Protesters brave the heat

Friday, Aug. 13, 2004 | 9:05 a.m.

John Kerry supporters and/or George Bush despisers came out in droves Thursday morning -- despite the scorching heat -- to protest the U.S. president's speech at the local Carpenter's union.

Organizers passed out water bottles constantly throughout the event, which lasted about four hours, but as the temperature rose 10 degrees throughout the morning, the once-energetic crowd began to peter out.

With sweat dripping from his hair, 20-year-old Vincent Carson was even begging other protesters to take their turn in the hot Hazmat suit the young man was wearing to protest Bush's support of the Yucca Mountain dump.

While Yucca Mountain brought several dozen of the protesters out, most were union members who said they were upset at what they called the Bush administration's anti-labor policies, the outsourcing of American jobs, and the new overtime law that they said hurt American workers.

"We can't afford four more years of this guy," Danny Thompson, executive secretary treasurer of the Nevada AFL-CIO, said.

The Nevada AFL-CIO organized the protest along with the Democratic party and were joined in the protest by political groups Move-On and America Coming Together.

The protesters never got a glimpse of the president, as his entourage took a back way into the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America International Training Center, where he gave a speech, and bypassed the union members and John Kerry supporters lining Gilespie Street just south of McCarran International Airport.

Police estimated the crowd at about 250 to 300 people, but Democratic party leader Jon Summers said his people had counted 1,300 -- well above the 1,000 the party had hoped to get. The crowd grew to 500 or more when the protest hit its peak just before 11 a.m., when Bush began his speech.

Led by bull-horn wielding protesters, the crowd displayed high energy as they chanted together, shouting things like "No more Bush," "Three more months" and "Bush and Cheney have to go."

Most protesters held signs that said "Bush hands off overtime," but others displayed more creativity. One younger protester, Meagan Lewis, a 15-year-old canvaser for America Coming Together, held a sign that was almost bigger than she was and that said "Let's kick this son-of-a-Bush out."

Dozens of police cars blocked most of the protesters away from where some Bush supporters entered and exited the union training center, and about 25 officers initially guarded the area.

As temperatures began to rise, so did tempers in the formerly peaceful crowd.

Just before noon, as temperatures hit 102 and many protesters had been out in the heat for almost four hours, Bush supporters began trickling out of the union facility.

By then, the protesters had dwindled to less than 100 people, but they began to heckle the Bush supporters coming out, and the heckling quickly turned to profanity.

Most of the protesters asked the Bush supporters how they felt being lied to, or, as one man put it, "Bush-ited."

Most of the Bush supporters just waved at the protesters, but a few of the Bush supporters decided to heckle them back, and a few shouting matches turned into minor shoving matches police had to break up. In one fight, a Pro-Bush man shouting "Four more years" had to be protected from Kerry supporters shouting "Three more months."

By then, the number of officers guarding the area had doubled to nearly 50.

No arrests were made, Metro Police Lt. Dave Braden said.

One man, Jose Martinez, shouted "flip-flop" to the protesters. Another, Vietnam veteran Tino Mendoza, held a sign that said he had served a "full tour of duty in Vietnam," referencing Kerry's short term.

Police had to escort some union members to their cars and protected a little girl and her mother after protesters began to shout "Shame on you" at the pair as they were the only Bush supporters left on the street.

For the most part, the Bush supporters said they supported the rights of the Kerry people to protest.

"They're exercising their right to free speech, and that is great," Claire DeJesus said. "That's what makes this country great."