Texas Teenager Arrested For An Expletive On His T-Shirt

NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas - By all accounts, John Schroeder, 18, is a nice kid, a good student and a little shy. He simply likes T-shirts bearing the visages of rock stars. He has about 20 of them.

One T-shirt, however, was too much for New Braunfels.

Schroeder, a high-school senior, was arrested Jan. 15, while grocery shopping with his mother, because of an expletive on his Marilyn Manson band T-shirt.

He has since become the uncomfortable poster boy for free-speech debate. And he is the focal point for widening divisions in this town over what should prevail, individual liberties or community morality.

"What they've done to my son is scary," said Olga Schroeder, 49. "I don't like the T-shirt or, for that matter, Marilyn Manson. But that's irrelevant. If a kid can get arrested for something like an offensive word, than we all lose something very valuable."

The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, which has taken up Schroeder's defense, agrees.

"The issue here is censorship. The actions taken in NB have a chilling effect on anyone speaking their opinions," said Jay Jacobsen, executive director of the ACLU state office in Austin. "It's an outrageous violation of free speech and we have to take a very hard look at it."

Bill Kretzmeir, 60, a New Braunfels resident, sees it differently.

"This is a bastion of conservatism, and the little . . . (expletive deleted) should have known better. And so should his mama," Kretzmeir said. "If they want to live here, they have to accept the community mores. If he wants to be a jerk and wear dirty words on his back, let him go to Austin."

On the night of the arrest, Olga Schroeder, 49, was in the cheese section of the H-E-B grocery storewhen an off-duty policeman arrived with a customer in tow.

The officer, Pete Villareal, said the customer had complained about Schroeder's shirt, which bore an image of shock-rocker Marilyn Manson on the front and the legend on the back, "I am the god of (expletive)."

"John wasn't out to offend anyone. He offered to take off his shirt and turn it inside out," Olga Schroeder said. "But the cop said no, that he was going to jail."

Villareal arrested Schroeder under provisions of a state law making it illegal to engage in "an obscene display," handcuffed him and led him out of the store, according to Amber Liddell, the ACLU attorney representing Schroeder.

Outside, Liddell said, Villareal asked other customers whether they were offended by the T-shirt.

"Some chuckled and said they weren't offended. One other customer said yes," Liddell said. "John was taken to the Comal County Jail, where he spent nearly four hours in a cell until he could post the $250 bond."

City Manager Mike Shands denies police paraded Schroeder before other customers. He also defends the policeman's actions as consistent with the New Braunfels' community values and standards.