Hi all,
Seems the American secret Service still can't do anything right.
Hey Barry, your secret Service has, in your words, "acted stupidly." (recall
the case of police harassment of Louis gates in cambridge MA).) Do they
really need to kick a group of mostly children out of a park near the
Whitehouse just because you are exiting or entering? This group was properly
permitted to hold this event. Perhaps if your security is so paranoid you
could have used a different entrance?
More proof of how badly we continue to overreact to 911. Heck, I'd say
Bin-Ladin was smiling from beneath his watery grave on this one.
Hey Barry, think maybe you need a new director of your secret Service?
Bob Hachey
Secret Service apologizes for how cancer-stricken youths were treated .
WASHINGTON
The head of the Secret Service apologized for how a group of children
suffering from cancer and their families were treated after they said they
were pushed out of Lafayette Square on Saturday night. Joseph Clancy,
director of the Secret Service, called one of the organizers Monday after
CureFest for Childhood Cancer said that about 700 parents and children were
ordered out of the park in front of the White House for at least two hours.
The move disrupted their plans for a candlelight vigil to raise awareness
and research funding for childhood cancer. Mike Gillette said Clancy called
him Monday and said he was "very sorry," and that the agency "did not handle
the situation well. A spokeswoman for the Secret Service confirmed that
Clancy made the call. According to Gillette, Clancy offered to come to one
of the group's events to apologize in person and offered to have some of the
children come to one of the agency's training facilities in Maryland for a
tour. "He said he would do whatever he could to make up for it," Gillette
said. Nicole Mainor, a spokeswoman for the Secret Service, said Monday that
Clancy did make the call to Gillette. She said she did not know what Clancy
said in the call but that he was aware of the event "because it had such a
big impact on [Lafayette Square] and the cancer group. The incident began
Saturday when many of the group's organizers said they were hurt and
disappointed that the Secret Service and US Park Police, citing security
precautions, virtually shut down what they considered the highlight of their
two-day event. It was the second time that day the group had been asked to
leave the area. "We ended up waiting at the gates for two hours, and they
never let us in," said Natasha Gould, an 11-year-old from Canada who started
a blog after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor this year. "And
to be clear, the entire crowd was half kids. I cried last night in my hotel
room because it was my first CureFest, and I couldn't believe people were
acting like they don't care about children. "Closures of Pennsylvania Avenue
and Lafayette Park on Saturday, September 19, 2015, were performed in
accordance with security protocols for protectee movements in the vicinity
of the White House," said Sergeant Anna Rose, a Park Police spokeswoman, in
an e-mailed statement. "The United States Park Police empathizes with the
organizers and participants of CureFest and appreciates their understanding.
We hope going forward to better communicate with CureFest and other groups
effected by security protocols. Closures of Lafayette Square have occurred
periodically since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and during security
incidents at the White House. In a statement e-mailed late Sunday, Brian
Leary, a spokesman for the Secret Service, said the closures on Pennsylvania
Avenue and Lafayette Square were "put into place based on standard [Secret
Service] protocols prior to protectee movements in the vicinity of the White
House Complex. He added, "The Secret Service would like to express its
regret for not communicating more effectively with this group concerning the
timeline for protectee movements in the vicinity of Lafayette Park.
Organizers, aligned with the Truth 365 grass-roots child-cancer advocacy
program, had obtained the necessary permit a year ago, they said, to hold "A
Night of Golden Lights," in which participants would light about 100
battery-operated candles. Gillette said the incident began Saturday
afternoon when the group was asked to leave the park. "We were told that it
was related to movement from within the White House," he said, recalling the
Saturday incident. The group left the area, and after about 40 minutes, they
were let back onto the grounds, he said. Gillette said a ranger with the
park service had told them earlier in the day that there was a chance that
the president was going to go back out again. "She said, 'We want you to
know that,' " Gillette said. The ranger also told him that "if he uses one
of the different exits, it would not impact your event. But she warned, "you
may be disrupted again," Gillette said. "We were aware of that and we were
prepared for that ... for a temporary disruption. About 7:15 p.m., just as
the group was about to kick off the centerpiece of their event - with music,
speakers and more guests coming from the nearby JW Marriott hotel - they
were told they had to get off the grounds again. "Everything was in perfect
position and we had to leave," Gillette said. "We had families from all over
the country and from different countries. "We were asked to leave the
barricaded area," he said. "They [the Secret Service] didn't say why. The
group complied. Gillette said they waited "and waited and waited" outside
the barricaded area. He said the Secret Service agents on the scene were
"professional and polite. "They couldn't provide us with much information
but kept saying it shouldn't be much longer," Gillette said. He said some
people in the group had close friends and family in the Secret Service, and
after 90 minutes, they started to make calls and found out that the Secret
Service had decided that they would close the park for "however long it took
for the president to return. But as the closure continued, some of the sick
children, fatigued by the wait or the need to receive medication, had to
return to their hotel rooms, organizers said. Others began crying, and some
parents became enraged. Attendees said the group was not allowed access to
personal items they left behind, such as chairs and blankets. Police
officers and agents at the scene told some parents that the closure was
necessary because President Obama had left the White House from an entrance
near the square to address the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's
annual gala. "At first, we were patient. I mean, we're a peaceful community;
we're fighting for kids' lives," said Anthony Stoddard of New Hampshire,
who, after the death of his 5-year-old son, started an initiative to light
public buildings in gold as a show of support for children who have cancer.
"But after about an hour, or hour and a half, it started getting a little
angry, some of the fathers. Some parents considered the park closure
excessive, perhaps driven by the agency's embarrassment over previous
high-profile security lapses. Others read into it signs of a White House
snub of their cause. "I feel like this may be overcompensating for glaring
errors that the Secret Service has made in past years. And again, we
understand the need to keep our president safe. But we think a little
consideration would have gone a long way," Gillette said. "When we get shut
out of the president's front yard, it's just disheartening. The candlelight
vigil came about partly because of the group's inability to persuade the
White House to light up the mansion in gold as a symbol of support for the
cause, as it has done for other causes, organizers said. So they decided to
hold a candlelight vigil of their own. Last year was the first. When the
group was in Lafayette Square last September for their event, they said
someone tried to jump the White House fence earlier that same day but it had
no impact on their activities. "It's ironic our event is interrupted by
routine travel by the president," Gillette said. "Last year, someone jumped
the fence at the White House and we had no problems.
