmed and let the midnight dancers have their fun. If the group was out for a confrontation, they'd get no satisfaction and thus depart and likely not return. If the object was to just dance, again they'd be left happy and the officer could smile, thank them for coming and wish them a wonderful evening. Geez, where do you go with that? No I don't believe this is only about doing disco for TJ but it's about challenging power and authority and it comes down to a simple question of, What kind of country do we really have when you can't dance in public? When people were dancing out in front of the White House when OBL was killed, why was that allowed? Or what if a large group of people had gathered in Washington Mall to dance when GW announced "Mission Accomplished?" Barrack Obama being elected? If Obama is defeated in 2012' will dancing be allowed then as I'm sure many here will want to shake a leg? So dancing is only allowed when it serves a State purpose? In history, I wonder what other nationstates and leaders only allowed dancing and celebration when it only served State purposes? [COLOR=red][URL="http://dcist.com/2008/04/14/woman_arrested.php"]Here's[/URL][/COLOR] a link and some vids of the original event and you are free to decide for yourself. Tourist, To my knowledge, no one was arrested this past Saturday as the Park Service just closed the memorial and cleared the area. As I understand it, everyone complied with those instructions from the Park Service officers. As to the arrests from the previous dance party, all were later released and no charges filed as I understand it. Venture to say this isn't over yet! [/QUOTE]
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