PAGAN HORDE THREATENS D.C.
July 20, 1997
Since 1989 I'd been sending Zeus information about the "permit regulations" for a couple of years, and he telephoned me on a few occasions, but I didn't meet Zeus until 1991. If I recall correctly, he had a sign which said, "I am Zeus, you may worship me." That was the same year Zeus attained the zenith of his notoriety, after his clever manipulation of the Vermont Vision Council resulted in a 300 person South Dakota Rainbow Gathering, while 20-odd thousand gathered in Paonia, Colorado -- a precursor to the Alabama/Kentucky split of 1993.
Although I was disgusted by the divisiveness of the split, because there seemed to be a genuine issue concerning the integrity of the consensus process, in an attempt to be even-handed, I disseminated information concerning the South Dakota gathering.
In August, 1993 Zeus journeyed to D.C., ostensibly to add his voice to others raised against proposed government restriction of expression and assembly. Initially, appreciative of the South Dakota information I'd distributed for him, and the times I'd spoken on his behalf, Zeus was very respectful toward me. However, Zeus didn't get on as well with all the other people who traveled to D.C. from Kentucky and Alabama, thus he put virtually no energy into the group effort. Instead, Zeus apparently spent most of his time painting swastikas -- at least hundreds, more likely thousands of them -- all over town. At first Zeus hadn't planned on staying in D.C. for too long. Unfortunately, in October, 1993, before he could make his getaway Zeus got busted for criminal destruction of property -- painting all those little symbols.
Of course, being a die hard do-gooder, I got Zeus out of jail in my recognizance. There was a real possibility that he could have been charged with a felony hate crime, but, quite possibly thanks to a little passive assistance from yours truly, he lucked out and was only charged with one misdemeanor destruction.
Zeus piqued my passive resistance when -- because she didn't accord him the respect to which he felt entitled -- he decided to devote himself to giving my long-term vigil partner, Concepcion, a hard time. In early 1994 Zeus put a swastika sign immediately next to where Concepcion -- twenty-four/seven, rain, snow and sleet -- has had her signs since regulations forced us across the street from the White House sidewalk in July, 1983.
A regulation, which police stringently enforce against Ellen, Concepcion, and myself, requires that demonstrators remain within three feet of their signs. Nonetheless, Zeus would wander off leaving passersby to assume the swastika belonged to Concepcion. Concepcion, focused on communicating her own message, was deeply troubled by repeated confrontations with irate people accusing her of anti-Semitism. In early March, 1994, Zeus played a role in a confrontation with Park Police Officer O'Neill, who told Concepcion, "You don't like his signs; I don't like your signs. As a result of that confrontation, yours truly got arrested, but, as is often the case, charges got tossed out of court.
Still Zeus did all he could to make our lives more difficult, harassing Concepcion and Ellen, telling stories about me. Basically, it seems, Zeus is most proficient at causing disharmony by distorting truth. For a couple of examples, he spread the totally false rumors that I am a Jewish Mossad agent financed by Israel. This story, widely spread by others, causes me real problems to this day. Eventually, I became so aggravated that I decided to terminate my relationship with Zeus and the Pre-trial agency. This is where I gave Zeus a break, by NOT submitting a letter to the Pre-trial agency which explained my reasons for withdrawing sponsorship, and would likely have gotten him charged with the felony hate crime charge.
The judge gave him six months probation in a halfway house, community service, and a chance to have the arrest erased from his record. Even though he was doing community service, Zeus still had enough time on his hands to pursue his persecution of Concepcion and myself.
Zeus got the clever idea of applying for a demonstration permit from the Park Service. On his application he designated the exact location where Concepcion has her signs. Armed with his permit, Zeus went to the Park and told Concepcion to move her signs. After Concepcion told him he must be crazy, Zeus summoned a police officer who told Concepcion that if she didn't move her signs the police would move them. Because a demonstration permit must be renewed every seven days, I was able to thwart Zeus' preemptive strike by having a number of different people apply for permits, in seven day increments, thereby booking the contested sign site for several months straight.
Just a couple of days before his probation was up, late in 1995, Zeus got busted again, and the judge gave him six months in jail. He finished his sentence, if I recall it was late spring of 1995, and returned to the Park to continue his vendetta against my friends and I. It wasn't until the blizzard of '96 that Zeus got busted a third time for adorning the capitol with swastikas, and in June, 1996 he got sentenced to another six month sentence. On that occasion I helped an acquaintance of Zeus save his Volvo from the impound lot. After his release from jail at the end of '96, Zeus wasn't seen for a few months; it's rumored that he went to Iowa to renew his driver's license, or registration, or something.
Around February, 1997 Zeus returned to D.C. It's not known when he was busted the fourth time for the same charge, but, according to the Washington Post, he was arrested at the courthouse by the INS and scheduled for deportation on July 16th. The last thing I know that Zeus did on the street before going to court was to induce a gentleman named John Zahos to begin haranguing us ... a job which John has been diligently practicing. We are confident that John too shall eventually pass.