The big issue that I’m hearing about from today’s Ben Cline protest rally in Downtown Staunton has to do with the protective measures put in place by Staunton Police.
One reader emailed us to complain about the streets being closed around the Augusta County Courthouse, suggesting that police did that to mute the impact of the protest.
Caveat to what I’m about to say: I wasn’t able to be there today, because of plans put into motion several weeks ago to get out of town with close friends.
That said, no, I don’t think police were trying to mute the protest.
What I’d say on top of that is: closing the streets around the courthouse is, to me, a smart move, considering what happened at the April 5 rally protesting the Trump/Musk administration.
A magistrate has issued a warrant for criminal reckless driving against a local tow-truck driver who drove by the courthouse at a high rate of speed early in the April 5 rally.
A second incident, involving a man brandishing a weapon from a truck in front of the courthouse, is still in legal limbo.
A witness to the branding incident indicated to me last week that he was going to pursue a criminal complaint in that case.
The only way to prevent bad actors from using street access to threaten rallygoers with vehicles is obvious: you don’t allow vehicular traffic to pass.
I’m with Police Chief Jim Williams on this one.
I don’t think anybody wants a guy in a truck to plow through a crowd, or a guy in a truck to do a drive-by shooting.
If anybody has better ideas for how to protect people who want to protest, drop me a line.
There are lots of legitimate things to complain about; being kept safe by local law enforcement so that we can protest bad government isn’t one of them, to me.
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Chris Graham
