Students take to streets

Mike Swanson

About 100 Laguna Beach High School students opted to spend 20 minutes

of their fourth-period classes either protesting or applauding the

war in Iraq from opposite sides of Park Avenue on Tuesday.

Students wearing black shirts and carrying signs bearing messages

such as, “Peace is Patriotic,” lined one side of Park Avenue, while

students wearing white “Go USA” and “USA Pride” T-shirts occupied the

other. The two groups spouted their views simultaneously, but not

argumentatively, drawing an equal amount of supportive honks from

passing cars.

Seniors Brendan Bowler, Evelyn Wiese and Kelly Nicholas began

organizing the antiwar protest soon after the United States

officially declared war on Iraq, distributing fliers and posters

throughout the campus. While they did attract dozens of supporters,

students backing the war responded by organizing a pro-war

demonstration.

“We’re here to show that they don’t represent the people like they

think they do,” senior Scott Brown said. “There are lots of us who

support this war and our country.”

Wiese and Bowler said several of their antiwar posters had been

torn down by Monday, when they began hearing rumors of the “white

T-shirts” side’s plan to join in on the walkout. Neither was

surprised when they showed up.

“Our goal is to engage students in debate about the war,” Wiese

said. “We want people to know that students care about this issue and

we’re willing to show it.

“I think it’s cool that they’re out here, too,” she added, smiling

and motioning to the other side of the street.

The black-shirt protesters outnumbered their white-clad

counterparts by about 20, but the minority stayed on the sidewalk a

few minutes longer than the majority.

“We won!” a few war supporters yelled as they walked back to

class.

Jeanie Bernstein, organizer of a peace vigil held every Saturday

from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Main Beach, and a resident since 1958,

joined the peace-seeking students’ side despite not having a black

shirt. She was delighted to attend when asked by Wiese, a regular at

the Saturday vigils.

“High school students are the most powerful human beings on this

planet,” she said. “They’re the future of this country and need to be

aware of what’s going on in their world. I’m pleased to see this many

students on both sides of the street.”

Monday evening, Bowler said he thought that about 30 students,

mostly seniors, would leave class for the protest. He said some

teachers had planned last-minute tests to keep students from walking

out, which he expected some students, especially underclassmen, to

fear.

The black-shirt turnout, however, was nearly double Bowler’s

expectations and included protesters of all ages, such as 14-year-old

freshman Natalie Houalla, who wasn’t worried at all about the

repercussions of attending.

“It really doesn’t matter,” she said. “Anything I can do to voice

my opinion against the war, that’s all that matters. Killing innocent

people, for whatever the reason, is just ridiculous.”

Bowler said Tuesday evening that he heard about half of the

protest’s participants received detention for leaving class, but

“nothing major” came from the disciplinary side.

“A lot of people came up to me later in the day and said they

wanted to be there, but couldn’t miss a test,” he said. “We really

would have had a lot of people out there if everyone who approached

me showed up, but more people showed up than I expected anyway, so I

was happy.”

* MIKE SWANSON is a reporter for the Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot.

He covers education, public safety and City Hall. He can be reached

at 494-4321 or [email protected].