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Anti-Burk protester fights solo
Posted: Thursday April 10, 2003 10:46 PM
Updated: Friday April 11, 2003 12:54 AM
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Todd Manzi, who is protesting against Martha Burk, has been the only demonstrator so far this Masters Week. He has braved the cold, wet weather from the protest site on Washington Road. Ron Cockerille/AugustaChronicle |
By Heidi Coryell Williams
The Augusta Chronicle
Wearing a borrowed yellow rain suit and holding an oversize umbrella, Todd Manzi was looking gloomier than the day itself.
"I'm feeling cold and miserable," Mr. Manzi said Thursday morning from a small table on the edge of an empty field. The area along Washington Road has been designated for Masters Week protests.
"The last thing I asked my wife before I left was, 'Do I need a jacket?"' the Tampa, Fla., resident lamented. "She said, 'No,"'
Three police cars and two Richmond County sheriff's officers were on the opposite side of the protest field.
Between sips of coffee, officers estimated that they have spent more time keeping Masters Tournament patrons from parking on the property than they have regulating protesters.
Make that protester, because, so far, Mr. Manzi has been a protest of one.
"If everybody's as nice as him, we'll be OK," Capt. Ray Myers said of Mr. Manzi, who founded the Web site theBurkstopshere.com. The site opposes the campaign of Martha Burk to induct women as members of Augusta National Golf Club.
Capt. Myers is in charge of securing protest areas, a duty he says hasn't proved terribly challenging.
"Just trying to stay dry and warm," he said. "That's the hard part."
Copyright 2003 The Augusta Chronicle. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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