E. Machias man attempts to extinguish peace vigil

MACHIAS – An East Machias man said Monday he may have gone “a little too far” when he sprayed a fire extinguisher on a group conducting a weekend peace vigil, but that he did it out of love for his country.

Machias Police Chief Harold Prescott said Lowell Miller, 73, was charged with assault and disorderly conduct after he sprayed the extinguisher Friday evening on five members of the vigil group Work for Peace.

No one was injured, the chief said.

Prescott said the group was conducting a peace rally on Main Street and that Miller took offense. The confrontation involved only words until Miller left, then returned with the fire extinguisher.

“He said they wouldn’t hold the American flag,” the chief said.

Miller, who is well-known locally as co-owner of discount retailer Sandy’s Sales, said in an interview Monday that he was trying “to get them out of there, to scare them. … I’ve talked to a lot of people who think that outfit is disgusting.”

Betty Grant of Machiasport, a member of Work for Peace, said the group began conducting monthly Vigils of Hope in Machias, Steuben and Harrington in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Miller first approached the Machias group about a year ago.

He asked vigil participants which church they were with and told them he knew some church groups were sending money to Osama bin Laden.

Miller also said he had reported one such group to the FBI, Grant said.

“I gave him one of our brochures and suggested that he call Work for Peace,” Grant said.

The group moved to weekly peace vigils three weeks ago. On Friday, Miller approached the group just after the vigil began, asking participants what they were doing there and telling them they were crazy, Grant said.

Members of the group tried hard not to antagonize Miller, Grant said, but he kept coming back, asking them if their signs meant they didn’t think the United States should be in Iraq.

“When we told him we didn’t think we should be there, he said we were terrorists,” she said. “He told us if we were out here, we must be supporting Saddam Hussein.”

Grant said she and others told Miller they didn’t support Saddam, but believed that war was not the answer.

“He took out a pad of paper and demanded our names,” she said. “When I refused, he said he was going to get a camera.”

Grant said Miller signaled to a companion who had been sitting in a car across the street at a convenience store, videotaping the incident.

The companion, who wasn’t charged, crossed the street and Miller began directing him, she said. “This is the person who isn’t giving me her name – Take her picture,” Grant said that Miller said.

Grant said Miller then went to his truck and took what people first thought was a gas can from the back. Grant said she crossed the street to phone police from a coffee shop and saw Miller spray the group with the fire extinguisher.

Miller said Monday that his companion was not videotaping the incident, but that he took pictures of those at the vigil because Miller wanted to be able to identify them in the event of a terrorist attack.

“I don’t think they’d put a bomb somewhere, but you have to keep an eye on some of these people,” he said. “I’m just trying to protect myself and my country.”

Miller said he doesn’t think he should have discharged the fire extinguisher, and in fact it was so old that it ended up soaking him.

Miller said he knows more about this war than he has known about any war since World War II. He said he has a hard time tearing himself away from the TV and doesn’t understand how anyone can question the United States taking action against someone who cuts people’s heads off and hangs them in front of their houses.

Miller said he has been asking people who visit Sandy’s Sales what they think about the people “who are out on the road.”

Grant said Friday’s incident generated discussion among the approximately 30 people who attended Sunday night’s meeting of Work for Peace in Columbia.

People aren’t sure what to do, she said. They don’t want to be intimidated into not speaking up for what they believe is right, but they do not want to incite others, she said.

“Our aim is peace,” Grant said. “Not this.”