13th Colony Patriots Denied Admittance to Judicial Building, Police Called and Shadowed Group

by Elizabeth Mancha

13th Colony Patriots and Golden Isles Tea Party organized a rally at the steps of the Capitol building in Atlanta on January 15, 2010. Patriots from Brunswick, Savannah, Atlanta, Tifton and others turned out to protest the proposed health care legislation. In addition, the crowd of approximately 100 people rallied to encourage Georgia state legislators to defend the rights of the states and refuse to allow, what would be, an unprecedented transfer of power from the states to the federal government. Following the rally, attendees separated and entered the Capitol building, Coverdell and Judicial buildings to deliver letters to a number of our elected officials.

A group that included the founder of 13th Colony Patriots, Elizabeth Mancha, three former military men (one of whom is in his late 80s), a former chaplain in the Air Force Reserve, and a retired Asst. Professor at Atlantic Armstrong Atlantic State University, entered the Capitol Building without incident and visited the office of Governor Purdue and others who proclaim to serve the residents of the great state of Georgia.

We then went the Judicial Building in order to hand-deliver letters to the office of the Attorney General, and candidate for Governor, Thurbert Baker.

Upon entering the building, the security guard asked the group who we were there to see. We told her we were there to see Baker. She asked us what we were there to see him about. I thought that was a rather odd question for her to ask, as it was really none of her business. However, we told her we wanted to talk to him about the proposed health care legislation and that we would like him to protect our State’s rights. She asked if we had an appointment. We told her we did not. We told her that we would be happy to drop the letters off to his secretary or Mr. Darrell Robinson. She said no.

She walked out of sight for a moment and returned to the security station. She said that she “was told” that we could put our letters in an envelope for Baker. We again told her that if he was not available that we would like to see his secretary or Mr. Robinson. She stood back from her station and started pacing back and forth. I searched my folder and pulled out letters addressed to Baker. I thought I had brought Baker’s phone number with me but could not locate it. She told us we had to leave. She said that we couldn’t “stand there and write a letter” and repeated that we had to leave. We told her that we were simply attempting to enter a public building, paid for with our tax dollars, so we could deliver letters to an elected official or his staff. We also told her that we had just visited the Governor’s office without an appointment and couldn’t understand why we couldn’t just drop a couple of sheets of paper to Baker’s office.

I could not find Baker’s phone number in my papers and attempted to reach my husband so he could call Baker’s office. Since I could not reach him I started writing a note to Baker. I asked the guard for her name several times. She refused to give it to me. She continued to pace back and forth. We heard the guard communicate on her phone that there was “a code” something, I can’t remember what. I continued to write my note with shaking hands. The time was 2:50pm.

Approximately five armed men in uniform entered the building and virtually surrounded us. I was still writing my short note to Baker. One of the officers asked the guard what was wrong. She told him that we wanted to see Baker and we didn’t have an appointment. I told the officer that we would like to see his secretary or Mr. Robinson to deliver letters to them. The female officer became increasingly agitated each time I reminded her that we would be happy to drop the papers off to Baker’s secretary or Mr. Robinson. The lead officer would not allow us to enter. I reminded him that it was a public building, but he said we had to leave. I asked him for his name. He identified himself as Officer Willingham. I asked the entry guard for her name again and she finally said, in a very reluctant tone, “Officer Lester”. Because she spoke so softly I asked for it again. She didn’t answer. I asked again, but she wouldn’t answer.

It should be noted that, during our visit, we observed two other people who entered the building and were allowed access. They were not asked for ID or if they had an appointment, however, one person in our group recalls them having badges.

We alighted the building to find two other officers arriving on the scene. We met up with other people who attended the rally as we walked to the next door building in order to continue delivering letters to State legislators.

We entered the Coverdell building and joined Dawn Forbes, founder of Golden Isles Tea Party, who was identifying building and room numbers for letter delivery with the aid of a guard. Much to our surprise, the same officers that surrounded us earlier entered the building and surrounded much of our group. One of the officers told another guard at the front desk, to call him if we gave them any problems.

We did not give anyone any problems before or after the seven police officers were called to remove us from a building that we pay for with our tax dollars, with the simple intent to deliver a couple of pieces of paper.

We didn’t yell at anyone, we weren’t threatening in anyway, we didn’t shout, we didn’t name call, we didn’t throw anything, we didn’t use abusive language, we didn’t touch anyone, yet we were determined to deliver our letters. We were simply trying to exercise our civil liberties and we were denied.