On Monday’s Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Gill and Leahy talked with former Senator Mae Beavers about the recent Blackburn rally (covered up by the Tennesseean) and career protester Justin Jones.  The rally was violently disrupted by several protesters on Sunday, one of whom was Justin Jones.
They went on to discuss Jones’ history as a repeat protester and how the behavior of protesters may require mental evaluation to prevent future violence as seen in the past few weeks.
Gill: Mae Beavers on the line with us. This Justin Jones character that you see pictured at TennesseeStar.com has also stalked and been a problem and a protester with respect to Mae Beavers as well. Senator, former state Senator Mae Beavers is on the line with us, on our news makers line and Mae good morning!
Beavers:Â Good morning Steve.
Gill:Â So you know this character and had some run ins with this character?
Beavers: Well, two years ago when Mark Pody and I filed the bathroom bill, we had some protesters show up at one of our town hall meetings and they wanted us to answer questions about that bill and about our Defense of Marriage Act. And so we told them we’d have a press conference. So we attempted to call one one day down at the legislature, they had the room full, we attempted to start the press conference and they started saying, “We don’t want to hear what you have to say.” And then just yelling out things, so we just walked out of the room.
They followed us down the hallway, followed now-Senator Pody to his office where they knocked things off his desk. They followed me to my office screaming at the top of their lungs right behind me to the point that the colonel and the highway patrol caught up with me to escort me to my office. Escorted me to my office and then escorted us to our cars instead of escorting the protesters out of the building. Which I thought was amazing.
But when I looked back at the three weeks that this Justin Jones and his troops sat in my office, harassed, kept us from doing business. I looked at his Facebook page and he came here it seems from California, to TSU and I understand now, that Vanderbilt Divinity School. But if you looked at his Facebook posts he was at the pipeline protest out west, he was in Washington D.C. for the Women’s March, he was in my office of course, and then of course he was up with at the Capitol when the group was protesting Nathan Bedford Forrest’s bust, and now Marsha Blackburn’s rally.
“It makes me wonder who’s paying for him to go to school here. You know, I guess that’s his main job though, protesting,” Beavers added.
Leahy went on to question Beavers about Justin Jones’ behavior toward her in the past.
She described his demeanor as being the person in her office every week constantly knocking on her door saying “we have some questions.”. She reflected on the confrontations as disturbing and that it was a constant disruption, which made it difficult for her to conduct her business. Gill was perplexed by the behavior and asked the question of why these people are not subjected to a twenty four to forty eight hour incarceration to determine their mental health through an evaluation. He also questioned why this unhinged behavior is not being addressed and how that it could lead to future violent behavior.
Beavers: I agree with you Steve. And to think that Marsha had to put up with this, in a rally that was supposed to be a positive event, to have to put up with people like this, they do have to be mentally deranged to do nothing but travel around the country and disturb rallies everywhere.
Gill: Well again it underlines the “jobs not mobs” choice that voters face. And again you’ve got lying Phil Bredesen claiming this happens at his rallies all the time. (Beavers laughs)
Gill: Prove it.
Leahy: Where’s the picture?
Gill closed the segment upset that the protesters chose to disrupt the rally during a moment of silence for the people in the Pittsburgh Synagogue that were killed on Saturday and how they had to be dragged kicking and screaming by police officers. He posed the question of whether this is going to be the choice of mob rule encouraged by the Phil Bredesens, Maxine Waters and Nancy Pelosis or are we going to have civility.
The Star reported in February 2017 on the incident Beavers recounted to The Tennessee Star Report on Monday.
Listen to the full segment:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 am to the Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
