Demonstrators call to impeach Bush - Protesters form 'human mural' spelling out 'I-M-P-E-A-C-H' on Coney Island beach
By Joe Maniscalco 05/03/2007

from "Courier Life"--Brooklyn

More than 150 people stretched out in the sand in Coney Island on Sunday afternoon hoping to send a message big enough for the United States Congress to see.

Impeach the president.

Volunteers started showing up on the beach at around 11 a.m. to begin assembling a "human mural" stretching from West 10th Street to Stillwell Avenue forming the word "Impeach" on the sand.

"We've got an 'Impeach' on Ocean Beach in San Francisco facing the Pacific Ocean and now we've got it facing the Atlantic so it's kind of like impeachment from sea to sea," said event organizer Jacob Park.

Similar events also took place in over 125 different cities and towns nationwide as part of a grassroots coalition of organizations called A28.org and its "Impeachment Summer" campaign.

"What we want is to get people around the country who are now energized to put a lot of pressure on Congress, especially the House Judiciary Committee, and tell them we want you to take up Kucinich's articles of impeachment," Park said.

Last week, Ohio Rep. and Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich officially got the impeachment ball rolling in the House of Representatives when he introduced Articles of Impeachment against Vice-President Dick Cheney.

Brooklyn moms Pam Abrams and Susan Banta staked out their place in the sand with their children on a blanket in the "I" column.

"If the impeach sign gets all over the country and makes it onto the news, it will show that the country is solidly against the administration," Abrams said.

"I think there have been a number of crimes that are impeachable by this administration," Banta said. "I'd like to see Congress acting on the proposal right now for impeachment. I'm hoping that they'll be reassured that they would have support."

Volunteers with bullhorns patrolled the boardwalk urging weekend crowds in the shadow of Deno's Wonder Wheel to stop and join the 150 volunteers who signed up for the event online.

"We really need to get Bush and Cheney out," said Lani Bouwer, a 22-year-old photographer from Bedford-Stuyvesant. "There's a Democratic Congress now and there are changes that need to be made and now's the time to mobilize to make those changes before the situation gets any worse."

Participants overwhelmingly cited the ongoing war in Iraq as the number one grounds for the removing the president from office.

"The guy's making noise about Iran which would be compounding the disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan," said New York City resident Robert Jereski. "The Democrats have control. They have no excuse – let's see some action."

Brooklyn mom Elizabeth Schell played with her four-year-old son as they waited for the helicopter that would take an aerial photograph of the demonstration to arrive.

"Bush is continuing to pursue war when I think the majority of the country is making it clear that it's not what the country wants to do," she said. "He doesn't really seem to have the best interest of the country or the rest of the world at heart."

The local mom from Gowanus said she felt patriotic pushing for impeachment.

"The whole point of the founding of our country has been about expressing your opinion in a peaceful way and about helping other people find a peaceful way to freedom," she said.