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"For if they do these things in a green tree, what
shall be done in the dry?" Luke 23:3
Report for
June 3, 2004
When governing authorities call the preaching of
God's Word "obscene" and "hate mongering," full-blown
persecution of Christians is right around the corner. And that is just
what is happening more and more in America. We know the pastor spoken of
in the articles below; and believe us, mayoral aid Randy King's
"obscenity" is the faithful preaching of the Word of God. King
says "we," which means he and his fellow homo-fascists, are not
going to "tolerate" any more twisting and misinterpreting of the
Scriptures! The question is, Will Christians continue to tolerate it?
Pastor files lawsuit
James Grove said his rights were infringed at last year's PrideFest
By John Hope, for the Daily Record/Sunday News, http://ydr.com/news/main/ A Loganville pastor who was arrested last summer while preaching outside
Harrisburg's PrideFest gay festival has filed suit in federal court
seeking an injunction to prevent the city from again limiting his
preaching at the festival site this year.
The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Harrisburg by James Grove,
pastor of Heritage Baptist Church in Loganville, and the World Wide Street
Preachers' Fellowship against Harrisburg Mayor Stephen R. Reed, Harrisburg
Parks and Recreation Director Tina Manoogian-King, and two city police
officers.
This year's PrideFest is scheduled for July 31; U.S. District Judge
William Caldwell will hold a hearing on the injunction request June 16.
Grove and other preachers were arrested outside the PrideFest last July 26
and charged with disorderly conduct and defiant trespass.
They first were found guilty by a district justice. But they appealed to
Dauphin County Court, where Grove and another man were acquitted of both
charges, and two others were found guilty only of disorderly conduct.
Grove's federal suit seeks a preliminary injunction to prevent city
officials from establishing buffer zones around the event in which the
preachers may not speak; or preventing them from preaching, displaying
banners and distributing leaflets, especially on the sidewalk and streets
outside designated as entrances to the event.
The suit also asks punitive and compensatory damages as well as court
costs.
In challenging imposition of a 50-foot buffer zone around the festival,
the preachers say they are not seeking to enter the event, but want the
same access to public areas as is given other members of the public and
pro-homosexual demonstrators.
Randy King, a spokesman for Mayor Stephen Reed and the husband of the city
Parks and Recreation director named in the suit, said the actions of Grove
and the other street preachers "have cost the
citizens of Harrisburg thousands of dollars over the years and we're not
going to tolerate their hate mongering. This suit is nothing but a
preemptive strike by Mr. Grove to intimidate the city into inaction. That
may work in Westboro, Kansas (home of an independent church group that has
traveled to the midstate to protest homosexual activities), but it doesn't
work here."
The suit acknowledges that the views espoused by Grove and his colleagues
"are often at odds with the popular culture and are often critical of
national and cultural sin."
At the Pride festival, they pass out religious literature, engage in
open-air preaching and display signs and banners, the suit says.
King said they spend their time "shouting
obscenities at those going to the festival."
The suit alleges police restricted the preachers to areas away from the
gates to the festival allowed other members of the public, including
pro-homosexual demonstrators, to be closer to the event.
Grove says he and two others were arrested on orders of Manoogian-King and
transported to police headquarters by an officer who drove a paddy wagon
"in a reckless manner with the intent of causing as much discomfort
as was possible, including turning quickly around corners and running over
curbs."
Officer Stephanie Barrelet also is accused in the lawsuit of leaving one
of the men in the wagon for 15 minutes and another for 30 minutes in
87-degree weather before bringing them into the air-conditioned police
station.
The men spent about five hours locked in holding cells and were not
released until the festival had ended. The lawsuit criticized "the
lack of adequate training of Harrisburg police officers in the areas of
First Amendment rights."
Grove and the other plaintiffs say they say they "fear that at
PrideFest 2004 their preaching, assembly, display of banners, and walking
through buffer zones as they preach, assemble, and display banners will
once again be deemed by police as annoying or alarming, and will result in
further arrests, jail, and fines."
Protesters sue over arrest
Preachers crossed buffer zone at Harrisburg's PrideFest for gays
By Pete Shellem, May 26, 2004, Patriot-News, www.patriot-news.com
A group of street preachers who were arrested last summer for protesting
the PrideFest event for the gay community has filed suit in federal court
to stop the city from conducting similar arrests in the future.
The World Wide Street Preachers Fellowship and James Grove, one of its
members, are asking U.S. Middle District court for an injunction that
would stop the city from implementing buffer zones at future gay events.
City spokesman Randy King said the "hate
mongering" was costing the city thousands of dollars in legal
fees. He also said the buffer zone legislation, which came as the result
of another federal suit, is tied up in City Council.
"If Grove and his associates were to cease and
desist from their hate-mongering actions, then none of this would even be
necessary," King said in a statement. "Intolerance is not a
Christian value, regardless of how they try and twist or misinterpret the
Scriptures to justify it."
Grove and three other men were arrested in July 2003 after they crossed a
buffer zone, created by city authorities, while protesting the event. They
were charged with defiant trespass and disorderly conduct
Last month, a Dauphin County judge upheld the disorderly conduct charges
against two of the men and fined them $50 each. Judge Scott A. Evans
dropped a defiant trespass charge against another of the protesters and
ruled Grove did not violate any law.
Police said the four were repeatedly told to stay outside a 50-foot buffer
zone established by the city while protesting at the city's annual gay and
lesbian festival held along the Susquehanna River. The event is attended
by about 5,000 people each year.
The suit says the city did not arrest any counter protesters who crossed
the buffer zone.
King said the city agreed to the buffer zone concept after it lost a suit
over permit requirements, but the ordinance has been tied up in committee
since earlier this year.
He said inaction on the ordinance is resulting in liability to the city as
well as jeopardizing people who have permits for scheduled events.
"Even if you have a park permit to hold an event, anyone could come
in and disrupt it without fear of legal consequences," King said.
"It would be a free-for-all that benefits no one, and more than
likely would lead to violence and other problems among potential park
users that ultimately ends up in the criminal justice system."
The suit also seeks compensation for Grove's arrest.
The suit says the city is violating the preachers' constitutional rights
to free speech and freedom of religion.
In December 2002, U.S. Middle District Judge William W. Caldwell threw out
a city ordinance requiring a permit to pass out leaflets or make speeches
at city parks.
That suit was brought by some of the same preachers.
Homo-Fascism
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