From: "Robert G Lewis" 

I'm not defending this action but it probably is  legal. A Mall is private
property and by refusing to leave he could be subject to trespassing laws.
Personally if I lived close I think I'd start visiting the mall daily, with
friends, wearing the T Shirts or some other sign.

Which seems to be going on
http://www.msnbc.com/local/WNYT/M276307.asp?0cv=NB10

       A Macy's employee saw the men in the food court and alerted security.


I think I'd spend a LOT of time in Macy's

Bob Lewis


"Richard Gauszka"  wrote in
message news:3e66476b{at}w3.nls.net...
> If all the facts in this story are true we have a serious problem with
> personal freedom in this country.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> -------
> Man arrested for 'peace' T-shirt
>
> Tuesday, March 4, 2003 Posted: 9:52 PM EST (0252 GMT)
>
> NEW YORK (Reuters) -- A lawyer was arrested late Monday and charged with
> trespassing at a public mall in the state of New York after refusing to
take
> off a T-shirt advocating peace that he had just purchased at the mall.
>
> According to the criminal complaint filed Monday, Stephen Downs was
wearing
> a T-shirt bearing the words "Give Peace A Chance" that he had just
purchased
> from a vendor inside the Crossgates Mall in Guilderland, New York, near
> Albany.
>
> "I was in the food court with my son when I was confronted by two security
> guards and ordered to either take off the T-shirt or leave the mall," said
> Downs.
>
> When Downs refused the security officers' orders, police from the town of
> Guilderland were called and he was arrested and taken away in handcuffs,
> charged with trespassing "in that he knowingly enter(ed) or remain(ed)
> unlawfully upon premises," the complaint read.
>
> Downs said police tried to convince him he was wrong in his actions by
> refusing to remove the T-shirt because the mall "was like a private house
> and that I was acting poorly.
>
> "I told them the analogy was not good and I was then hauled off to night
> court where I was arraigned after pleading not guilty and released on my
own
> recognizance," Downs told Reuters in a telephone interview.
>
> Downs is the director of the Albany Office of the state Commission on
> Judicial Conduct, which investigates complaints of misconduct against
judges
> and can admonish, censure or remove judges found to have engaged in
> misconduct.
>
> Calls to the Guilderland police and district attorney, Anthony Cardona and
> to officials at the mall were not returned for comment.
>
> Downs is due back in court for a hearing on March 17.
>
> He could face up to a year in prison if convicted.
>
>
>
>

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-4