Judge Dismisses Charges
Judge Dismisses Citations Against Abortion Protesters
They are accused of loitering at abortion clinic in Allentown.
A district justice dismissed loitering and obstructing public places citations against eight Allentown abortion protesters Tuesday, adding to the list of charges thrown out since a federal judge issued a ruling in August.
Abortion protesters claimed vindication Wednesday, but a lawyer for Allentown said he believes the district justice ruled in error.
District Justice Carl L. Balliet dismissed summary citations against Edward J. Kuchar, 73; Joseph A. Arietta, 74; Thomas L. Portland, 57; and Sandra L. Godshalk, 60, all of Allentown; Phillip T. Pongracz, 45, of South Whitehall Township; Kathleen Rose Kuhns, 61, of Reading; Kathleen R. Mondok, 67, of Bethlehem; and Joseph F. O'Hara, 73, of Hobbie, Luzerne County.
They were cited by city police with loitering and/or obstructing a public place for activities during protests at the Allentown Women's Center, an abortion clinic at 1409 Union Blvd., on Oct. 26, Nov. 9, and/or Nov. 13, according to the citations.
They were cited with persisting, after repeated police warnings, in blocking traffic by standing or walking in the street in the 1400 block of Keats Street, which faces the clinic's main entrance at the back of the building, or for blocking the clinic entrance, the citations state.
Balliet dismissed the charges based on an Aug. 9 decision by federal Judge James M. Kelly of Philadelphia allowing protesters to remain on ''the public walkways'' of Keats Street.
But lawyer Thomas C. Anewalt, a former city solicitor representing the city on the civil aspects of the center protests, pointed to language in the ruling stating that the protesters are allowed on Keats Street only if they '' … conduct their protest activities in a lawful manner that does not obstruct traffic on Keats Street, or the entrance to the.''
The citations Balliet dismissed were issued precisely because protesters blocked Keats Street and the clinic entrance, Anewalt said, calling Balliet's ruling ''inappropriate'' and particularly frustrating to police, who he said issued the citations in a good faith effort to balance the rights of protesters with those of clinic workers and patients.
Balliet could not be reached Wednesday for reaction to Anewalt's comments.
On Dec. 20 Balliet threw out similar charges stemming from different protests at the center, and on Dec. 9 a Lehigh County senior judge dismissed harassment and defiant trespass charges against Pongracz and another protester.
Pongracz said Wednesday that the series of dismissals vindicates the protesters.
''What this means is starting tomorrow, we're going to be on Street, and there will be no arrests,'' Pongracz said. ''We're seeing some light now; we're seeing justice.''
Anewalt said city officials will continue to respect the protesters' rights, but that protesters still must refrain from breaking the law by loitering, obstructing streets, or engaging in harassment and other illegal activities.
And yet to be determined, Anewalt said, is where the ''public walkways'' of Keats Street might be, if any. There are no sidewalks on the narrow street.
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b4_5dismi
ssdec30,0,876191.story?coll=all-newslocal-hed
Posted by Editor at December 30, 2004 04:51 AM
