Bush has one state to go -- Vermont

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By Joseph Curl

Maybe he just doesn't like Ben and Jerry's. Or teddy bears. Or the best darn maple syrup on the planet.

Whatever the reason, President Bush has never visited Vermont. He's hit the other 49 states, including jetting 4,300 miles to Alaska four times. He's traipsed across enemy territory such as California (22 times) and Vermont's neighbor New Hampshire (13 times), but never once in his 2,875 days in office has he set foot in the Green Mountain State, which was once so Republican that FDR went 0-4 there.

Now, he's got just 46.5 days left in office, and a scant 50-minute flight aboard his personal 747 to allow him to check off that 50th state. So will he do it?

"I've heard some talk that he might be considering a trip here in the last couple of weeks of his presidency," said state Republican Party Chairman Rob Roper. "But we haven't been pushing one way or the other," said the typically laid-back Vermonter. The White House will neither confirm nor deny the claim.

Just what could Mr. Bush do if he popped up to Vermont for a day trip? "Avoid arrest," Mr. Roper said with a laugh. "He's welcome in most of the state, but not so much in Brattleboro."

Oh, right. Brattleboro (town motto: "Where It Can ALL Happen!"). In January, the tiny town of 12,000 just north of the Massachusetts border voted "to draft indictments against President Bush and Vice President Cheney for crimes against our Constitution."

Having just enacted a law to keep nudists from parading around the 250-year-old streets of the town, the measure called for the Brattleboro police to "arrest and detain George Bush and Richard Cheney in Brattleboro if they are not duly impeached, and prosecute or extradite them."

Rich Garant, a member of the town's Selectboard who voted for the measure, had a common reaction when asked about a presidential visit. "Hahahahahaha," he guffawed. "What bar are you drinking in?"

But he's dead serious when it comes to the town's indictments. "This is a matter of war crimes. I think there's a very factual case that can be made. I don't think that's trivial." Citing the holding of prisoners of war at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the treatment of captives and the wiretapping of U.S. citizens, he said, "No one should be above the law."

Still, Mr. Garant said he realizes the absurdity of the town's measure. "If the president comes to town with the Secret Service, they're not going to let him be arrested. And it's not like the Brattleboro police are going to say, 'Let's get in a gun-shoot with the president's men.'"