Demonstrator Ticketed for Yelling
J.T. Scott with his sign and his citation
A member of the Occupy Wall Street movement was cited for violating the city's noise ordinance while standing on the sidewalk in front of the president's house about 5 p.m. today.
Police said that Jeremy "J.T." Scott, 35, was yelling at students walking along the sidewalk and crossing the street as he stood in front of the president's house holding a piece of paper with the word "occupy" handwritten on it. The officer required Scott to move within 50 feet of the crosswalk so he could talk to students without violating the noise ordinance.
"As long as he's quiet, he's fine," said Conway police officer Dillon Mistrille, who issued the ticket.
Scott said he wasn't yelling at students and plans to contest the ticket in court. His court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 3.
"I said hello to a person crossing the street," Scott said as he waited for Mistrille to finish writing the ticket. "They were being bullies and twisting my words" he said of the six officers, including campus police, standing around him.
Scott said he was one of five members of the Occupy movement in Little Rock who came to Conway to demonstrate today. They chained themselves to a sign in front the Bank of America building on Harkrider Road earlier today but otherwise were acting independently around town, he said.
Before moving his demonstration to the president's house about 2:30 p.m., Scott said he was at Ferguson Chapel discussing the Occupy movement and its goals. He said he yelled while he was there and talked about the government "bombing babies" before campus police asked him to leave after about 30 minutes.
Scott said he is an Army veteran and disabled with a back injury. He said he grew up in Conway and has family connections to UCA.
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Quit harassing students trying to get an education to get a career and go get a job Mr. Scott. Complaining to college students won't fix anything. Get a job, work hard, and earn your money instead of asking for handouts.
ot's a shame that this guy is getting ticketed. All he was doing (even IF he was "yelling") was trying to voice his opinion for something he stands for. I would much rather listen to him, than the frat boys running around campus yelling" HEY SO AND SO!!" at the top of their lungs.
Really? I think the time to protest in front of the uca pres house would have been whwn Meadors was around. Did he realize the house has no one living in it?
To the guy with the first comment....Isn't that the whole reason why he is out there? because he can't find a job? I'm sure if it was that easy to find a job, he wouldn't resort to protesting.
Also, the noise ordinance issue here is so bullshit anyways. There is no specific volume of "yelling" in the ordinance that makes it a violation, it is literally just if they think that you are being a problem. So it is left up to the police if they want to give you a citation or not. I bet if Johnny Allison was screaming at kids, the whole police force would be screaming with him.
This guy doesn't look too scary. Give him a break!