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President Joe Biden faces pro-Palestinian protesters on a regular basis. They also target Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others.
We’ve even seen protests against the war in Gaza on Monument Circle. And when GOP Sen. Todd Young appeared at the inauguration of Mayor Sue Finkam in Carmel, protesters disrupted the ceremony.
As a political reporter I’ve covered many protests, and it’s my impression that a well-staged demonstration can be effective by raising awareness to issues if not by changing minds.
The most memorable protest I covered was very small. Yet clever. And like the pro-Palestinian protests of today, there was a tie to Iran. As you likely know, Iran finances Hamas, the terrorist group that attacked Israel sparking the war in Gaza.
In the late ’80’s, the Reagan administration engaged in the Iran-Contra Affair. National Security Adviser John Poindexter teamed up with Oliver North to supply weapons to Iran in a covert operation to free hostages in Lebanon. The move violated federal law. Proceeds from the weapon sales went to finance the Contras who were fighting the Sandinista government in Nicaragua.
A minister and activist from southern Indiana named Bill Breeden chose to protest it all by stealing a street sign.
See, John Poindexter is from Odon, a small town in Daviess County, where his family owned the local funeral home. A favorite son, he was honored by having a street named for him—the street that runs in front of the local high school.
Breeden stole the Poindexter street sign and demanded a ransom of $30 million, equal to the sum diverted to the Contras.
Law enforcement officials in Odon put out a warrant for Breeden’s arrest, something I read about in a newspaper article that included the fact that Breeden lived in a teepee in Brown County. I went looking for him.
I found the teepee with relative ease and also found Breeden’s wife there. She agreed to give him the message to call anytime, day or night.
I got that call at home at 2 the next morning. Breeden agreed to meet at a location in Indianapolis later that day. An hour before the appointed time, he called at my desk to inform me of a change in plans. The meeting, he said, would take place in Seymour in one hour.
A news photographer and I raced to Seymour where we found Breeden with the stolen sign. We conducted an interview and told the story on television that evening closing with a shot of him driving away.
The next day I got a call from the Indiana State Police. They wanted me to search our videotape for the license plate number on the car Breeden was in. I declined and said that without a subpoena I was not willing to give up a source.
A couple of days later, Breeden turned himself in and returned the sign following a news conference that I attended in downtown Odon. He was arrested and served four days in jail.
As I was leaving, I asked the Odon police chief if he could tell me the easiest way to get to State Road 37 North. His response: “F you. You won’t help us, I won’t help you!”
That sign meant a lot.
Poindexter was convicted of five felonies for lying to Congress, convictions that were overturned on appeal. Odon still has a John Poindexter Street, but Bill Breeden ensured that its namesake is remembered for both the good and the bad he was responsible for.
A successful protest.•
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Shella hosted WFYI’s “Indiana Week in Review” for 25 years and covered Indiana politics for WISH-TV for more than three decades. Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.
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