Ms. Burk addresses a crowd at the protest site made up mostly of news media members. No more than 75 people showed up Saturday toprotest Augusta National Golf Club, despite predictions of large demonstrations. RON COCKERILLE/STAFF

Burk leads small rally amid crowd of protests

After 10 months of criticizing Augusta National Golf Club's all-male membership in the news media and from podiums throughout the country, National Council of Women's Organizations Chairwoman Martha Burk delivered her familiar message again Saturday - this time near the club's home turf.

In front of about 50 supporters, and before a grassy gallery filled with hundreds of news media members, Ms. Burk said her campaign against the club would not end until its first female member was admitted.

It was a message met with nearly as many boos as there were cheers from the 5.1-acre field where Saturday's protest was staged.

"Some people in Augusta think that's OK to keep us outside," Ms. Burk said from a small stage, flanked by several national women's rights leaders.

"We will be, will be, in these gates as equals," she said.

Ms. Burk's supporters - including U.S. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, D-N.Y.; Eleanor Smeal, the president of the Feminist Majority Foundation; and Janice Mathis, of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition - wore various uniforms to indicate their alliances, from hot-pink T-shirts and matching bandanas to slacks and green golf shirts with the words "NCWO Augusta National 2003" embroidered on the sleeves.

Members of the Georgia State Patrol keep a close eye on the protest site. The patrol assisted sheriff's officers from Richmond and Columbia counties Saturday, and the day ended without any arrests from the various protests. RON COCKERILLE/STAFF

The uniforms of outside protesters and opponents were just as varied, including a man who wore a skirt and carried an American flag-draped umbrella, calling himself "Georgina Bush," and another man dressed in a tuxedo who carried a sign that read "Formal Protest."

During Ms. Burk's speech, a man - who held a piece of poster board that read "Iron my shirt" on one side and "Make me dinner" on the other - yelled until Ms. Burk replied, "Wash my dishes."

Police reported no arrests, despite the clashing opinions of protest groups, including an anti-Jesse Jackson group from Los Angeles, the founder of the anti-Martha Burk Web site theburkstopshere.com, and a Cordele, Ga., man who displayed a large black sign that read "One-man Klan. New American White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan."

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"We didn't have any trouble from anybody to speak of," said Richmond County sheriff's Maj. Ken Autry.

Traffic slowed to a crawl along Washington Road during parts of the early afternoon as onlookers braked to honk, shout at protesters or snap pictures of the protest area.

Across the street from the protest site, some Augusta National supporters set up lawn chairs in the front yards of several homes and waved signs that read "Honk for Hootie" and "Hey, Martha! Protest this."

Although sheriff's officials approved protest permits for more than 1,000 demonstrators, far fewer showed up, with fewer than 50 anti-Burk or independent protesters on one side of the field and no more than 75 anti-Augusta National demonstrators.

"Ms. Burk's folks were outnumbered by the media 8-to-1. That's an embarrassment," said Jim McCarthy, a media consultant to Augusta National who said he attended Saturday's rally to observe. "The public has support for the club, and that's because they have the right to make their own decisions."

The local group People Against Ridiculous Protests was represented only by several signs, which read "Look how ridiculous everyone looks," and "We don't give a PARP."

Ms. Burk arrived at the field shortly after 11 a.m. along with a bus filled with about 20 supporters.

Their protest site was empty less than two hours later, and a secondary protest site at Wheeler Road and Highland Avenue saw a small group of demonstrators, but only very briefly, police reported.

Anti-Martha Burk protesters the Rev. Jesse Peterson (center), of the Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny, and Todd Manzi, the founder of the Web site theburkstopshere.com, speak with reporters at the protest site. RON COCKERILLE/STAFF

The women's council's rally included a "puppet show" in which two larger-than-life figures - one of a woman in Army fatigues and the other of a robed Klansman wearing a Masters insignia - battled each other, with the woman prevailing.

"Unreal. Simply unreal," Augusta resident Bettye Cook said, shaking her head at the depiction of the Masters Klansman. "It just makes me angry. Very angry."

"We will be, will be, in these gates as equals." - Martha Burk, protesting Augusta National Golf Club's all-male membership

Reach Heidi Coryell Williams at (706) 823-3215 or heidi.williams@augustachronicle.com.

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--From the Sunday, April 13, 2003 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle