The maverick preacher who sparked an international crisis over plans to burn the Koran has been hit with a £100,000 bill to cover the cost of police security for the stunt.
More than 200 police, including members of a SWAT team, were on duty outside the church in Florida where Jones planned his mass burning of the Holy Book.
The huge security operation was put into place even though Jones called off the burning protest that had been condemned by President Obama and the Vatican.
City officials in Gainesville said they planned to send Jones the security bill.
But Jones, 58, has said he will not pay the police bill.
'If we had known this in advance, then we would have refused to have security,' he said.
The local police bill comes to more than £50,000 and the Sheriff's office has a similar bill from putting almost all of their officers on duty.
Pastor Jones and members of his Dove Outreach Church in Gainesville, Florida, had planned to throw 200 copies of the Islamic holy book on a bonfire on the 9th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on America.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldne ... z100uvGqCo
The cost of his 15 minutes is due
The cost of his 15 minutes is due
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: The cost of his 15 minutes is due
After a lien is placed aginst his church... 
Your collective inability to acknowledge this obvious truth makes you all look like fools.
yrs,
rubato
Re: The cost of his 15 minutes is due
Ha, ha, and ha.
...although, I can't find anything that says he met with that Imam in NYC.
...although, I can't find anything that says he met with that Imam in NYC.
Re: The cost of his 15 minutes is due
If the guy REALLY WANTED AN AUDIENCE, he should've posted the stunt on YouTube.
He could've done the deed in his backyard.
What a doofus!
He could've done the deed in his backyard.
What a doofus!
Your collective inability to acknowledge this obvious truth makes you all look like fools.
yrs,
rubato
Re: The cost of his 15 minutes is due
To answer my own question, The Washington Post says he didn't meet with the Imam. He couldn't even leave the hotel, due to risks to his safety. So, does this mean NYC is going to charge him for the extra security too?
Re: The cost of his 15 minutes is due
Now that I have pondered this, I have to say it sets an absolutely HORRIFFIC precedent. It could easily amount to a back-door de facto ban on any controversial speech. Want to shut down a protest march? Just announce to the marchers that they will be billed $10,000,000 for "security costs"...PRESTO! No march.
Treat Gaza like Carthage.
Re: The cost of his 15 minutes is due
That's why protestors must obtain a permit to rally, march or whatever.
The local authorities factor in such costs.
The local authorities factor in such costs.
Your collective inability to acknowledge this obvious truth makes you all look like fools.
yrs,
rubato
Re: The cost of his 15 minutes is due
I am inclined to agree with Jarlaxle. Threatening an organization planning a march or rally with an enormous security bill is a good way to silence that organization in advance.
Beyond that, at least in this instance, it seems to me entirely unfair. As I understand it, Pastor Wingnut and his (minuscule) congregation were planning to have their little Koran-fueled weenie roast on the church's own property. Even if charging an organization for the necessary security associated with a march or rally on public property were just -- which I think it is not -- why should that crackpot organization have to pay a public-service entity for providing security which the Loony Fringers' Church of Some God Unrecognizable to Most of Us apparently did not even want, when what is being secured is the LFCSGUMU's own property (as well as the lives of Pastor Wingnut and his flock?
More fundamentally, even when an event takes place on public property, providing security for the public is what we pay these people (the police) for. Those payments are known as "taxes". If I am mugged while walking on a public street, should I be charged, in addition to the taxes that I already pay, for the costs incurred by law enforcement (police, prosecutors, etc.) in finding and prosecuting my attacker? (For that matter, should I be entitled to a refund of my taxes on the ground that the government to which I paid those taxes failed to provide me the protection I paid for?) I think not.
I think that the same goes here. Pastor Wingnut and the LFCSGUMU (presumably) paid their taxes. So they are entitled to the provision of public services by those entrusted with the task of providing such services at public expense. And the fact that they are doing something controversial -- and, in my opinion, deranged -- does not detract from the fact that they, as members of the public, are entitled to the security which they, as members of the public, have paid for.
And even more fundamentally, by protecting PW and the LFCSGUMU from violence by anti-LFCSGUMU protesters, the government is not providing a service merely to them. It is providing a service to all of us. It is protecting the exercise of a First-Amendment right; and by doing so, it is also announcing the entirely salutary message that the government will protect everyone's constitutional rights, even the constitutional rights of the most deeply disturbed among us.
If Pastor Wingnut really has a deep-seated need to burn something, it ought to be the bill he gets.
Beyond that, at least in this instance, it seems to me entirely unfair. As I understand it, Pastor Wingnut and his (minuscule) congregation were planning to have their little Koran-fueled weenie roast on the church's own property. Even if charging an organization for the necessary security associated with a march or rally on public property were just -- which I think it is not -- why should that crackpot organization have to pay a public-service entity for providing security which the Loony Fringers' Church of Some God Unrecognizable to Most of Us apparently did not even want, when what is being secured is the LFCSGUMU's own property (as well as the lives of Pastor Wingnut and his flock?
More fundamentally, even when an event takes place on public property, providing security for the public is what we pay these people (the police) for. Those payments are known as "taxes". If I am mugged while walking on a public street, should I be charged, in addition to the taxes that I already pay, for the costs incurred by law enforcement (police, prosecutors, etc.) in finding and prosecuting my attacker? (For that matter, should I be entitled to a refund of my taxes on the ground that the government to which I paid those taxes failed to provide me the protection I paid for?) I think not.
I think that the same goes here. Pastor Wingnut and the LFCSGUMU (presumably) paid their taxes. So they are entitled to the provision of public services by those entrusted with the task of providing such services at public expense. And the fact that they are doing something controversial -- and, in my opinion, deranged -- does not detract from the fact that they, as members of the public, are entitled to the security which they, as members of the public, have paid for.
And even more fundamentally, by protecting PW and the LFCSGUMU from violence by anti-LFCSGUMU protesters, the government is not providing a service merely to them. It is providing a service to all of us. It is protecting the exercise of a First-Amendment right; and by doing so, it is also announcing the entirely salutary message that the government will protect everyone's constitutional rights, even the constitutional rights of the most deeply disturbed among us.
If Pastor Wingnut really has a deep-seated need to burn something, it ought to be the bill he gets.
Reason is valuable only when it performs against the wordless physical background of the universe.
Re: The cost of his 15 minutes is due
I think, and correct and me if I'm wrong, but the billing was for inciting violence, which indirectly he was doing. His actions were deliberately provocatory, and provocateurs, while protected from themselves and others by police, are charged for their irresponsible actions.
Re: The cost of his 15 minutes is due
Lo--he was making a political statement; yes, one that may well provoke those who disagreed with him to violence, but certainly you're not suggesting that people should be prohibited from publicy uttering political statements that are unpopular or provocative, or that they should be forced to pay large security bills to do so (effectively prohibiting all the but the rich from making such statements)? I agree with Andrew, this security should be borne by the public, as it is protecting the rights of each and every one of us to speak freely and openly, regardless of whether it will upset others or not.
The guy is a complete jerk, but in this country he has a right to speak openly, and the government should not try to deter that by imposing silly security fees. Imagine how different the civil rights or antiwar movements might have been if the protesters were subjected to similar fees.
The guy is a complete jerk, but in this country he has a right to speak openly, and the government should not try to deter that by imposing silly security fees. Imagine how different the civil rights or antiwar movements might have been if the protesters were subjected to similar fees.
Re: The cost of his 15 minutes is due
No, I'm not suggesting prohibiting unpopular speech, but he was not granted a burn permit and was going to continue with the demonstration anyway. Violating the law to make a statement might be considered deliberately inciting. Those who scale buildings, and spray graffiti against regulations are charged for public displays. (If they're caught 
)
That Westboro preacher overstepped his bounds a few times by assaulting those he was protesting, and he was legally arrested.
)That Westboro preacher overstepped his bounds a few times by assaulting those he was protesting, and he was legally arrested.
Re: The cost of his 15 minutes is due
So what was the outcome to this, was he charged?
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”