THOMAS v. REAGAN

USDC Cr. No. 84-3552

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
WILLIAM THOMAS                 
           Plaintiff,          
                               
      vs.                                   CA No. 84-3552
                                          Judge Louis Oberdorfer
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, et. al.          Magistrate Arthur Burnett
          Defendants  

PLAINTIFF'S DECLARATION CONCERNING DECEMBER 10. 11 1981,
THE EVOLUTION OF PLAINTIFF'S LARGE SIGNS,
THE PLACEMENT OF LARGE SIGNS IN LAFAYETTE PARK,
AND THE EVENTS SURROUNDING SEPTEMBER 24, 1983

I, William Thomas, plaintiff pro se in the above entitled action, hereby declare, under penalty of perjury, that the following statements are true and correct to the best of my knowledge.

1. On June 3, 1981, I began an expressive action in front of the White House, on the south sidewalk of Pennsylvania Avenue, in Lafayette Park. At that time I had two small cardboard signs. One sign read: "Wanted Wisdom and Honesty," the other sign read "Hypocrisy Stinks."

2. My intent with regard to that action was to communicate my opinion that "moral perfection is impossible for a member of an immoral nation-state," and to "encourage those who understand the meaning of my words to gather at the White House to pray for Peace, Sanity, and an End to War in illustration of the Ideals of non-violence." (Complaint Attachment .)

3. On December 10, 1981, while I was engaged in the same expressive conduct described in paragraphs 1 and 2 (supra), I was taken into custody by Officer Pamela (now Rose-Hay) Jackson and driven by officer Jacqueline Anderson, in a Park Police cruiser, to the U.S. Park Police, District One sub-station, at 1100 Ohio Drive S.W.

4. After being held for some time at the sub-station, I was taken out of the sub-station and driven, by officers Anderson and Jackson, in a Park Police transport vehicle, to, as best I was able to ascertain, the intersection of 30th and Southern Streets, S.E. At that location, and in the very early morning hours, the officers stopped the vehicle, opened the door to the chamber in which I had been locked, and told me to get out.

4. Initially I refused to get out of the vehicle. I observed to the officers that this was not the area in which I had been taken into custody, and that I had no desire to be in the area to which they had brought me. I demanded that the officers return me to Lafayette Park.

5. Officer Anderson told me that I couldn't return to that location because "the president and Mrs. Reagan live there." The officer again ordered me to leave the transport vehicle.

6. I again refused, demanding that I be taken to the N.W. section of the city.

7. Officer Anderson told me that if I didn't get out of her transport vehicle she would call for reenforcements, and have me removed.

8. Officer Anderson later told me that she had been given orders to drive me to a distant location.

Respectfully submitted this _____ day of _________, 1986.

____________________________________
William Thomas, Plaintiff Pro Se
1440 N Street NW, #4l0, DC 20005
(202) 462-3542


Case Listing --- Proposition One ---- Peace Park