As I rounded the corner and made my way down Court Street amidst the early morning crowds on what was an unseasonably warm November morning, a wave of second thoughts hit me. I was headed to Niagara Square to interview members of Occupy Buffalo, the off-shoot group of the Occupy Wall Street movement that have taken up residence across from City Hall.

I spend most of my days interviewing lawyers and business people. There are appointments, conference rooms, telephone interviews, rigid black-and-white stuff. Today was different. I had no scheduled interviews, no names and no real plan.

As I neared the encampment, I told the photographer that I wanted to wander around a bit while he got some shots. Translation: I wanted to delay talking with the people I had seen portrayed in the media as crazy, unstable, misguided, directionless nuts living on the fringe of society. After all, it was barely past nine on a Monday morning, who needs to start their week with that?

As we strolled through the park, Mark began shooting some photos of the tents. It took perhaps a minute, maybe two before we were greeted by a tall, young man. He certainly didn't look like what I thought an occupier might. He was clean-cut, well dressed and looked like he could easily be on the way to any of the surrounding office buildings.

Then, he spoke.

I would later learn his name was Fred, but when I introduced myself, Fred was having no part of pleasantries. He began to question the photographer, telling him he wanted to see what he was taking photos of. When he was informed that wasn't going to happen, Fred got red. He demanded to see the images and then announced he would be following us around and watching what we were shooting pictures of.

Ever the peacemaker (insert sarcastic smile here) I turned to Fred and said, "Great, that will give us a chance to talk for my story." Fred did not smile. In fact, he scowled and said he would not be saying anything to me. My first thought: Fred needs a hug.

As we walked away, with Fred in tow, the irony was not lost on either me or the photographer. An anti-establishment movement, tired of the oppression of big business, corporate America and the financial machine, a group sick and tired of being controlled, was trying to do just that. Fred was in effect, trying to limit a person's ability to take photographs on public land.

Fred would later say that he "only wanted good press" saying it is too easy for people to drive by, snap a photograph and have it end up in the Buffalo News. Well Fred, I have two thoughts for you:

1) When you build a giant tent city on public land in the middle of downtown Buffalo, people are going to come take pictures.

2) I can assure you with absolute certainty; none of the pictures we took will ever end up in the Buffalo News. I promise.

I wanted to tell Fred, he and I are kindred spirits. We were both standing in the middle of Niagara Square under the same umbrella, the First Amendment. Fred was enjoying his right to peaceably assemble and I was conducting the business of the press, with the right to do so without infringement. That is until Fred infringed. But something told me Fred wasn't interested in my logic, so I moved on.

I found my way to a few sign-carrying occupiers and struck up a conversation. I met Albert, a passionate man who articulated his positions with a zeal and vigor that by the end had me a bit inspired. Then I met Mike, John, Linda and several other occupiers. Each had their reasons for occupying and each story shared the common thread of authenticity.

These were good people, people who regardless of my differing views, were committed to their cause and I respected each of them for that. I respected Fred too, but for a different reason. I learned that Fred is a United States Marine who has served two tours of duty in Iraq. He is among many veterans that are part of the movement and for that I have both gratitude and respect for him.

The irony of course is that Fred traveled halfway around the world and risked his life to defend our freedom, including of course freedom of the press, the very same freedom he tried to snuff out when we first met.

In the spirit of full disclosure, Fred came up and sincerely apologized to me later that morning. Again, I respect him for that. But even in his apology, Fred was angling to control the press coverage the group receives. And that was where he lost me.

Having spent some time visiting and observing the Occupy Buffalo folks, I do think they have gotten a bit of a raw deal in the media. I also think having people like Fred leading the charge doesn't help. As Albert told me, one of the challenges of intentionally not having leaders, is there can be a lack of organization. With a hierarchy, there would have been a mechanism in place to keep the Fred's of the movement in check. Without it, it is every man for himself.

The group has been painted with broad strokes as something that I'm not sure they are. I think it would serve people well to stop by on your lunch hour, bring your kids down, give them the chance to see a real, 60s style protest in action. Just leave your cameras at home.