] GUILDERLAND, N.Y. -- A fired mall security guard has some
] unlikely supporters - peace protesters.
]
] Robert Williams was fired from his job at a suburban
] Albany mall following the arrest of an anti-war
] protester.
]
] Williams told lawyer Stephen Downs to take off a T-shirt
] that read ``Give Peace a Chance.'' Downs, 61, was charged
] with trespassing a week ago after refusing to leave the
] mall or remove the anti-war shirt.
]
] On Sunday, about 100 protesters returned to Crossgates
] mall, urging that Williams be rehired. Downs says there
] was no justification to fire Williams, who was
] professional and polite.
]
] Protest leaders said they met with mall management for
] almost two hours but reached no resolution on their
] demands.
]
] There were no arrests reported in Sunday's peaceful
] protest, monitored by Guilderland police and security
] guards.
]
] A call to Crossgates offices Sunday wasn't immediately
] returned to the Daily Gazette of Schenectady.

Peace Protesters Protest Fireing Of Mall Guard

] Thousands of pupils walked out of classes yesterday in a
] spate of anti-war protests which also saw sacks of
] farmyard manure dumped on the steps of Labour party
] headquarters.
]
] Most teachers turned a blind eye or marked pupils down
] for unauthorised absence, but two sixth-formers were
] suspended in Leeds and three teenagers were arrested in
] Cambridge.
]
] The protests were claimed as a networking triumph by
] organisers, who used telephone trees, texting and email
] to spark hundreds of demonstrations across the country.
]
] Annie Symons, whose daughter Alexandra, 13, was one of a
] crowd of pupils picketing Downing Street, said: "The
] parents' network was buzzing last night but none of us
] knew quite what was going to happen. We're so proud of
] them."
]
] The students included Jacob Hunt Stewart, 14, son of
] junior health minister Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, who was
] one of 350 pupils from Queensbridge school, Birmingham,
] who left classes to join a peace march. Jacob, who was on
] last month's huge rally in London, said: "My dad, as
] health minister, follows the government line, but he
] believes I'm mature enough to make my own decision as to
] whether I want to take part in a protest."

Thousands of pupils in nationwide protest

] For nine and a half years, 38-year-old Robert Williams
] served as a security guard at Crossgates Mall.
]
] On Monday, a shopper refused to leave the mall after he
] was asked to remove a t-shirt. That t-shirt was clad with
] antiwar slogans. The protester, Steve Downs of Selkirk,
] was arrested.
]
] Security guard Robert Williams was on duty and signed the
] formal police complaint. He said mall management told him
] to sign.
]
] But this Friday after completing his shift, Williams was
] fired.

Mall security guard fired

Last week, a high school sophomore wore an AntiWar T-shirt she purchased at a thrift store to school and was suspended for 10-days for refusing to turn it inside out. The 2003 winter home coming queen, an honors student with a 3.8 GPA, posted a message on a teen forum asking for advice regarding her case.

“I am so mad because I am a sophomore and I don’t want to fail ya know?
This really pissed me off. So I am suspended right now and everything.
What do you guys think? I think its b!#%&*!#”

A member of the AntiWar LiveJournal community posted the 16-year olds forum message to the group. In order to understand the reasons why the student was punished so harshly, questions from the community are being emailed to the student. Her unedited answers are published to the thread.

Last month, Bretton Barber, a high school junior in Dearborn Heights, Mich., was sent home for the day for wearing a T-shirt purchased off the Internet with a picture of President Bush and the words "International Terrorist." School officials permitted the 16-year-old student to return to campus the next day.

At the moment, this story has a beginning and middle but it does not have an end.

To learn more, to watch the tale unfold or if you are a LiveJournal member and would like to participate in creating this story, go to the LiveJournal AntiWar Community Thread: http://www.livejournal.com/talkread.bml?journal=antiwar&itemid=634947

Non-LiveJournal members can also participate in the story creation and voice their comments and concerns through a thread made today in the New Digital Reporter’s Journal (blog): http://www.livejournal.com/users/ndr

Student Suspended 10 Days For Anti-War T-Shirt

] DEARBORN -- A Dearborn High School junior was sent home
] from school this week for wearing a T-shirt emblazoned
] with an anti-war message.
]
] Bretton Barber, 16, said he wanted to express his opinion
] Monday when he wore a T-shirt he bought over the Internet
] that shows a picture of President Bush and reads,
] "International Terrorist."
]
] Concerned the shirt could spark tensions in a district
] where more than 50 percent of students are Arab-American,
] school officials told Barber to turn the shirt inside
] out, take it off or go home.
]
] Barber said he decided to go home rather than surrender
] his freedom of expression. He returned to school Tuesday
] without the shirt.

Student gets sent home over his anti-Bush T-shirt - 02/19/03

] The refusal of a man to leave a Pyramid Cos. mall after
] bothering customers not the peace T-shirt he was wearing,
] sparked his arrest, Pyramid executives say.
]
] The arrest Monday at Crossgates Mall in Guilderland, near
] Albany, became a national public relations nightmare for
] Pyramid - an incident tied to peace protests, freedom of
] speech and the looming war in Iraq.

Wrinkle in T-shirt incident disclosed

] The security officer at Crossgates Mall who signed a
] trespassing complaint against a war protester was fired
] Friday.
]
] Robert Williams said he was called into the mall security
] office about four hours into his shift and told he was
] fired because of Monday's incident and for signing the
] complaint against Steve Downs, 60, of Selkirk.
]
] Downs' arrest brought Crossgates national notoriety and
] sparked a protest march against the facility's policies.
] He was arrested for trespassing when mall officials told
] him to leave or remove an anti-war T-shirt he had
] purchased there.
]
] On Wednesday, amid a protest over Downs' arrest,
] officials from Pyramid Management Group, which operates
] the mall, said they would drop the charge against Downs.
]
] Williams, who has worked in security at the mall for more
] than nine years, said he signed the complaint on the
] orders of his boss, assistant director of security Fred
] Tallman. Those orders came after Tallman told the
] Guilderland police officer working the case that he
] (Tallman) was too busy to come to the police station and
] that Williams represented the company and should sign.

'Guard says he lost job in T-shirt flap' - timesunion.com

] GUILDERLAND, N.Y. (AP)--Officials at a mall where a man
] was arrested for refusing to remove an anti-war T-shirt
] asked Wednesday that trespassing charges against him be
] dropped.
]
] Police said managers from Crossgates Mall called and
] asked that the complaint against Stephen Downs be
] withdrawn. Police Chief James Murley said he would
] support the mall's decision.

Mall Wants to Drop Peace T-Shirt Charges

] A man was charged with trespassing in a mall after he
] refused to take off a T-shirt that said "Peace on Earth"
] and "Give peace a chance."
]
]
] Mall security approached Stephen Downs, 61, and his
] 31-year-old son, Roger, on Monday night after they were
] spotted wearing the T-shirts at Crossgates Mall in a
] suburb of Albany, the men said.
]
]
] The two said they were asked to remove the shirts made at
] a store there, or leave the mall. They refused.
]
]
] The guards returned with a police officer who repeated
] the ultimatum. The son took his T-shirt off, but the
] father refused.

Newsday.com - Man Arrested for Wearing Peace T-Shirt

] When 50 Cent's LP, Get Rich or Die Tryin', dropped on
] February 6, it was something like the 20th release of his
] career, though the first official album you could find
] from the rapper on the shelves at your favorite record
] store.
]
]
] 50, the latest star to come out of Eminem and Dr. Dre's
] Shady/Aftermath camp, had already found great success in
] the music industry. But not that music industry. The
] other music industry, the one where labels don't exist
] and there are no highly paid Lizzie Grubmans to publicize
] your new release, where the CDs are sold by vendors
] hawking them off dirty blankets on city streets, and
] bootlegging is encouraged. Welcome to the world of
] mixtapes %u2014 artists as big as P. Diddy use mixtapes
] as radio for the streets, and new rappers will do
] anything they can to get on them if they want to make a
] name for themselves.

MTV.com: Mixtapes: The Other Music Industry