(Host) A group of anti war protesters interrupted Governor Jim Douglas’ State of the State speech yesterday. They had two main issues.
They called on Douglas to oppose recruitment by the military at Vermont High Schools and they urged the governor to oppose any future funding for the war in Iraq.
They unfurled a banner in the House chamber saying military recruiters should get out of high schools.
Emily Coon is a senior at Mount Mansfield High School.
(Coon) “We were here today to bring the message to the governor that we would like him to mention the war and like him to talk about the war. We feel that there is a lot of glorification of the military and we definitely support our troops. That’s why we want to see them home. And especially in his speech today he wasn’t planning on mentioning the war, and we felt that we needed to bring it to his attention.”
(Host) Other protesters included a Marine veteran and a member of the anti-war group, Military Families Speak Out. The statehouse capitol police quickly – and peacefully — escorted them out of the House chamber.