Elmwood couple ordered to keep distance from school property
By Eddie West, Staff Writer, Carthage Courier

An Elmwood couple who distributed pamphlets with an anti-public school message at four schools last month have been temporarily ordered to stay their distance from school board property.  Circuit Court Judge John Wootten has ordered the couple to stay 100 feet from the nearest edge of any board of education property.

Last month, the couple distributed pamphlets asking parents to remove their children from public schools, citing a variety of moral issues as the reasoning behind their actions.  Bill and Patsy Hewitt are supporters of a Dallas, Texas based organization called Operation Save America which, among other issues, asks parents to remove their children from public schools and either home school their children or enroll them in a private Christian school.

The group maintains public school systems across the nation teach tolerance to alternative lifestyles and other moral and religious issues.  The group’s belief is that public school systems “indoctrinate children into accepting homosexuality as a normal alternative lifestyle” and “destroys children’s Christian belief”.  Members of the organization are adamant opponents of the National Education Association which the group says has promoted “moral decay in schools through resolutions advocating tolerance in a number of areas, including sex education, abortion and homosexual rights”.  Supporters of the movement advocate a return of God and religious beliefs to school systems across the nation.

Earlier this year, the Elmwood couple distributed the pamphlets at exits to Defeated, Forks River, Carthage and Union Heights elementaries.  The county’s school board filed a civil lawsuit asking the couple be permanently restrained from distributing the pamphlets on school board property.  In the lawsuit, school officials claim the Hewitts’ actions were “disruptive” and the couple had been filming children.

The lawsuit claims as parents or caregivers dropped off students at the schools, Bill Hewitt would “come onto the school parking lot and stop and accost the vehicle’s driver to force a brochure on them”.  In affidavits filed as part of the lawsuit, the Hewitts deny they came onto school property, rather stayed on public right-of-way while distributing the brochures and deny being “disruptive” in any way.  While the couple say they had a video camera, they maintain no minors were filmed.  Also, the Hewitts deny their actions were disruptive.

During a hearing on September 24 in Lafayette, Circuit Court Judge Wootten issued a temporary restraining order requiring the couple to stay at least 100 feet away from school board property and no filming of minors on school board property. A final hearing in the case, which could result in a permanent restraining order, is set for January.