Dear Editor,
Referencing the article below, there are at least three major
errors. I was there for the entire time and captured much of the
event on my digital camera.
1. The people who were arrested were not marching among cars
stopped at red lights; they were standing in the grass on the side
of the road, each holding a pro-life sign and quietly praying.
2. We did not refuse to disperse; we took the signs down at 5:00pm.
3. We did not return to the same intersection; we moved to another
location and set the signs up again.
4. At that location, a state trooper arrived and began arresting
people without telling them why.
My concern is that your newspaper should be gravely concerned with
this deliberate attack by the State, the trampling of MD citizens'
First Amendment rights. I would encourage you to dig deeper into
this story and report it for what it really is:
+ Why is it against the law to stand on the side of the road with
a sign and pray?
+ Why can MD State Troopers arrest 18 peacefully assembled people
without telling them why and without reading them their rights?
+ Why can they hold them for up to 48 hours without charging them
with anything?
+ By what authority can a police officer order people to leave a
Maryland county without citing an offense? Is this the United
States of America or the Soviet States of America?
Here is the story from the Baltimore Sun:
Anti-abortion protesters arrested
By Josh Mitchell
August 2, 2008
Eighteen anti-abortion protesters were arrested yesterday after they
marched among cars stopped at red lights in Harford County and
refused to disperse, state police said.
Motorists called police about 4:30 p.m. to report that 30 to 50
people holding large signs and pictures were walking in traffic at
an intersection on Route 24 just north of Interstate 95. Two
troopers responding to the calls asked the protesters to disperse
after they could not produce a permit to demonstrate, state police
spokesman Greg Shipley said.
An hour later, 20 members of the same group marched again at the
intersection, Shipley said.
Sixteen adults and two juveniles were arrested. Shipley said they
were charged with disorderly conduct, failure to obey a lawful order
and willfully obstructing the flow of traffic.