Petty Officer First Class Vincent Dante DeMarco was a portrait
of patriotism as he stood outside the San Benito County Superior
Court in his U.S. Coast Guard dress uniform Thursday morning.
DeMarco, 41, has been serving his country as an active member of
the Coast Guard for 23 years now. He recently spent four long
months in Iraq, risking his life at war for the United States.
Why was DeMarco in downtown Hollister on this grayish morning?
Was he here to receive a medal? Perhaps to be honored for his
bravery against Saddam Hussein and his troops?
Petty Officer First Class Vincent Dante DeMarco was a portrait of patriotism as he stood outside the San Benito County Superior Court in his U.S. Coast Guard dress uniform Thursday morning.
DeMarco, 41, has been serving his country as an active member of the Coast Guard for 23 years now. He recently spent four long months in Iraq, risking his life at war for the United States.
Why was DeMarco in downtown Hollister on this grayish morning? Was he here to receive a medal? Perhaps to be honored for his bravery against Saddam Hussein and his troops?
Maybe he was here to represent the Coast Guard as part of a parade to honor our servicemen and servicewomen in our All-American city.
Perhaps he was in town to speak to the VFW or American Legion about the perils of the Middle East. The veterans would quickly recognize his feelings and fears – and know wartime in any era, on any battlefront, is filled with horror and darkness and death.
Or maybe DeMarco was in Hollister because he wanted to share his experience with some school children, not to scare them, but to bring home the thought that freedom, at any time in history, has a price. That freedom should never be taken for granted. Never.
Hundreds of thousands of men and women have given their lives so our schools can be true houses of learning, so our children can have a chance to live their lives the way they choose.
Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness has a nice ring to it, but it did not come easily.
Surely the kids in the class would know they were in the same room with a real-life hero, much more genuine and special than the ones we find on a ballfield or in a movie.
Certainly the crisp-clean uniform and the shiny bars and medals he wore would be thought of as really cool, much more than the video game or the gang on the corner.
The class might stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance for him. Maybe the teacher would lead the students in “America the Beautiful” or “The Star Spangled Banner.”
Then they would all stand and salute him before he left. And he would return the salute, leaving behind a lasting impression that might make the difference when a path in life is chosen.
That’s the least we could do for DeMarco, who just returned from active duty in Iraq, where our soldiers are dying every day. Right?
Well, the reason DeMarco was in town did have something to do with the Fourth of July. That’s the weekend the Hollister Independence Rally was held.
I was talking to one of DeMarco’s pals on the roof of The Vault restaurant during the Rally, enjoying the view, a cold beer and good conversation on that sunny Saturday afternoon.
That’s when several state Alcoholic Beverage Control cops burst past the upstairs doorman and looked around at the peaceful gathering. They saw DeMarco had a pocket knife in a sheath hanging on his belt loop.
One cop suddenly grabbed him without saying a word, pulled him to the side against the railing, put him in a headlock and yanked his arms high behind his back while putting handcuffs on his bent-back wrists.
Then they almost shoved him to the ground and spun him around before roughly dragging him away, even though he didn’t resist in any way.
Isn’t it ironic that Saddam Hussein and his sons, not to mention guys named Hitler and Mussolini, were famous for stunts like that? Men in uniforms dragging people away from a peaceful assembly for little or no reason.
These ABC clods didn’t actually haul him to jail. They yelled at him and issued him a written citation after roughing him up and humiliating him all the way down to the crowded street below.
I gave his friend a business card and sure enough a call came to the newspaper a few days ago.
DeMarco had to take two days off from work at the Coast Guard, ride his motorcycle from his home in the Long Beach area, spend money on a motel, and plead guilty and pay a $64 fine so as not to have to come back.
Is the ordinance, basically “no knives during an event” – obviously designed around the huge biker rally – a fair one? You decide.
DeMarco had pictures he took after getting the citation. They were photos of some of the merchandise the vendors were selling at the Rally.
I had noticed them as well. It’s hard not to look at large swords, switchblades, stilettos, hunting knives and daggers.
It was fine and dandy to sell those weapons under the guise of collecting them, but if you had a small knife in a sheath you could be immediately arrested.
Oh yeah, the last time I spoke with DeMarco he was on his way to San Jose. His knife turned up missing at the Hollister Police Department.
In fact, DeMarco said he had to stop and change out of his military uniform in a roadside cafe bathroom because he didn’t want it to get wet in the rain.
Apparently, the ABC flatfoot based out of San Jose must have “mistakenly” stuck DeMarco’s knife in his desk drawer. Maybe he thought it would never be retrieved.
And I imagine that overzealous policeman would have acted much differently if Petty Officer First Class Vincent Dante DeMarco was standing on the roof of The Vault in his Coast Guard uniform.
The one he wore in Iraq, risking his life for the United States of America.
