Mom wants attention on troops rather than T-shirts

Tag: Advertising T Shirt
Margy Bons had some "issues" with me and with a guy I wrote about who sells T-shirts reading "Bush Lied, They Died" set into a block of print listing the names of each member of the military killed in Iraq.The thing is, Margy didn't want the guy to get any more free publicity, which would preclude me from mentioning his name or business address in this column.Journalistically, going along with such an arrangement would be completely inappropriate. I agreed immediately. In part because Margy is president of Arizona's Operation Homefront chapter and spends much of her time raising awareness, money and donations for the families of military personnel.And also because she is the mother of Marine Sgt. Michael Marzano, who was killed in Iraq in May 2005. His name is on the shirt."I worked pretty hard to get the law passed in Arizona that said you couldn't put a name on a T-shirt unless it was authorized by the family," Margy said. "That was the important word: Authorized. We weren't trying to prevent free speech, but only to prevent someone from using names without a family's permission."A federal judge has kept that law from going into effect, saying that it would prohibit the T-shirt guy's protected political speech.I told Margy that I didn't particularly agree with the T-shirt guy. What he's doing isn't nice. But I agree with the judge. The thing that sets the United States apart from everyplace else is our willingness to protect an individual's right to say stuff that we find offensive. In other words, we're better than censorship.Of course, that attitude is all well and good for a newspaper writer. But Margy knows her son. She knows what he believed in. And she knows that he wouldn't want to be associated with a T-shirt like that."I have to fight for my son's beliefs," she said.At the same time, the T-shirt guy has admitted that media attention drives up sales. He told me that he has twice considered closing out the "Bush Lied, They Died" line, only to have it revived by publicity. Not long ago, a new class-action lawsuit was filed against him, giving the T-shirt guy even more free advertising and no doubt generating more sales."That's why I haven't pushed this thing," Margy said. "Besides, I have more important battles to fight. Like making sure that the families of our troops have what they need."That isn't an easy job during these days of an all-volunteer army, which allows those without a loved-one in the service to avoid thinking about the war or those who fight it. Or about the families left behind by our soldiers."I'm not going to let that happen," Margy said. "People have told me that when Michael (her son) walked out of his uniform, I walked into it. I may not be able to carry a gun, but can wield a pen and a telephone and whatever else I have to use in order to help the families of soldiers."She can't do it alone, however. The phone number for Operation Homefront's Arizona chapter is 623-465-4618. It might be something to keep in mind as we approach what is a very tough weekend for women like Margy."When my son volunteered I somehow knew it would be a one-way deployment," she said. "I would stand at the mirror and rehearse what I would say when the Marines came knocking on my door. Then they knocked and I tried to convince them that they were wrong, that Michael had promised me that he would come back. But he wasn't coming back, and I had to figure out a reason to get up every morning. And I have. Still, I will never forget that day."