Roland: I hadn’t a clue that I’d done anything illegal that day

This morning, as I was sitting in the Governor’s reception room, in the State capitol, I was approached by a security officer and informed that a warrant had been issued for my arrest. And that a police officer was waiting at the door to take me to the magistrate’s court. In due time, I was escorted to a waiting patrol car, handcuffed and driven to the justice center. I was placed in a cell, and after about 20-to-30 minutes, the cuffs were removed, and I appeared before the magistrate whose name, I believe was Carole Kuhn. I’d been informed earlier that the charges were for trespassing on the property of Walker Equipment Company on Oct. 10, during the senior citizens’ march. When I professed my ignorance of being charged for said crime. I was told that notices to that effect had been sent to Rock Creek, Box 62. Not only was that the wrong address, but the people whose address it actually is claimed no such document addressed to me has ever appeared in that box.

My lawyer, Roger Forman, was on the scene during all this, and the upshot of all this was my release on my own recognizance. I returned to the reception room. The whole business, according to my own guess, was less than two hours. This all, however, came as a total surprise. I was recognized through the extensive media coverage yesterday, and even though I hadn’t a clue that I’d done anything illegal that day, Oct. 10, the system had kept the charges on the books and had reached me down here.