If anyone feels like protesting, we've got the venue for you.
Despite getting heckled at a speaking engagement at ASU a few months ago, Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced today that he has no plans of canceling one scheduled at Mesa Community College on Thursday, despite threats that protesters will be on hand to haggle the brown-bashing lawman.
In December, Arpaio was heckled right out of the First Amendment Forum, where he spoke, at Arizona State University.
Arpaio met with journalism professors at ASU's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication for a Meet the Press-type discussion about the way Arpaio handles the media -- New Times, of course, was at the center of the debate.
Toward the end of the session, protesters in the gallery sang verses of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody with their own, special, anti-Arpaio twist.
"Is this legitimate? Is this atrocity? Caught up in politics. No sense of reality. Open your eyes. Look down to the south and see...The border stops brown folks, they cannot cross the line. But its easy come, easy go, for the rich, n' their cargo. Anyway the migrants flow, doesn't
really matter to me..To me..." the protesters chirped.
After it became apparent that the rabble-rousers had no intention of ending the song, Arpaio threw on a bear hat (see above photo) -- which he had apparently brought on stage with him for the occasion -- made an attempt at a joke, and then left the stage in a huff.
"I hope protesters stay home, or at the very least, stay on good behavior, but given their history showing a general lack of manners, I am not optimistic," Arpaio says in a statement about the upcoming engagement.. "Still, I am not one to be deterred, and I will attempt to have a healthy, open discussion with these young people."
Arpaio was invited to speak at MCC by the college's Young Republican group.
We called the group's leader, Brian Dillie, to get the scoop on the engagement, but he hasn't gotten back to us.
The event is scheduled Thursday at 6:30 p.m. on the Mesa Community College campus. Click here for more information, but click HERE to meet folks who might be able to hook you up with your very own "Joe Sucks" protest sign.
