It pains us to label someone born and bred in Kansas as an outside agitator, but Emerald Ferring has become part of the flag-burning leftist establishment that runs Hollywood. Communist-sympathizing women in England have turned Greenham Common Air Base into a shameful collaboration with the Russians. That’s what pinkos like Emerald Ferring want to do to Lawrence. It’s bad enough for ABC to film an anti-nuke movie here. Uncle Ivan is going to think America is soft on nuclear war.

Ferring’s presence at the missile silo drew a rowdy crowd from as far away as St. Louis and Omaha. The riot that broke out, thanks to rabble-rousing from her and her friends, was a shameful blot on our county and our city. She should stay in Hollywood with the other red rats who hate America.

9
Red Menace

“Wow. Strong medicine.” I folded the page and put it in my case. “Was Ferring arrested? What happened?”

Cady scrolled through the fiche. She tapped a finger on the screen to show me an article that had run the following day, but she gave me the highlights without looking at it—she’d been through this story more than once.

“The air force was in charge of the silo, so they could have arrested people under military law or something, but they didn’t—they took them away forcibly. I guess they didn’t want any more negative publicity than they already had.”

The Air Force escorted the demonstrators to buses, which drove them to Lawrence, where they were free to go about their business. At the request of U.S. Air Force Col. Malcolm Pavant, we are withholding photos of the protesters. We don’t want people defacing a military installation to glorify themselves in public.

The article concluded with a comment from Colonel Pavant, who said the air force appreciated the support of the local law-enforcement agencies “and also of the many Kansans who understand that when you are facing an enemy like the Russians, you have to be prepared to make sacrifices.” Pavant didn’t spell out the sacrifices, but I suppose they included incineration in a nuclear holocaust.

Cady moved aside while I read through the next several days’ worth of the paper, but she was right, there was no further mention of Emerald, or indeed of any other protesters, by name. The Douglas County Herald was doing its duty as diligent guardians of the First Amendment by keeping people who peaceably assembled out of the paper.

“Does the missile silo still exist?” I asked. “Where is it?”