Wie berichtet (Brattleboro stimmt über Verhaftung von George Bush und Dick Cheney ab) hat Brattleboro nun am 4. März über die Anklage von Bush und Cheney abgestimmt.
“BRATTLEBORO — Brattleboro residents will vote at town meeting on whether President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney should be indicted and arrested for war crimes, perjury or obstruction of justice if they ever step foot in Vermont.
George Bush droht in Vermont die Verhaftung
WASHINGTON. Den nördlichen US-Bundesstaat Vermont sollten Präsident George W. Bush und sein Vize Dick Cheney besser nicht besuchen: Dort droht ihnen die Verhaftung wegen „Verbrechen gegen die Verfassung“.Die rund 13.000 Bürger der Gemeinden Brattleboro und Marlboro sprachen sich in einem Volksentscheid für ein Gesetz aus, das eine Festnahme der Politiker wegen „Verbrechen gegen die Verfassung“ anordnet.
Das für seinen Ahornsirup und die idyllischen Berglandschaften bekannte Vermont pflegt seit langem eine ungewöhnlich liberale Politik. Bush hat den Bundesstaat als Präsident noch nie besucht.
Bericht von Nachrichten.At
“The Brattleboro Town Attorney has stated that the petition has no legal standing, as the Town Attorney has no authority to write an indictment and the Town Police Department has no authority to attempt an arrest of the President of the United States.” (http://www.brattleboro.org/)]
Hier nun der Bericht vom Rutland Harald über den Wahlausgang:
Brattleboro votes to indict Bush
March 5, 2008
By Susan Smallheer Herald Staff
Brian Shafford left nothing to the imagination about his thoughts concerning President Bush.
Photo: ALBERT J. MARRO / RUTLAND HERALD
BRATTLEBORO — Residents in this iconoclastic town cast a symbolic protest vote Tuesday, directing town officials to draw up indictment papers against President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for violating their oath of office.The tally was 2,012 in favor to 1,795 against. It was the second southern Vermont town to adopt the anti-Bush resolution on Vermont’s Town Meeting Day, as Marlboro voted earlier in the day 43-25 in favor, with three abstentions.Organizer Kurt Daims of Brattleboro said he was disappointed at the relatively close margin of victory, which came during exceptionally heavy voter turnout during Vermont’s presidential primary.
„It was a very difficult thing for the people of Brattleboro to do. I think it’s brave for Brattleboro to do it. Brattleboro did just fine,“ Daims said.
„But I’m disappointed. I was really hoping and expecting a wider margin,“ he said.
Voters who were questioned after they voted said they recognized it as a protest vote, and a way of registering their frustration with the Bush administration and its controversial policies, most notably the invasion of Iraq.
But Daims and other organizers said they hoped the Brattleboro vote would set an example for other towns and communities across the country to say no to the Bush presidency.
Barry Aleshnik said the group had been contacted by towns across the country, and that a „Brattleboro template“ was being drawn up to be distributed to interested communities.
„We got a letter from south Jersey, saying that ‘Brattleboro will be setting an example, and that it could set off a ripple effect across this angry nation,’“ Aleshnik read.
„We can be proud of Brattleboro for being a model of what needs to be done and what needs to be stated,“ Aleshnik said.
Select Board candidate Jesse Corum, who was a top vote-getter in Tuesday’s election, said he opposed the issue on a variety of reasons, not the least of which was its divisiveness.
„It’s creating a division, and we need to create unity,“ Corum said.
Former state Sen. Nancy Chard, D-Windham, said she voted for the resolution as a protest against the policies of the Bush administration, and out of great frustration with its actions.
„I think people are frustrated and there’s no other way for them to express it,“ Chard said. Last year, Brattleboro town meeting members voted in favor of impeachment of Bush and Cheney, she noted, but nothing came of it.
„We just want to make a statement,“ she said.
In Marlboro, which has the reputation of being the bluest town in the bluest county in the state, Jonathan Morse brought the issue up on the floor of his town’s meeting. It was adopted after a great discussion, he said.
„People took it very seriously, and we had an extended discussion, but there were only 75 voters left,“ said Morse, who said he had contacted Daims ahead of time to get the Brattleboro wording.
Morse said Marlboro adopted the issue as a symbolic gesture.
„We don’t even have a policeman, we have a constable who does not have police powers,“ said Morse, referring to the wording in Brattleboro, which calls for Bush and Cheney’s „arrest“ if they ever step foot in town.
But Morse said people were particularly frustrated with the inaction by U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., who refuses to act on the impeachment issue, despite entreaties by many Vermonters to do so.
„We can’t just sit back and let them destroy our constitution,“ said Morse, noting that under Bush several constitutional rights had been eroded: habeas corpus, the right to due process and the right to privacy in your affairs.
Brattleboro town officials didn’t know what to expect, given the history and the reaction to the indictment resolution.
Town Clerk Annette Cappy said she had asked for more of a police presence at the polls, in case some of the people who wrote to the town last month protesting the issue showed up to lodge their unhappiness.
Brattleboro police took the unusual step of registering the media who appeared at the polls as well. The issue attracted a few out-of-state television stations.
The results drew a protest from Blair Latoff, a spokeswoman from the Republican National Committee, who had been following the issue.
„It appears that the left wing knows no bounds in their willingness to waste taxpayer dollars to make a futile counterproductive partisan political point. Town people would be much better served by elected officials who sought to solve problems rather than create them.“
The Brattleboro Initiative, as its supporters called it, was the brainchild of Daims, who, along with other members of the Brattleboro Peace and Justice Group, were frustrated with the lack of action on the town’s vote to impeach Bush and Cheney.
Daims, who gathered more than 700 signatures in January to put the issue on the town meeting ballot, said it was important for individuals to take a stand for what they believed in, regardless of the size of the town.
The indictment resolution would only go into effect once Bush and Cheney leave office in 2009, according to Daims, and only if the U.S. Congress fails to act to impeach the president and vice president.
Two years ago at town meeting, the town of Newfane became the first Vermont town to take up the issue of impeachment. It was passed overwhelmingly, and a handful of other Vermont towns also took up the matter under „other business“ during their meetings.
In 2007, 40 towns passed resolutions asking Congress to bring impeachment action against Bush and Cheney, but to date Welch has refused to act on the town’s recommendations.
The issue drew attention to the town and its supporters from all over the country, and a film crew from California came to Brattleboro over the weekend to interview people and film the action.
The documentary film crew is making a film with the working title „Mad As Hell,“ and is based on a book written by Vincent Bugliosi, who is known as the prosecuting attorney in the Charles Manson murder case.
The focus of the film is how people act when their government doesn’t, according to film organizers.
And when the indictment resolution first was placed on the ballot and made the conservative Web site „The Drudge Report,“ the town was inundated with thousands of e-mails protesting the Vermont town’s actions, with some claiming it was treasonous.
Contact Susan Smallheer at susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com.
Galleries:
Town Meeting 2008 photo gallery Brattleboro Town Meeting
http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080305/NEWS02/803050425
