Sheriff apologizes for shirt flap

Sheriff apologizes for shirt flap

By CHAD SMITH
chad.smith@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 07/10/08

Sheriff David Shoar made peace with a local anti-war group after its members were incensed by a T-shirt he handed out at a meeting of veterans a few months ago.

When Shoar held up the shirt at the May meeting in Elkton it drew a lot of laughter and applause, said Mary Lawrence, a member of St. Augustine People for Peace and Justice who was in attendance.

Lawrence was in the back and couldn't see what the audience was cheering about. She later won one of the shirts in a raffle but didn't look at it until she got home.

When she did, she was appalled at what she read on the back: "If you can't stand behind our troops, do us all a favor and stand in front of them."

On the front was a silhouette of a soldier down on one knee holding a gun.

Lawrence and other members of People For Peace and Justice read the shirt as inciting violence against anti-war protesters.

She said when the group protests the Iraq war on street corners around town, "People yell stuff at us that I don't even want to repeat to you."

"And we don't need people coming by with a gun taking advantage of that sentiment on the T-shirt," she said.

At a People for Peace and Justice meeting Tuesday night, Shoar, who is a veteran of the Florida National Guard, apologized for the misstep and said he has also opposed the war since its inception.

He told the eight members in attendance that he perceived the shirt to mean those who don't support the troops should "get out there and do the job for them."

It wasn't until a week later, when friends e-mailed him to ask about the shirt, that he realized some interpreted it as encouraging violence, he said.

"Really what the damn shirt should have said is honor the warrior, not the war," the sheriff said.

He bought about 10 of the shirts from a person in his office who was selling them for a fundraiser.

He didn't pay much attention to the message at the time, and when it came time to speak to the veterans he wondered what he could bring to hand out. Then he remembered the shirts.

Before Shoar explained what happened, members voiced their concerns.

Sue Davis, of St. Augustine, fought back tears as she told of her son, who joined the Army in 2004 but hurt his back in training and couldn't serve in Iraq.

"We have lived with seeing his guilt because he couldn't go to seeing him cry when another friend is killed or maimed," Davis said. "At least our family doesn't have to worry about something terrible happening to him.

"To think," she said, "that our highest elected peacekeeping official would even chuckle when seeing this shirt makes me ill."

Tom Santoni, a member who was drafted into the Army and served from 1970 to 1972, had concerns about the message the shirt sent to veterans who returned from the Middle East with mental-health issues.

"It wouldn't take a whole lot to trigger, excuse the pun, a violent response if these veterans who served their country felt that the sheriff was endorsing a stand against peaceful war protesters," Santoni said.

Shoar's apology and explanation appeased the members. And he assured them he didn't have any more of the shirts.

"I'm out of the T-shirt business," he said.

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