States Want To Safeguard Names Of Fallen Troops

By PAUL DAVENPORT The Associated Press

Published: May 18, 2007

PHOENIX - Incensed by the sale of antiwar T-shirts and other products with the names and pictures of America's military dead, some states are outlawing the commercial use of the fallen without their families' permission.

Oklahoma and Louisiana enacted such laws last year, and Texas and Florida bills await governors' signatures. Arizona lawmakers are close to passing a similar measure.

"You should have some rights to your own name and your own legacy, particularly if you're a deceased veteran," said state Sen. Jim Waring, a Republican who sponsored the Arizona bill.

The bills were prompted largely by pleas from families upset that their loved ones' names and photos were being used on phone cards, body armor and other products.

In many cases, the target of their ire is Dan Frazier, a Flagstaff man who sells T-shirts online that list the names of 3,155 U.S. military personnel killed in Iraq. The shirts bear slogans such as "Bush Lied - They Died."

Margy Bons' son, Sgt. Michael A. Marzano, was killed by a bomb in Iraq in 2005. She said the Marine reservist believed in his mission.

"My son was not duped into going to war," she said.

Frazier, 41, said he will not retreat, citing his right to free speech. "I'm providing a valuable service to people to help show the enormity of the cost of war," he said.

Florida's bill would impose a $1,000 penalty per violation for using a military member's name or photo commercially without permission.