Mall being persuaded to drop charges:
(uh, SDAI......for every dyed in the wool war-monger, you'll get several more peace-niks; mark my word. The more you tell us we CAN"T do it, the more we WILL).

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Mall Wants to Drop Peace T-Shirt Charges

By DAMITA CHAMBERS
Associated Press Writer

March 5, 2003, 10:20 PM CST

GUILDERLAND, N.Y. -- 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against Stephen Downs be withdrawn.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.

Earlier Wednesday, about 100 anti-war demonstrators marched through the mall
to protest the arrest. They told a mall manager they would stop only when
charges against the shopper were dropped and when the mall outlined its
policy.

"We just want to know what the policy is and why it's being randomly
enforced," said Erin O'Brien, an organizer of the noontime rally. "It's only
the people in the recent months who have anti-war or peace T-shirts that are
being asked to leave the mall."

A mall spokeswoman did not return repeated calls for comment.

Downs' son, Roger, said dropping the charge would not rectify the arrest.
"My
father feels there's more to this. Crossgates hasn't examined what was wrong
here," he said. "I think he'd like an apology."

He said his father would wait to see how the mall handles the case before
deciding whether to sue.

Stephen Downs, 61, and his son were stopped Monday by mall security guards
and asked to remove their shirts that read "Peace on Earth" and "Give Peace
a
Chance," or leave. Roger Downs, 31, took off his shirt. But his father, a
lawyer with the state Commission on Judicial Conduct and a former Peace
Corps
volunteer, refused.

The guards called police, and he was charged with trespassing and pleaded
innocent.

Tim Kelley, director of Operations for Pyramid Mall management, the mall's
owner, said in a statement that Downs' behavior and clothing was disruptive
to other shoppers.

The men had had the T-shirts made at a mall store and wore them while they
shopped.

Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press