Seven pro-lifers from Harrisburg braved threats of arrest for criminal trespass and resumed their weekly picketing of a Catonsville abortionist without incident on July 14.

Every Tuesday morning since July, 1997, a small group of pro-lifers had been making the 1-hour, 45-minute drive to the office of Dr. Delhi Thweatt on Old Ingleside Avenue to protest the doctor's abortion activities at Harrisburg's Hillcrest abortion clinic.

On May 19, however, as Ed Snell, Marge Compton and two of her nine children were pacing the sidewalk opposite Dr. Thweatt's office (there is no sidewalk on Thweatt's side of the street), a Baltimore County police officer approached and warned them to leave, or they would be arrested and charged with criminal trespass.

Westview Federal Savings and Loan Association, the rear of which abuts the sidewalk, had complained to the police about the picketers, claiming the sidewalk was private property.

Ed and Marge left, not wishing to risk arrest because of the presence of the children.

But with the dogged persistence that has been his stock in trade through years of pro-life activities, Ed obtained records of the savings and loan property from Baltimore County's land survey office.

Calculations by Ralph Griffin, a licensed surveyor, showed that the sidewalk in question is public property.

Ed, Griffin and Marge followed up with a trip to the site on July 1. At 2:30 a.m. (they arrived at night to avoid disturbing traffic) Marge held a flashlight while Griffin confirmed his preliminary findings with actual physical measurements of the road and sidewalk.

On July 6 Mr. Griffin phoned Captain Richard Wier of the County Police Department's 2nd Precinct and informed him of his findings that the sidewalk behind Westview was in fact in the public right-of-way, and that he would be willing to testify to that in court.

Ed was anxious to resume the picketing, but deferred it for a week to allow time for medications to clear up a foot infection.

He knew, from past arrests for pro-life activities, that if he were arrested, he would not be allowed to take his medications with him to jail.

Just before 10 in the morning of July 14, a bright red van pulled up and parked at the end of Old Ingleside Avenue.

Seven cheerful Pennsylvanians piled out: Ed, Marge, her 13-year-old twins, Jake and Becky Compton, Joe McLaughlin, John McTernan, and Sheri, alias The Grim Reaper (known affectionately to her friends simply as 'Grim').

They took up their posts on the disputed sidewalk, not knowing what to expect, as they had heard nothing definitive from the police. 'Captain Wier said that if he found out that Griffin is correct, he would tell his police not to bother us,' Ed reported.

But, he said, he and Marge were prepared to undergo arrest, if necessary.

The picketing proceeded quietly along the short, sparsely traveled street in front of the white bungalow that serves as Dr. Thweatt's office.

By 11 a.m. no police had appeared. 'No cops! I'm happy,' said Ed. 'This will establish our presence back here.'

At about noon a man got into a car at the end of the street, then slowly backed it up until he came to the picketers.

Rolling down the window, he identified himself as Herbert Katzenberg, chairman of Westview Federal. He asked the picketers not to demonstrate there, as they were on private property.

Ed told him that they had had the property surveyed and found that the sidewalk was on part of the right-of-way. 'It's my property,' Mr. Katzenberg insisted irritably. 'I maintain it! You can demonstrate in the street or on the doctor's property.'

The brief confrontation ended with Katzenberg driving away. 'Bluff, bluff, bluff,' Ed said calmly. 'He knows we're right, or the police would have been here. 'We've had conversations before; this is as nice as he's ever been. But I don't want to be confrontational with him--it's not him we're after.'

Shortly afterwards the pro-lifers spotted a police car parked inconspicuously but within view half a block away, apparently posted to keep an eye on them. 'He's not bothering us; he knows he can't do anything,' said Ed.

At 1 p.m., after a quick lunch, the pro-lifers would be off to picket Dr. Thweatt's home on St. Luke's Lane.

Their strategy of persistence, combined with concentrating on the abortionist, has helped them to close down one abortion mill in Harrisburg. Hillcrest is the city's only other free-standing abortion clinic. 'If we can get Thweatt out of business, I don't know how they can operate any more,' said Ed. 'It's a good feeling to be back, after two months away from the job,' he added with quiet satisfaction.