Sun Staff Reporter
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
*To see this story as it originally appeared in the Daily Sun, click here
Whether the anti-abortionists arrested earlier this month knew they were breaking the law for allegedly picketing outside a Planned Parenthood employee's home remains to be seen, officially, in court.
What Beth Otterstein can say right now is that she feels violated. And she will pursue charges against the group as extensively as the law allows. "I feel like my home is -- my home. My home is where my family is," said Otterstein, a long-time Planned Parenthood employee in Flagstaff who came home one recent Saturday to find a shaken family and inflammatory messages written in the street in chalk. "People ought to be safe and comfortable in their homes, and there ought to be a break between work and home."
Added Otterstein: "I understand freedom of speech, and the First Amendment, but I don't think that really applies to my private life."
ALL THREE PLEAD INNOCENT
Tara Shaver, 23, Henry Shaver, 29, and Johnny Wallace, 67, all of Flagstaff, pleaded innocent in Flagstaff Municipal Court Monday to charges of residential picketing, which is illegal under state law. The case is the first in the city in nearly four years.
The group has retained Phoenix-based attorney John Jakubczyk, a past president of Arizona Right to Life.
He said he needs to review the details of the case more, including the police report.
"Once I do, then I'll be able to advise my clients and talk to the prosecutor, and try and arrive at a resolution that will be fair, and just, and appropriate," he said.
Jakubczyk said that if his clients broke the law, it was unintentional.
"I think it would be fair to say that if they had asked for legal advice regarding the issue of residential picketing they would have been advised of the law," he said. "I don't believe they had any idea that there was a statute on the books regarding this issue."
According to Flagstaff police, the group shouted through a megaphone that Otterstein kills babies and needs to repent. Their cars blocked part of the road, and their demonstration could be heard down the street, according to a neighbor.
They also allegedly wrote several messages in the street in large chalk letters, identifying Otterstein by name.
Jakubczyk said in his conversations with his clients, they want to be in compliance with the law.
"I think that if you had asked them if they knew about this they probably would have said no," he said.
Next in the process come pre-trial conferences, which have not been set but should occur in about a month.
ELDERLY GRANDMOTHER INSIDE
Otterstein, a nurse practitioner and administrator at Flagstaff's Planned Parenthood clinic, has been at the organization's local office for 25 years -- almost as long as the clinic has been in town.
She's become used to the highly visible group of protesters that has picketed the facility on South Plaza Way in recent months. She acknowledges their legal rights to protest.
But she had never seen them at her home, and she never expected to.
"When they come to your home, when they're in front of your home and they write things on the street about you, that's different," she said. "I feel much more targeted, much more threatened. Unfortunately, that's probably what they're happy to have."
Otterstein was out of town on Feb. 16 when her teenage daughter called her, shocked and upset about the group protesting in the street outside their north Flagstaff home. The young woman was especially concerned about her elderly grandmother, who was also inside.
Otterstein doesn't know how the protesters got her unlisted address.
"It just doesn't seem like a Flagstaff type of thing," she said. "In Flagstaff, despite our growth, we're still a small town. We're neighborly."
Otterstein said that if she could have a discussion with the people accused of picketing outside her home, she would ask them for tolerance.
"I don't ask for them to change their opinion or their viewpoint, but I would ask that they have tolerance and see people as individuals with needs," she said.
PICKETING ARRESTS UNCOMMON
The protesters were gone by the time police arrived. But the daughter accompanied police to Heritage Square, where they had continued their demonstration, and identified four members of the group.
Police cited and released Wallace and the Shavers, plus a 14-year-old girl, for residential picketing.
A residential picketing law has been on the books since 1978, but local police rarely cite offenders.
Flagstaff police have issued such tickets only one other time since 2001: in 2004, when three people staged a demonstration outside the home of a candidate for Flagstaff City Council who was hosting a campaign event inside. A city court judge later dismissed the charges because the prosecution failed to present enough evidence to establish a case that a crime had been committed, and that the three had done so.
The Shavers are among several who regularly protest outside the Flagstaff Planned Parenthood center. The protests have drawn counter-protesters, and have been ongoing for several months.
Police officers frequently go out to the clinic during protests, although they usually do so only to document complaints and not make arrests.
Bridget Daly, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood, said "97 percent" of Planned Parenthood's services are preventive, including contraception, well-woman exams, and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections. The local clinic provides mifepristone, or the abortion pill, but does not perform surgical abortions.
Otterstein said clinic staff also provides counseling, and have turned away clients who sought abortions.
"The health and safety and security of our clients and our staff are our top priorities, and we definitely feel that women should be able to get health care, general health care, without the fear of violence or harassment or intimidation," she said. "We've been dealing with this for a long time, and we'll continue to provide sexual and reproductive health care in the community for generations to come after this. So it doesn't affect the way that we do business."
Hillary Davis can be reached at 556-2261 or hdavis@azdailysun.com.
About residential picketing
Residential picketing is a Class 3 misdemeanor, defined by Arizona Revised Statutes as "if, with intent to harass, annoy or alarm another person, such person intentionally engages in picketing or otherwise demonstrates before or about the residence or dwelling place of an individual."
In general, state law says that Class 3 misdemeanors are punishable by up to 30 days in jail, one year probation and fines not exceeding $500.
