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Pastor Ralph Ovadal is on trial in Madison, Wisconsin
today, charged with a crime for preaching the gospel on May 28, 2001 on
the parking lot of the state-funded nude beach near Mazomanie, Wisconsin.
The trial begins at 9:00 AM in Room 309 of the City County Building (210
Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.). If found guilty, Pastor Ovadal faces up to
ninety days in jail and $1,000 in fines.
Since he was charged on July 14, 2001, Pastor Ovadal
has been under a "no contact order" with regard to the
"victim" to whom he preached, Nancy J. Erickson. This is highly
unusual in a disorderly conduct case, especially when the person charged
has no history of any violent crimes or incidents. The D.A. also kept
Erickson's name a secret until recently forced by the law to reveal it to
Jim Donohoo, Pastor Ovadal's attorney.
". . . I refer to page 3 of the
transcript, this defendant says, `Good preaching brother, that's good
scripture preaching, good Bible preaching.' I think when he said that,
that is encouraging . . ."
Dane County Assistant District Attorney Jason Hanson arguing in a November
7, 2001 pre-trial that charges against Pastor Ovadal should not be dropped
because he not only preached the gospel in a public fora on May 28, 2001,
but he also "encouraged" others to do so.
"On July 7, 2001, Conservation Warden
LuAnn Kuzma contacted Nancy J. Erickson in regards to an incident that
took place on May 28, 2001. The incident occurred in the parking lot off
Conservation Road on the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Mazomanie property . . . . [Erickson] agreed to give Kuzma a statement to
what occurred even though [she] stated she does not remember it all."
Excerpt from DNR "Case Activity Report," July 8, 2001, Warden
LuAnn Kuzma Reporting
"I am glad the state's melodrama is
drawing to a close today. For several years, they have tried to recruit
someone to make a bogus criminal complaint against me for WCU's ministry
on the Mazo beach parking lot. They were finally able to find a nudist to
step up to the plate in the person of Nancy J. Erickson. This is no
surprise, considering Erickson has many times gone out of her way to taunt
WCU Christians who care about children and morality."
Ralph Ovadal, Pastor, Pilgrims Covenant Church; Director, Wisconsin
Christians United
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