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dan e 1980
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October 7, 2005
Air Passenger Is Grounded Over T-Shirt
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RENO, Nev., Oct. 6 (AP) - A woman was ordered off a Southwest Airlines flight in Reno for wearing a T-shirt with the pictures of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney and an obscene word.
The woman, Lorrie Heasley of Woodland, Wash., said she planned to file a civil rights complaint against the airline over the incident, which occurred Tuesday at Reno-Tahoe International Airport.
Ms. Heasley, 32, said she wore the shirt as a joke and wanted her parents, who are Democrats, to see it when they picked her up at the airport in Portland, Ore. Ms. Heasley, who sells lumber, argued that she had a right to wear it.
"I just thought it was hilarious," Ms. Heasley told The Reno Gazette-Journal. "I have cousins in Iraq and other relatives going to war. Here we are trying to free another country, and I have to get off an airplane - over a T-shirt. That's not freedom."
Marilee McInnis, a spokeswoman for the airline, said the shirt became an issue after several passengers complained as they boarded during a scheduled stop in Reno.
After several conversations with flight attendants, Ms. Heasley agreed to cover the word with a sweatshirt. When the sweatshirt slipped while she was trying to sleep, she was ordered to wear her T-shirt inside-out or leave. She and husband, Ron, chose to leave.
Ms. McInnis said Southwest rules allowed the airline to deny boarding to anyone whose clothing was "lewd, obscene or patently offensive."
Allen Lichtenstein, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union in Las Vegas, said Ms. Heasley's shirt was protected political speech under the Constitution. The real issue, Mr. Lichtenstein said, is that the airline allowed her to wear the shirt onboard and then objected only when passengers complained.
The flight originated in Los Angeles before making the stop in Reno. No one from Southwest complained about the shirt at Los Angeles International Airport, and neither the pilot nor crew members objected when she boarded the aircraft, Ms. Heasley said.
Ms. Heasley said she had been in touch with A.C.L.U. lawyers in Seattle and wanted Southwest to reimburse her for the last leg of their trip.
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wow! it's just like being in grade school.
Air Passenger Is Grounded Over T-Shirt
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RENO, Nev., Oct. 6 (AP) - A woman was ordered off a Southwest Airlines flight in Reno for wearing a T-shirt with the pictures of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney and an obscene word.
The woman, Lorrie Heasley of Woodland, Wash., said she planned to file a civil rights complaint against the airline over the incident, which occurred Tuesday at Reno-Tahoe International Airport.
Ms. Heasley, 32, said she wore the shirt as a joke and wanted her parents, who are Democrats, to see it when they picked her up at the airport in Portland, Ore. Ms. Heasley, who sells lumber, argued that she had a right to wear it.
"I just thought it was hilarious," Ms. Heasley told The Reno Gazette-Journal. "I have cousins in Iraq and other relatives going to war. Here we are trying to free another country, and I have to get off an airplane - over a T-shirt. That's not freedom."
Marilee McInnis, a spokeswoman for the airline, said the shirt became an issue after several passengers complained as they boarded during a scheduled stop in Reno.
After several conversations with flight attendants, Ms. Heasley agreed to cover the word with a sweatshirt. When the sweatshirt slipped while she was trying to sleep, she was ordered to wear her T-shirt inside-out or leave. She and husband, Ron, chose to leave.
Ms. McInnis said Southwest rules allowed the airline to deny boarding to anyone whose clothing was "lewd, obscene or patently offensive."
Allen Lichtenstein, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union in Las Vegas, said Ms. Heasley's shirt was protected political speech under the Constitution. The real issue, Mr. Lichtenstein said, is that the airline allowed her to wear the shirt onboard and then objected only when passengers complained.
The flight originated in Los Angeles before making the stop in Reno. No one from Southwest complained about the shirt at Los Angeles International Airport, and neither the pilot nor crew members objected when she boarded the aircraft, Ms. Heasley said.
Ms. Heasley said she had been in touch with A.C.L.U. lawyers in Seattle and wanted Southwest to reimburse her for the last leg of their trip.
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wow! it's just like being in grade school.