STRATFORD RAID DRAWS INVITATION FROM N.H

A drug sweep in a high school has made a South Carolina
community the first target of a New Hampshire-based freedom-minded
advertising campaign.

The Free State Project says that whenever there is such an "egregious
overstep" of government powers, it will run ads that essentially say,
"Come to New Hampshire, we don't have this problem."

The project, which aims to bring 20,000 liberty-minded people to New
Hampshire to work for smaller government and greater individual
liberties, has reached about 6,000 people who say they are committed
to moving to New Hampshire.

The first ad will run today in a weekly newspaper in Goose Creek,
S.C., where police with guns drawn ordered more than 100 Stratford
High School students to the floor and restrained some with plastic
handcuffs during a Nov. 5 raid in which no drugs were found.

"They basically terrorized the students for no good reason," said
James Maynard, a project spokes-man in New Hampshire. "So we will be
running ads in towns around Goose Creek or even Charleston."

A second federal lawsuit was filed Monday on behalf of 20 pupils
stemming from the incident. Earlier this month, a suit alleging
constitutional violations was brought on behalf of 18 other Stratford
students.

The first ad depicts a grainy surveillance video frame of the raid,
showing students crouched in the hallway and police with weapons drawn.

Above and below the frame reads: "Some people feel this is an
appropriate way to protect our children... You may feel there's a
better way. We think you're right. Discover for yourselves how the
members of the Free State Project have pledged to make a
difference."

"Governments who overstep their constitutional bounds should beware
that when they do, we're going to be right behind them to recruit
their citizens from under them," Maynard said.

But Ed Haas, spokesman for the South Carolina Libertarian Party,
doubts the project will find any new takers in the Southern state.

"What is mind-boggling to me is how many people down here are actually
in favor of what they saw on that surveillance tape," said Haas, who
issued a statement condemning the raid.

"I don't know if (the ad) would be money well spent," he
said.

The ad cost nearly $300, said Kelton Baker, interim president of the
Free State Project.