Pro-Bush rally moved, may be closed to public

A welcome rally for President Bush that had been scheduled Wednesday in downtown is to be moved to the Air National Guard base, where Air Force One will likely touch down next week.

What was not immediately clear Friday evening, however, was whether the public will be able to attend. Several points seemed to suggest that people who want to show support for the president may be left without a cohesive gathering where they could do so.

James Evans, organizer of the original rally at Washington Square, said Friday that the event is moving to the airfield at 765 N. 2200 West, where Bush touched down last year when he visited Utah to speak at the convention for the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

A White House spokesman said Bush's arrival Wednesday night will be closed to the public. Spokesman Peter Watkins said he knew nothing about plans for a major rally at the president's arrival and instead referred questions to local Republican Party leaders.

Jeff Hartley, executive director of the Utah Republican Party, said the rally location will probably change from Washington Square and that Republican leaders have been invited to speak.

"It is very likely that we will change the venue to the airport in anticipation that the president will participate in the rally," Hartley said Friday afternoon. When contacted later in the day, however, Hartley referred questions about whether the rally would be open to the public back to the White House.

If the rally now planned for the air base is not open to the public, there is no alternative planned Friday, Evans said. That could leave demonstrators with a pro-Bush message without a venue.

Ordinarily, the Air National Guard base can host about 1,500 people, which is usually the maximum number of military members who participate in drills on the base at any given time, said Lt. Col. Kurt Davis, a spokesman for the guard. Visitors to the base typically have to be escorted by a member of the military, and Davis did not know how the Secret Service might dictate security restrictions during the president's visit.

Davis said it "would be hard for me to believe" that the Secret Service would allow a public rally at the base, but added he was awaiting more information about it that may come from a Monday meeting

"A lot of it is just logistics. We don't have a whole lot of ability to park a lot of cars," Davis said. "Last year when the military members went out to greet him (at his departure from Utah), they were all screened by the Secret Service before they were allowed into the holding area. I would assume that the Secret Service would want some type of similar screening process."