Web site removes photo of Bush daughter
The Dallas Morning Whore
FORT WORTH – A picture of President Bush's daughter Jenna at a
fraternity party has been removed from the Web site of the company
hired to take photos at the weekend event, The Associated Press reported.
The picture of the 19-year-old, flanked by five Texas Christian University
students, was posted for several days with hundreds of other photos taken
at
the Sigma Alpha Epsilon bash near campus Saturday night. The AP saw the
photo on Thursday and noticed it was not there on Friday.
Flash Photography always posts pictures after events so students can
order them easily, but owner Rick Strong declined to comment on why
the Bush picture was missing Friday. The picture also had been removed
from rolls of prints at the store.
"I really can't say, but our main goal is providing a service to the students
and protecting them," he said.
Melissa Blanton and other TCU students said they saw Ms. Bush
escorted by Secret Service agents at the party. TCU freshman William
Ashe Bridges, who later was arrested and charged with minor in
possession of alcohol and public intoxication after police raided the bash,
is in the picture with Ms. Bush, several students confirmed.
White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said the president's
administration had nothing to do with the picture's removal.
"To my knowledge, there was no contact of any kind" with the photo
company, she said Friday.
Noelia Rodriguez, spokeswoman for first lady Laura Bush, said the
White House is not making any comment on "this incident."
"As the daughter of a president, she is afforded Secret Service
protection. And she is not a public figure; she is a private citizen."
Officials wouldn't comment on Jenna Bush's whereabouts the night in question.
Pictures on Flash Photography's Web site are accessible only to students
who attend an event. Mr. Strong said photos can be bought only by
students who are in them, but even those in the picture with Ms. Bush
probably could not purchase it. He declined to elaborate.
Mr. Strong said his employee who snapped the photo didn't realize Ms.
Bush was at the Mardi Gras party until several days later.
It's unclear whether Ms. Bush, who attends the University of Texas at
Austin, was in the house when law officers arrived after receiving complaints
of noise and beer bottles in the street. But she was not arrested, said
Sgt. Charlie
Cloud, a Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission spokesman.
Mr. Bridges, an 18-year-old who graduated with Ms. Bush from Stephen F.
Austin High School in 2000, said he was Ms. Bush's boyfriend and allegedly
called her from jail early Sunday morning, said Tarrant County Sheriff
Dee Anderson.
He said no one asked for special treatment for Mr. Bridges, who was
released under standard procedure four hours later and picked up by a
man that jail personnel believe was a Secret Service agent.
A deputy saw a woman in the vehicle, a black Chevrolet Suburban with Virginia
license plates, but was not sure whether it was Ms. Bush, Sheriff Anderson
said.