Protesters vent by smashing pumpkins
A group of 20-somethings in Ogden smashed President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former CIA director George Tenet, Bush's entire Cabinet from a few years ago and Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey in effigy Tuesday during a protest in front of Ogden's City Hall.
Protesters didn't use life-size dummies to represent the aforementioned people. Instead, they affixed a picture of each to 60 pumpkins and took turns destroying the gourds with explosive force, using three war hammers, which look like something wielded by the Norse god Thor or the Vikings.
The hammers' names? Truth, Justice and Liberty.
Happy Gorder, who organized the protest, painted a black X across her mouth to remind people the protest was a silent one.
"Every protest I went to, people were telling me what they thought," Gorder said.
But for her protest, she wanted people to protest for their own reasons. Using pumpkins, she said, seemed a perfect fit.
So it looked like a routine from the fruit-smashing comedian Gallagher, but without the jokes.
"It's messy, gooey and fun," Gorder said.
Gorder protested Bush's foreign and domestic policies. Tamara Oleson, 33, of Ogden, took a sword to a pumpkin adorned with Godfrey's picture.
"I only do this once a year," Oleson said, as she swung the sword from her wheelchair.
A former meth user, Oleson said Godfrey isn't doing enough in Ogden to get treatment programs for methamphetamine users. She said better programs for teenagers are needed, as well.
Just before dark, local band Juse got started, despite having been denied a noise-ordinance waiver. By the time 16 minutes passed, four Ogden police officers had arrived to tell the band to stop, saying people in the City Council meeting upstairs were having a hard time hearing.
Band members received citations, but the protest was allowed to continue, because Gorder had been granted a permit to protest. By then, however, protesters had begun to clean up and perhaps plan for next year's protest, usually held Nov. 7.
E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com
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