Vowing not to rest until someone is arrested for the death of Martin Lee Anderson, more than 400 people joined a protest march Saturday.

BY GARY FINEOUT

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PANAMA CITY - On a hot, steamy day, roughly 400 people, most of them from other cities and towns across Florida, quietly walked past the place where 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson spent some of his final hours.

The moment of silence was the one bit of quiet during a three-hour march and rally in this North Florida town that was designed to keep pressure on politicians, as well as media interest, in the case of the young man who died just a day after entering the now-shuttered Bay County boot camp.

''We won't rest until the people who murdered Martin Lee Anderson are convicted,'' vowed Bruce Gordon, national president and CEO of the NAACP, which helped organize the rally, as he led a group chant of ``No Justice, No Peace.''

Martin died Jan. 6, a day after he was repeatedly hit, punched and kneed by guards employed by the Bay County Sheriff's Office in a scene that was captured on videotape. He had been sent to the boot camp after being arrested for joyriding in his grandmother's car. Boot camps in Florida are no longer legal under a measure signed into law this past week by Gov. Jeb Bush.

An initial autopsy, performed by Bay County Medical Examiner Charles Siebert, said Martin died of natural causes because of sickle cell trait, a genetic blood disorder primarily affecting African Americans. But a second autopsy concluded Martin suffocated when a group of guards used ammonia capsules on him after he collapsed from running laps. So far no one has been charged in connection with Martin's death. After his speech, Gordon said that he has talked directly with U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales about the need to have federal authorities step into the investigation if state authorities misstep. The state investigation is being led by Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark Ober.

Gordon said his group help sponsored the march because he and others are worried that without continued pressure from the NAACP and other groups, the case will be settled quietly. Even state Sen. Tony Hill, a Jacksonville Democrat who joined the march, said some black officials in Panama City have urged black legislators to tone down their criticism, noting that one of the guards involved is black.

The rally at Tommy Oliver Stadium, home to Bay County's high school football teams, and the one-mile march featured a large contingent from Tallahassee, including students from Florida A&M University, Florida State University and Tallahassee Community College.

Chanting slogans such as ''We're Fired Up,'' the crowd walked slowly through a neighborhood near the stadium, then marched down the road that houses the Bay County Juvenile Justice Courthouse, the state Department of Juvenile Justice offices and the county detention center, where the boot camp was located. The chanting stopped, however, when the crowd filed past the boot camp where Martin's picture stood on an easel on the sidewalk.

Even though Gina Jones and Robert Anderson, the parents of Martin Lee Anderson, helped lead the march, most of those participating were not from Bay County. And the march itself attracted only a handful of onlookers.

Wayne Johnson, who spent his childhood in Panama City and returned 14 years ago, said he remains undecided about Martin's death but he said the case has divided people in his hometown.

''The white folks don't really understand the rage black folks have toward this event,'' said Johnson, who watched the march while sitting on his maroon Harley-Davidson motorcycle. ``It seems the black community is pretty much united. I always thought Bay County had really good race relations. I'm just disappointed this happened.''

Bill Stevenson, a 70-year-old native of Panama City, gave the marchers a thumbs down when they filed past. Panama City Police officers then asked him to leave.

''I think they are full of malarkey,'' said Stevenson, who said Martin was a ''juvenile delinquent'' and ''incorrigible'' and that no one should reach any conclusions before the investigation ends. ``They are trying to try this whole episode in the news media.''

Rufus Woods, pastor of Love Center Missionary Baptist Church and second vice president of the NAACP chapter in Bay County, could not explain why more local residents did not participate in the rally, although others noted that hundreds packed a Panama City church in February to protest Martin's death.

But Woods said more white pastors and white churches should join in the protest.

''It seems that many whites loves to deal with moral issues such as homosexuality and abortion,'' he said.

``I'd say Martin Lee Anderson losing his life is a moral issue. This issue is not about black or white. This issue is about right and wrong.''

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