Kathlyn StoneKathlyn Stone -- World News Trust
Sept. 12, 2006
A jury trial has been scheduled for Minnesotans Bob Heberle, 71, St. Anthony, and Roger Cuthbertson, 67, of Shoreview, for their actions during a protest of a June 26 Republican fundraising party headlined by Vice President Dick Cheney.
Cheney spoke at the private fundraiser for Michele Bachmann, a state senator and candidate for the 6th District Congressional seat. The party was hosted by Karen and William Hawks at their Lake Minnetonka mansion which is outside of the 6th District.
Heberle and Cuthbertson are charged with creating a public nuisance on a watercraft, which carries a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. Part of a 10-member group of boat protestors, the two launched rafts from their pontoon boat and tried to paddle to the shore of Lake Minnetonka to speak to Cheney and voice their opposition to the war on Iraq and other U.S. foreign policies. The men were intercepted by a sheriff's boat, turned over to Secret Service agents, handcuffed, questioned, then transported to the county jail in Mound. At the jail, they were fingerprinted, questioned, held for about two hours, cited and then released.
“We want to speak to Dick Cheney about our objections to the ruinous policies of the current administration,” Cuthbertson said in a written statement issued on the day of the protest.
“We strenuously object to the illegal, immoral, and unnecessary war in Iraq. In the months before the invasion of Iraq, it was Cheney more than any other of the top leaders who pushed for the war. Dick Cheney lied about the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and the means to deliver them. He even went so far as to say that Saddam Hussein had nuclear weapons.
"He lied to the American people about a connection between Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaida. He told us that when we invaded Iraq, we would be welcomed as liberators. Now we have 2,500 dead, and the Iraqi toll is over 100,000. Some welcome!
"Starting an aggressive war is a grievous, impeachable, offense; way more heinous than, say, having a blow job. If we don't say something to stop this war, we are complicit in war crimes, because this war is a monstrous war crime.” (For more on the protest, go to visit Cuthbertson’s web site: www.beans4peace.org)
The trial is set for 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct 12, at the Ridgedale Division of Hennepin County District Court, 12601 Ridgedale Drive, Suite 300, Minnetonka. Cuthbertson and Heberle encouraged supporters and interested observers to attend.
Cuthbertson led another boat protest on Lake Minnetonka Aug. 22 when Bush came to Minnesota to fundraise for Bachmann. There were no arrests.
Heberle and Cuthbertson launched two rafts from this pontoon boat which sat in a bay facing the Hawks' mansion where Vice Preident Dick Cheney was speaking at a fundraiser on Lake Minnetonka June 26. Their case goes to trial Oct. 12.