Good intentions led to scuffle over signs, Mettler says
| Sunday, Oct 26 2008 01:54 AM
Last Updated Friday, Mar 27 2009 12:58 PM
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Ken Mettler
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Kern High School District trustee Ken Mettler said Saturday that he was trying to be a “good, responsible citizen” by collecting discarded signs when a confrontation with protesters turned into a scuffle Friday evening.
But Mettler, who is leading Kern’s effort to pass a measure to overturn same-sex marriage, never should have gone among the protesters, said Whitney Weddell, who is leading the county’s opposition to Proposition 8.
Neither Mettler, 55, nor Rob Badewitz — the 20-year-old man he scuffled with around 7 p.m. Friday — were arrested or charged after police were called to the intersection of California Avenue and Stockdale Highway, where groups on both side of Prop. 8 were demonstrating.
Weddell admits some of the younger members of her “No on 8” group left another demonstration to go to California Avenue after deciding “they wanted to be more confrontational” with the “Yes on 8” crowd.
But Weddell said Mettler has “a bigger responsibility to control himself” as the leader of Kern’s “Yes on 8” campaign, and should not have hit anyone over a sign.
“If he can’t keep his own temper, I’m worried about what ‘Yes on 8’ people will do now,” she said.
Mettler said Saturday that any citizen should have a right to do what he did — retrieve signs he thought belonged to his group and physically defend himself against an attack.
“I just went over to collect our material and leave,” Mettler said. “My idea was to pick up the signs so businesses wouldn’t have to pick them up. My intent was to be a good, responsible citizen.”
Mettler says the “Yes on 8” group had been demonstrating on the west side of California Avenue earlier in the evening, and he noticed some of their signs were left behind when the group moved to the east side at about 6:30 p.m.
Mettler said he was “light hearted” as he went to collect three of his group’s campaign signs, which had been altered to read “No on 8” on the side facing traffic.
A video taken by a Prop. 8 protester and broadcast on Bakersfield.com shows Mettler with those signs as a woman in the crowd shouts that the signs are theirs and Mettler can’t take them.
Mettler says he was moving toward some more “Yes on 8” signs lying on the grass when he was shoved toward Stockdale Highway.
The video shows Badewitz grabbing at the signs in Mettler’s hands. Mettler says Badewitz also threw a punch that missed, but a woman in the crowd of some 40 “No on 8” protesters is blocking that portion of the video.
Seconds later, however, the video shows Mettler kicking and punching Badewitz, who denies swinging at Mettler.
“I tried to grab the signs,” Badewitz said. “He punched me and kicked me.”
Because the crowd was yelling profanities about “kicking his tail,” Mettler said his response “was very measured and reasonable.” He’s not sure he intentionally kicked Badewitz, but he did punch him in self-defense, Mettler said Saturday.
“I got hit in the face pretty hard,” Badewitz said. “I have swelling on the left side of my jaw. It is hard to talk and to chew.”
Badewitz, who says he’s from San Diego but has been staying with friends in Bakersfield for the past seven months, has not decided if he will ask the Kern County District Attorney’s office to pursue assault charges against Mettler.
