'Table this puppy'

Overheard at the designated smoking area on the landing outside of Greensboro city council chambers, where Mayor Yvonne Johnson was smoking a cigarette, before the council voted 5-4 to express regret for the '79 Klan-Nazi shootings last night:

Johnson: "It will bring closure."

Bill Burckley: "It will not bring closure, not with this crowd. I'm trying to give you sound political advice."

Burckley says something about how he has tried to give the mayor advice in the past, and how she ignored it. Johnson shakes her head.

Burckley: "Table this puppy, get rid of it, get it out of the way."

Johnson walks back in the building without responding.

Roch Smith Jr. has an account of Burckley's arrest later in the evening:

Ben Holder, aka The Troublemaker, whose broken computer currently keeps him from posting to his own blog, was an eye witness. According to Ben, Burckley initially left of his own volition, but attempted to reenter the building. Security guards stopped him and asked him to leave because he had been disruptive. Ben says Burckley then said he was not leaving and demanded to be arrested, saying he was going to "have a lot of fun" subpoenaing the mayor and council. Ben said he tried to get Burckley to leave with him, offering to buy him a drink, but Burckley refused and continued to insist on being arrested, a demand he made seven times, according to Ben, before it was granted.

Full report to follow in the June 24 print edition of YES! Weekly.