State of the T-Shirt War: 2 Messages, 2 Ejections

Antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan wasn’t the only one ejected from the House chamber at President Bush’s State of the Union address.

Another woman, wearing a T-shirt that read “Support the Troops -- Defending Our Freedom,” was also forced from the chamber Tuesday night. She turned out to be the wife of a prominent congressman, who was none too happy about the incident.

Rep. C.W. “Bill” Young (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense, summoned Capitol police officers to his office Wednesday.

“They said they made a mistake -- that I violated no rules,” Beverly Young said Wednesday.

Her husband said that he had two lawyers spend the morning researching House rules, and that they “came up with absolutely nothing on which they could base what they did.”

Capitol police said Tuesday night that they removed Sheehan, whose son was a soldier killed in Iraq, because her T-shirt -- reading “2,245 Dead. How many more?” -- violated a prohibition against demonstrations in the House chamber. A misdemeanor charge of unlawful conduct was dropped Wednesday. Beverly Young was not charged.

In a statement Wednesday evening, Capitol Police Chief Terrance W. Gainer said his officers had “made a good-faith, but mistaken, effort to enforce an old unwritten interpretation of the prohibitions about demonstrating in the Capitol.”

“The policy and procedures were too vague,” he said. “The failure to adequately prepare the officers is mine.”

Neither woman should have been confronted about her T-shirt, the statement said.

Rep. Pete Stark (D-Fremont) called for an investigation of the incident, and Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Petaluma), who had invited Sheehan to attend the speech, said, “Since when is free speech conditional on whether you agree with the president?”

As for Sheehan, Beverly Young said, “I don’t like what she stands for.”