Man arrested while seeking signatures for impeachment

A 78-year-old Cherryfield man was arrested in Machias for obstructing a public way while he was collecting signatures on a petition calling for the impeachment of President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Machias police arrested Bill Conway in front of the Machias Post Office on April 25 for obstructing a public way, but Conway maintains that he was not blocking passage on the sidewalk.

Conway says he had a four- or five-foot sign, a table on the sidewalk and a dog, but he estimates that there was still about three feet of space for people to pass by. Before police officer Michael Beal arrived, he was confronted by a "hostile" man and a woman, and the postmistress asked him to move a leg of his table that was on the grass of the post office property, according to Conway. Officer Beal, who was responding to a complaint about a disturbance at the post office, asked Conway to move, which he refused to do. Conway maintains that while being arrested he was "slammed" against the police car door, handcuffed and set down sitting on the handcuffs, which was painful and bruised his wrist. "It was brutal." He was released after posting $40 for bail.

According to Machias Police Chief Grady Dwelley, Conway was asked to move by the officer and refused. He was then arrested for obstructing a public way. Under Maine law, Title 17-A, a person is guilty of the Class E crime "if he unreasonably obstructs the free passage of foot or vehicular traffic on any public way, and refuses to cease or remove the obstruction upon a lawful order to do so given him by a law enforcement officer."

The incident was not the first time Conway had encountered the police while getting the petition signed. About two weeks earlier he had been collecting signatures in the Hannaford's parking lot and was asked to leave by two of the store's employees. He went to a nearby sidewalk, and about 15 minutes later officer Beal arrived and told him he couldn't block the walkway, since his car was on the sidewalk. He moved the car and was told he also had to move his sign and that he should go to the Machias causeway if he wanted to collect signatures.

Conway believes the arrest was politically motivated, as does his attorney, Phil Worden of Northeast Harbor. Worden understands that people could easily pass by Conway on the sidewalk. "As far as I can tell, if girl scouts had been selling cookies, nothing would have happened. It was because of the political content that people called." If there is no blockage of the public way and there is no safety danger, then the charge is a misuse of the statute, says Worden. "It's not grounds for an arrest," he says. "It's called a heckler's veto."

Conway, who worked in Washington, D.C., for the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice for 30 years, says he has held peace vigils in Milbridge and Cherryfield and "never had hostile statements" like he received in Machias. "If you go to Machias to get a petition signed, you better expect people to be complaining," he says.

A bail condition is that he not be within 600 feet of the post office. Conway, though, is not giving up, and on Wednesdays will be on the causeway in Machias, although he says it's not as good a place as the post office for collecting signatures.
A court date has been set for July 2 in Machias District Court.