The Pennsylvania-based Street Preachers' Fellowship is run by Ron McRae,
the East Coast version of Fred Phelps
http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-32/11813276 47208190.xml&storylist=louisiana
http://tinyurl.com/2v4ynl Trial ordered in "street preachers" suit against Columbia
6/8/2007, 1:25 p.m. CT
By JANET McCONNAUGHEY
The Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Pretrial evidence doesn't prove whether police in a
rural northeast Louisiana town violated the rights of anti-abortion
protesters when they ordered them to stand farther from a highway, so a
federal judge must try the suit, an appeals court has ruled.
"There is simply too much uncertainty about the motivations of the
governmental action to determine whether a First Amendment violation
took place," the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in an opinion
this week.
It overturned a district judge's ruling in favor of the town of
Columbia, which said demonstrators were obstructing a highway in front
of the United Methodist Church on Feb. 12, 2005.
Kenneth Coleman Sr. and the World Wide Street Preachers Fellowship say
Columbia police were punishing the group because officers didn't like
their signs, some of which showed aborted fetuses.
DVDs of its protests over the years in Columbia show five to 15 members
holding up signs at a roadside, with one or two members speaking through
a bullhorn, the 5th Circuit said in the unsigned opinion handed down
Wednesday. "Many of the signs speak of the consequences of sin and the
need for repentance. Some, however, are critical of abortion,
homosexuals, and women pastors."
The church had complained they were standing on its property, and police
acted after a state trooper asked town police to move the demonstrators
back from the highway and the white line at its edge, the 5th Circuit
said.
During a demonstration in December 2003, it said, Officer Robert Miles -
who also is the assistant chief - had indicated that he agreed with
their anti-abortion stand, but said their signs were offensive.
The Alliance Defense Fund, which represents Christian conservatives in
First Amendment lawsuits, claimed the ruling as a victory. "We are
pleased that the court recognized that the First Amendment rights of
pro-life citizens are threatened by the actions of Columbia officials,"
said Randall Wenger, an attorney affiliated with the group.
The town's attorneys did not immediately return a call for comment
Friday.
The Street Preachers Fellowship has filed at least eight federal
lawsuits in seven states - Louisiana, Kentucky, Utah, Georgia, Indiana,
Pennsylvania and two federal courts in Michigan - since 2003.
In 2004, the group lost a challenge against a street preacher buffer
zone set up around the Mormon conference center in Salt Lake City during
the Mormon's October 2003 conference.
A case in Grand Rapids, Mich., where the group is accused of violating
an ordinance against loud and boisterous disturbance and one requiring a
permit to use a park, is heading toward trial.
Harrisburg, Pa., settled a lawsuit in January, agreeing that police
would not arrest street preachers under the current ordinance but
reserving the right to change the ordinance or pass a new one applying
to street preachers.
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