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GREENSBORO — Alexander Kohanowich is a patriotic guy. His six grandchildren call him Pop.

For at least five years, Pop has traveled around our city, showing his support for American troops overseas. He doesn't say much. He just holds his signs at busy intersections and busy events to get people's attention.

Maybe you've seen him.

He'll hang, say, on Westover Terrace, near Wendover. He'll face east in the morning, west in the afternoon, so drivers can see his signs clearly, without staring into a sometimes blinding sun.

His signs say a lot in a few words.

God Bless America!

We Support Our Troops!

They Give Their Today That We Might Have Our Tomorrow

This past Wednesday afternoon, Pop took his signs to Barack Obama's town hall meeting and stood outside, on the grassy median on Coliseum Boulevard, across from War Memorial Auditorium.

He says a motorcycle cop gave him the OK. So, stand he did. For an hour and 40 minutes. He wanted to show his patriotism, always remembering what his father, a Russian immigrant, a World War I veteran wounded in France, once told him.

"This is my country," he told his son about America.

Pop takes his signs everywhere to remind people of the sacrifices of the men and women in uniform.

He never fought. He had to raise six kids.

But he always remembers. And he wants everyone else to remember, too.

Like Wednesday afternoon at the Obama rally. Everything seemed to be fine — until Obama's motorcade got ready to leave from the coliseum complex's service road on the other side of the street.

At the time, Pop was being interviewed by a reporter from WFDD-FM (88.5). He had to rely on his right ear — his good ear, the one with the hearing aid — to hear the questions.

But on his left, where he says he doesn't hear so well, a cop was telling him to move.

Pop turned and put his left hand on the officer's right shoulder. Pop does that a lot. He'll tell you it's the European way: to touch, to hug.

But in this case, Pop wanted the officer to know what he heard from the motorcycle cop.

The next thing Pop knew, he was flat on the ground, hands behind his back, yelling, "For crying out loud, don't break my arms! I'm 78 years old!"

Yeah, Pop is 78. But age has nothing to do with it.

You'd hope we all have the freedom to demonstrate peacefully and say what we believe as long as we don't impose any impediment, any danger to anyone's safety. Including our own.

Right? Not quite.

In our post 9/11 world, there is a heightened sense of security. Cops have to be wary, particularly when a president or a presidential candidate comes to town.

You just never know. Even if it's a grandfather.

It's that balancing act, between an individual's free speech and our community's overall security, that has become so tenuous.

Yet, listen to Pop talk. Look at his arrest warrant. See his misdemeanor charge of assaulting a government official. You wonder what the cops were thinking about this kind-eyed grandfather, holding signs, wearing a shirt emblazoned with the American flag.

Pop says he respects the police and knows he did wrong by placing his hand on the officer's shoulder. But he worries about his country — our country — losing its humanity, its empathy, its brotherly love.

That's Pop's story. The cops have a different story.

Capt. Robert Flynt supervises all the special operations with Greensboro Police Department.

He hadn't heard about the OK from the motorcycle cop. But he said he heard his colleagues asked Kohanowich to move from the median at least twice. The reason: The median is part of the public road, and no one can stand there for anything.

All Kohanowich had to do, Flynt said, was move to the sidewalk on the other side of the street, with his signs, and he would've been fine.

Kohanowich didn't.

Flynt sees the arrest as appropriate without unnecessary force. You put your hands on an officer, you're going to get arrested. That's the bottom line.

So, Kohanowich became the only arrest during the event that created a busy day around the coliseum.

"I hate that it occurred," Flynt said. "Our intention was to get through the day with everyone being safe and with us not having to arrest anyone. As long as people follow our instructions, those things (arrests) won't occur."

Pop will plead his case later this month in a Greensboro courtroom.

Oh, he's fine. The bruise on his right wrist — apparently from the handcuffs — is not much bigger than a pencil eraser.

Ask him about it, and he'll tell you it doesn't hurt. Then, without speaking a word, he'll tap his chest.

That, he says, is where it'll hurt. Forever.

Contact Jeri Rowe at 373-7374 or jeri.rowe@news-record.com