BLUE EARTH, MINN. -- They are only two people, two lonely voices raised on the southern Minnesota prairie, but they are gaining notice -- as much for the novelty of their actions as for the content of their cries.
"This is something you don't normally see in a small town," Mayor Rob Hammond said, sounding both nervous and amused. "This is the first demonstration we've ever had."
Mark Walker Jr., 16, had sat patiently through three meetings with the Blue Earth City Council to obtain a permit to demonstrate his opposition to a war with Iraq. He plans to spend 24 hours this weekend speaking, handing out leaflets and sleeping in a box at a downtown intersection, homeless for a night to dramatize a war's social costs.
City leaders initially demurred, citing a curfew law that requires people under 18 to be off the streets by midnight. But Walker read the curfew law carefully and found that it doesn't apply in cases where young people are out late to exercise rights protected by the U.S. Constitution.
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http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/3610530.html
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/ dave /