For immediate release
Date: February 6, 2013
Contact: Ms. Nadrat Siddique
Tel: (443) ***-**09
Toilet Re-enactment Today
Duane "Shorty" Davis, dubbed the "Towson Toilet
Bomber," will lead a re-enactment of the February 2011 incident which led
to his arrest and eventual political prosecution.
Background
Leading up to the case against him, Davis, a local anti-racism
activist, left toilets outside the offices of public officials as a means of
political protest. Only government figures he believed to be corrupt and in
violation of the rights of the ordinary citizen received toilets.
Bernstein, Shellenberger, O’Malley, Young, and Welsh were among
the recipients.
The toilets--personalized for each government official--were
decorated with news clippings, photos and other trim. Davis left dozens of such
toilets--donated by friends and supporters--outside the offices of designated officials.
Only one--gifted to Assistant States Attorney Shellenberger--earned him such an
extreme reaction from security, and then police, that he was arrested.
Davis was ultimately brought to trial on two counts: 1) Leaving an
explosive device in front of a courthouse; and 2) Leaving a a phony explosive
device in front of a courthouse. He was held for three months without bond. He
went to trial in August 2011, and was aquitted of all charges. In the process
however, he lost his business, his truck, his computer, and a plethora of
electronic equipment. Although he has petitioned for the return of the
property, his efforts have fell upon deaf ears.
Details of Re-enactment
Today's re-enactment will be a symbolic walk around the Towson
Courthouse perimeter, and a recounting of the February 2011 incident. It will
begin at the fountain at 12 noon. The event will highlight the need to protect
and preserve essential freedoms in the U.S., in particular: artistic freedom;
freedom of speech; freedom from oppression; freedom from judicial corruption
and fraud; and freedom from police state terrorism.
