Righteous Anger over Waco's Outrageous New City Ordinance

Righteous Anger over Waco's Outrageous New City Ordinance

Dear Champion of the Lord and the Unborn,

The Lord richly bless you!  I just got back from North Carolina .  We had our annual leadership meeting.  Christian Pro-life leaders came together to seek the Lord for direction for 2004.  It was a great gathering and many are inspired to go further up and further into God's purposes this year.

While away the cat did play and as a result more governmental tyranny against the Gospel and the Pro-life message developed in Waco.  As we are preparing for the Walk Across America Prophetic Tour, we are duty bound to challenge this further injustice in our city and nation.  Attorney Rick Nelson for Orlando, FL will be handling our case.

We also will be pressing forward with our case with the city and Planned Parenthood over the library debacle.  Our attorneys from California will press forward this week on that case.  If the ruling still stands that removes $700.000.00 from the Planned Parenthood coffers and then they get hit hard with our lawsuit, perhaps our prayers will be answered and the nightmare of Planned Parenthood will fade as a distant dream.  Please pray for us brethren, the battle is raging and we have much to accomplish in a short time.  Please pray for Liz and my family.  She is due to give birth to our 10th child soon.  Torah Grace or Benjamin Judah Moore will be here soon.  Love ya!

IN KING JESUS' SERVICE,

Rusty 

Pro-life groups outraged over new city ordinance
By J.B. SMITH Tribune-Herald staff writer

A new ordinance banning activities on Waco streets and sidewalks in school zones during certain hours has roiled local anti-abortion groups who say it targets them.

The city council passed an ordinance this week that prohibits "street activity and parades" — including demonstrations — during posted school zone hours. City officials say it is intended to reduce traffic hazards and doesn't target any particular school or group.

But anti-abortion groups see it as an effort to muzzle free speech and are threatening legal action.

Abortion protesters at the Columbus Avenue Planned Parenthood clinic have drawn complaints from parents at the Waco Montessori School across the street. Parents were offended in November when an out-of-town group displayed six-foot-tall pictures of aborted fetuses.

"That's what this is all about," said Rick Ellis, president of Waco Right to Life. "The only people who have really been around the schools have been the pro-life movement. This is oppression of religious free speech. .... I believe it's unconstitutional. This will probably go to federal court."

The city council passed the ordinance on the second of two required readings Tuesday with little discussion.

City Attorney Art Pertile said his office initiated the ordinance after the city received complaints about traffic hazards in school zones. One of those was the Montessori location, he said.

"That wasn't the catalyst, but it was one area where we had complaints," he said. "This isn't in regard to just protesting. It's about the congestion around those schools. ... You don't want groups of people hanging around when buses are loading and unloading."

He said the ordinance could assist police in clearing out children and adults who are standing around near the street, causing obstacles to traffic.

City Manager Larry Groth said the ordinance is strictly a safety measure.

"It seemed to make sense to me," he said. "Generally, school zones are there for a reason — for safety. Anything that takes away from drivers' attention takes away from safety. And if that's going on at a time when a lot of kids are loading and unloading, that could deter from safety."

Ellis says that's a pretense for censoring unpopular ideas.

"We pose a serious risk to children?" he said. "What serious risk are they talking about? No pro-lifer here has ever been arrested for anything. We don't block anything. When does the responsibility of the driver come in?"

In an e-mail statement, Ellis attacked city leaders as being "hostile" to the pro-life movement.

"The powers that be in this city are blatantly Pro-abort, and like all tyrants that get their power by murdering the weak and voiceless, they must oppress the one thing that always defeats them, the truth," he said by e-mail.

Rusty Thomas of Waco , president of Elijah Ministries and assistant director of the national Operation Rescue, said the ordinance is an attack on religious speech. He said he recently preached for 20 minutes to a large group of Montessori students outside after school — an evangelistic opportunity he would miss under the new law.

"The gospel of Jesus Christ has been court-ruled out of our schools and the public life of our nation," he said. "Now they want to remove it not just from the school but from the sidewalk. As Christian Americans, we cannot allow that to happen. What our nation is beginning to say is, 'Yes, we believe in rights, but not here, not now.' Obviously, this is going to have to be challenged."

Local pro-life groups in the past have successfully challenged a city ordinance against signs in public rights-of-way. Federal courts found the ordinance was not evenly enforced.

Pertile says the new ordinance is constitutional because it doesn't discriminate against any group and because it is written to serve specific public interests, namely health and safety.

"As long as it's content-neutral, we have the right to place reasonable location and time restrictions" on activities in public rights-of-way, he said.

"It's an area where we all recognize the need to be careful. But it's not arbitrary. ... Somebody's going to feel like their constitutional rights are violated every time we enact an ordinance."

Baylor University professor David Guinn, who teaches constitutional law, said an ordinance of this type must meet certain standards to hold up in court.

The restrictions against speech must be content-neutral, he said. They must serve a significant government interest, such as safety, traffic flow or preventing disruptions at a school or hospital.

And the restrictions must not be drawn more broadly than necessary to meet those interests, he said.

"The U.S. Supreme Court has held consistently over the last 60 years that streets, sidewalks and parks in America ... are quintessential public forums where Americans can gather to convey their views," said Guinn, who has not reviewed the Waco ordinance.

"The courts have always been extremely sensitive about any attempt to regulate the content of the message."

Thomas and Ellis say the time restrictions in this case are during prime protesting time for them. They say they want to spread their message to students and parents as well as other passers-by.

"Those other times, nobody is around," Ellis said.

The Montessori school zone encompasses the Planned Parenthood clinic at 1927 Columbus Ave. The school zone hours are 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.

The Montessori school has already installed high privacy fences around that part of the playground facing the clinic.

Barbara Williamson, head of the school, said the abortion protest controversy is not the reason for the ordinance.

"This is not driven by the protesters, but we're going to support it," she said of the ordinance. "I'm talking about traffic and additional activity on a street in the morning or afternoon. ... I don't care what anyone is doing when they congregate in front of the school. I don't care if they're selling Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

"Our issue is the children."

J.B. Smith can be reached at jbsmith@wacotrib.com or 757-5752.