09:59 AM MST on Tuesday, August 12, 2003

By Michael Marizco and Tim Steller
© 2003 ARIZONA DAILY STAR

More than 200 people lined the Catalina Highway, and about 550 demonstrated in front of Republican headquarters in two separate protests Monday, denouncing foreign and domestic policies of President Bush.

A smaller demonstration also was held in Bush's support.

A woman was arrested for disorderly conduct after she allegedly punched a driver's car window Monday afternoon in the otherwise peaceful protests.

Monday morning, 200 people stood at the base of Mount Lemmon and blasted Bush's forest-management proposals as a pro-business fraud.

While Bush promoted his Healthy Forests Initiative at Inspiration Rock, 5,000 feet above the demonstration, protester Jeff Larson stood in the heat below and called the initiative a sham.

"They're using forest health as a euphemism for handing free timber to industry," said Larson, 30, a University of Arizona graduate student in sociology.

Two giant puppets staged a sporadic battle along the shoulder of the highway as speakers addressed the crowd.

One puppet, about 10 feet high, was of an apelike Bush, with floppy hands dragging the ground that occasionally picked up a 3-foot-long "smart" missile. The other was a slightly shorter Democratic donkey.

"Look out, I'm going to bomb the Democrat!" the Bush puppet shouted as he launched the missile at the donkey puppet's rear.

Five miles away, about 20 people gathered at Broadway and Wilmot roads in a rally supporting Bush.

Members of the Teenage Republicans of Tucson along with parents and supporters waved signs saying, "God Bless You, President" and "Thank You, Bush" as morning commuters streamed by, some honking, waving and giving thumbs-ups and verbal whoops in support.

Danielle Royce, 18, came out to show her support and said Bush is just what the country needs right now.

"He's a godly man, and he's not ashamed to show it," she said.

At 13, Gillian McClellan said she knows which party she'll vote for when she can - the Republicans.

"I support Bush; that's why I'm out here," she said, waving her sign "Honk if you love Bush" at the passing traffic.

About 550 people, including some who attended the morning protest, gathered at East Fifth Street and North Craycroft Road to protest against the entire Bush administration.

"I feel Bush has got to go," said Jeff Malfait, 28, waving a sign that said "Bush/Ashcroft 1984."

"He ran as a compassionate conservative, yet his policies have shifted to the right," he said.

They lined the streets yelling at the people in passing cars who sometimes yelled right back.

Police watched from their cruisers and moved through the crowd, ordering protesters away from the entrances to business parking lots.

Concerned Bush would aim at the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, Jami McDowell came to stand in favor of abortion rights.

Waving black flags, black- and-red-dressed teen-agers distanced themselves from the rest of the protesters and shouted at the cars passing by.

One of their own, whom friends identified as a 19-year-old woman, was arrested for disorderly conduct after she punched the car window of a man stopped at the light who yelled back at the group.

"Let her go! Let her go!" the group shouted at police who handcuffed the woman and led her to the back of a waiting police car.

Others yelled at her to relax and not tense herself against the police, while legal observers with the American Civil Liberties Union recorded the arrest with video cameras and notebooks.

Tucson resident Jorge Parra said he yelled at her to "get a life," before she hit his car window. "She could have voiced her opinion," but she didn't have to hit his car, he said.

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