Regarding your April 27 article "Military majesty sets tone at parade": Standing as I was, a few feet from the young man who lay down in front of an armored vehicle at Saturday's military parade in Raleigh and was subsequently arrested, I have some insight into his motivations.

Where he was standing on the sidelines, that he held a sign and how he displayed it made him no different from many other spectators. Solely because of the dissident message on his sign, he was singled out by a Raleigh police officer and told that he needed a permit and that he must stop displaying it and move away. This same officer said nothing to other men who obstructed the protester's sign with a large pro-military banner and threatened him.

Given the many signs on display claiming we are free only because of the military, it is ironic that his First Amendment rights were not protected and that he was driven to take such a desperate and dangerous action.

Roger Ehrlich, Cary

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