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Article published Jan 7, 2004
Man
fined for entering restricted area during visit by President
Bush
Associated Press
COLUMBIA -- A
longtime political activist was fined $500 Tuesday after a judge found him
guilty of entering a restricted area during a presidential visit.Brett Bursey,
55, was charged in March -- five months after he was arrested during a visit to
Columbia by President Bush. The president visited Columbia in October 2002 to
gather support for Republican candidates heading into November elections.Bursey
had faced six months in prison and a $5,000 fine.Bursey, who has been arrested
several times on protest-related charges since the 1960s, has questioned motives
of the U.S. attorney's office for bringing the rarely used federal charge
against him.Federal attorneys have said Bursey was in area that had been closed
to the public before Bush landed, and no one was permitted to enter or remain in
the restricted area.During his trial in November, Bursey said he was never told
that he was in a restricted area nor told exactly where a designated
"free-speech zone" was.