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Thursday, May. 28, 2009

Former Macon resident wanting to give letter to Obama carried away by security

A former Macon resident and current freelancer for the Macon-based Informer newspaper was dragged away from Air Force One today shortly before President Obama arrived at Los Angeles International Airport to depart California.

Brenda Lee, who attended Ballard-Hudson High School, was trying to give the president a letter urging him “to take a stand for traditional marriage,” she told The Associated Press.

She apparently got into an argument with a White House staffer as she waited in a press area for the president to walk by. Airport security eventually carried her away, but later let her go, The AP reported. She was not charged with a crime.

Herbert Dennard, the longtime publisher for the Georgia Informer, which recently changed its name to the Informer, said Lee is from the Macon area but now lives in California. She writes a column for the Informer, a monthly newspaper that focuses on the black community.

“She writes a lot of religious things and gives opinions on things from abortion to gay marriage,” Dennard said.

“She’s a very good person,” Dennard said. “She has very strong views on some moral issues. And I had talked to her and she said she wanted to try to interview the president of the United States. I said, ‘if you can do it, fine.’ ”

Dennard said Lee is “not a danger to anybody; she just has some strong views.”

Lee told The AP that she is a Roman Catholic priestess who lives in Anaheim, Calif. The incident occurred about 10 minutes before Obama arrived at the airport by helicopter to board Air Force One, The AP reported. He had been in Los Angeles to attend a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Beverly Hills.