BURLINGTON – Indiana school teacher Karen Pence has been sitting in her rental car at Burlington International Airport (BTV) for two days now, waiting for her husband to return. Police were alerted to the situation by an employee of the airport who noticed over several hours that Mrs. Pence had failed to leave the vehicle. When asked why she was not exiting the white Nissan Maxima, she told police that her husband would be right back and that she preferred to wait for him.
“Mike told me to wait in the car, and that he would only be a few minutes,” the Indianapolis educator said. “so that’s what I’m going to do. He told me that he wouldn’t be long, because of all the disrespectful people here.” Mrs. Pence later admitted that she did not find the people of Vermont to be disrespectful, especially once word got out that she was stuck in her car and community members began to bring her water and cider donuts.
Members of the press were also present in the airport parking garage, set up near and around the Maxima, and confirmed that they too had been asked to wait there by Mrs. Pence’s husband. They explained that, owing to the nature of his work, Mr. Pence’s actions were often newsworthy and they had been prepared to follow him, but had all remained at the airport at his request. None of them knew where he might be.
After an extensive search, The Winooski managed to catch up with a frustrated Mr. Pence at the bottom of Church Street early this morning as he stumbled about, apparently searching for a protest.
“I just don’t understand it,” he told our reporter. “There are always protests in Vermont! Someone is always disrespecting America up here! But darned if I can find any!”
Pence explained that he is very anti-protest, but does not know how to publicly show it in a way that gets people’s attention. For now he has settled on finding a protest and then immediately leaving, in an act of protest that he calls “not an act of protest.” Unfortunately for Mr. Pence he arrived just after the anti-Columbus rally and well before UVM will be able to recreate the “Black Lives Matter” banner that was recently stolen. It could be well into Friday before another major protest occurs.
Anyone wishing to send support or baked goods to Mrs. Pence can do so care of the Burlington International Airport, attention: “weird car lady.” The airport asks that you send no metal, and no more than 3.4 oz. of any liquid.
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