Fed Center flap draws a busload of support

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Fed Center flap draws a busload of support

 

 

By Karen Abbott, Rocky Mountain News

December 1, 2005

 

 

 

Deborah Davis said Wednesday she has been overwhelmed by the support

she has received via the Internet and telephone for her stance against

having to show her identification while riding on an RTD bus that

crosses the Federal Center in Lakewood.

 

But she's trying to keep up with her daily routine, doing her laundry

and, on Tuesday, cleaning the gutters on her home. " It keeps me

normal, " she said.

 

Bill Scannell, who has publicized other challenges to government ID

requirements, said the Web site he created for the Davis case,

www.papersplease.org/davis,had received visits from 2.4 million

individuals by about 2 p.m. Wednesday.

 

Scannell said the Web site also has received more than 1,800 e-mails

about Davis' case, and that all but about 20 have been supportive.

 

" There's become so many I can't even read them all, " Davis said.

 

" I never thought this would happen, " she said. " I was just trying not

to show my ID because I don't have to. That's all. "

 

Davis, 50, of Arvada, refused in September to show her identification

when federal police boarded RTD's No. 100 bus when it entered the

Federal Center. Davis wasn't getting off there but riding through on

her way to work elsewhere, as were some other passengers.

 

Federal police removed her from the bus and handcuffed and ticketed

her for refusing to show her ID. She is scheduled to appear in federal

court Dec. 9.

 

A Rocky Mountain News story about Davis on Tuesday drew about 120,000

Web site readers by late afternoon. A link to the News article

appeared on The Drudge Report, a popular Web site about current events

at drudgereport.com.

 

" I feel really good that people care, that they are just terribly

supportive, " Davis said. But she said she's been embarrassed by

comparisons that have been made to civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks.

 

The most critical responses she had read, she said, were from people

wondering why she didn't just comply with the police order.

 

Davis' refusal to show her ID as a matter of principle clearly touched

a nerve among News readers. Many e-mailed the newspaper expressing

widely differing views.

 

Some examples:

 

• " Deborah N. Davis is absolutely correct and the guards at the

federal building behaved as the Nazi fascists did 65 years ago in

Germany, controlling 'free' movement of citizens by frequent demands

of papers. "

 

• " They should have shot this (expletive deleted) first and then

looked through her purse for ID. "

 

• " If she doesn't like it here, she can leave any time. In fact, from

what I read in today's news, they have 4 openings in Iraq for Peace

Activists. It seems like her 'donating' herself to become another

kidnapee by 'The Swords of Righteousness Brigade' would be a cause she

might be worthy of. "

 

• " Good for her. This country is becoming more and more a police

state!!!! Well done!! "