Here is Rusty’s report on the progress of our court case against the city of Jackson Wyoming.  Pastor flew to Cheyenne, Wyoming, to be present at the hearing.   ~ Flip

Dear Champion of the Lord and the Preborn,

Pastor and I had the blessing to be at the Wyoming Supreme Court with our wonderful attorney, Jack Edwards. He did a masterful job defending our rights, while dismantling the city of Jackson’s case against us.

It is amazing to consider that Operation Save America did a regional event in Jackson, WY and six months later it is still reverberating throughout this state. It continues to be front page news.

The city of Jackson was so concerned about this case going before the Wyoming Surpeme Court, they sent the top five leaders of their city to observe it. The mayor, city manger, city attorney who argued their case, and LT. Guillam who sought the TRO/injunction against us were present in the court room. Apparently, they are deeply concerned about the outcome of this case. They are either frightened by a lawsuit or intend to use it again to censor the Gospel light that shines upon the darkness of child-killing tolerated in their city.

As most of you know WY is one of the five states that makes up the States of Refuge campaign. Please continue to pray for this vision and mission. We will be going back to Wyoming and it would be a great blessing to see this TRo/injunction defeated in Jesus’ name!

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Wyoming Supreme Court Considers Abortion Case

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) – The town of Jackson violated anti-abortion protesters’ rights when it secured a court order prohibiting them from appearing on the town square, a lawyer told the Wyoming Supreme Court on Thursday.

Laywer Jack Edwards, representing the anti-abortion group Operation Save America, argued that it was improper for the town to secure a court order barring activists from appearing within two blocks of the town square in May. The town didn’t notify protesters beforehand that it was seeking the order.

“There are many procedural errors,” Edwards told the court. “To not rule on this would create a blueprint for the squelching of protected speech in the future.”

Audrey Cohen-Davis, lawyer for the town, argued Thursday that it was proper for the town to secure the restraining order from District Judge Timothy Day.

Cohen-Davis said city police feared possible violence if the protesters, who previously had been showing graphic signs of aborted fetuses around Jackson, came together on the town square with about 200 Boy Scouts and their families who were gathering for an annual auction of elk antlers.

“Parents taking their Boy Scouts to the Elkfest event did not expect to have a group subjecting their children to such material,” Cohen-Davis said.

Police arrested two anti-abortion protesters at the event.

Operation Save America, a national group, said it had picked Jackson for its anti-abortion campaign in an effort to make Wyoming the first state in which no doctors would provide abortions. The group targeted Dr. Brent Blue, a family practitioner, whom the group said is the only doctor in the state to offer abortions.

Justice E. James Burke questioned Cohen-Davis closely about the town’s failure to notify Operation Save America before seeking the court order.

Burke noted that the U.S. Supreme Court has said there’s no place in the law for issuing restraining orders without notice that deprive people of their basic freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment unless there’s proof it was impossible to notify them and give them an opportunity to participate in the court hearing.

Cohen-Davis responded that she didn’t want Operation Save America protesters to know who she was. She said Jackson was in a very volatile situation when the protesters were in town.

“Isn’t our system sort of based on both sides having an opportunity to present their position to the court?” Burke asked.

Rusty Thomas of Waco, Texas, is assistant director of operations for Operation Save America. He and other members of the group attended Thursday’s court hearing in Cheyenne.

Speaking after the hearing, Thomas said the group had about 40 or 50 protesters in Jackson for five or six days in May. “We felt it was our duty as Christians to make that challenge,” he said.

Thomas said his group was in close contact with Jackson law enforcement during the protest, but received no advance notice the town was going to court to block its demonstration. “They did not make any attempts to tell us,” he said. “We were set up.”

Thomas said the group wants the Wyoming Supreme Court to issue an order saying what the town did was wrong. “What happens when we go back? And we do intend to go back,” Thomas said. “Are they going to pull this out and go after us in the future?”

The court took the case under advisement and will issue a written decision later.