Jackson Free Press

Business owner and conservative pundit Alan Lange pled with the city this week to do something about anti-abortion protesters trespassing on his property. The protesters, who camp out daily at the Jackson Women's Health Organization abortion clinic oat 2903 N. State Street in Fondren, are hurting a business that rents property from him across the street.

"One guy put a lawn chair in (my) parking space, just laying out with a picture of a dead baby," Lange said. "What's the next step for me? What can I do? These people sue me if I try to stop them, and I don't have the guidance to do anything about it."

Council President Ben Allen described the protesters as "prone to sue," adding, "these people are backed by money from all over the country." He explained that protesters sued Lange after he turned on the sprinkler system at the business and got some protesters wet. The protesters sued Lange for assault. Lange said he has since been hesitant to take legal action against the protesters.

The protesters have Deputy City Attorney Pieter Teeuwissen similarly cowed, so much that he refused to offer personal advice to Lange on the matter.

"If we give advice to either side in this battle, if we advise him how he can do a report, we're going to be sued. We'll be giving legal advice that will chill out somebody else's First Amendment rights. We can't do that. Do I have advice? Plenty. But I cannot sit here as a government employee without knowing that we're going to be sued again next week if I give it to you," Teeuwissen said.

Previous Commentsshow

An intriguing little story about a guy who stokes the rabid conservative fires, eh?

DonnaLadd

Apr 6 2007

well, like the Great man said....... business is business......................

Kingfish

Apr 6 2007

Why not shoot them with that big ass gun using Castle Doctrine? ;-)

kaust

Apr 6 2007

Yeah, I wondered about the big-a$$ gun myself. I thought that was the answer to everything!? ;-)

DonnaLadd

Apr 6 2007

Next time they trespass, call the cops. Get them on tape trespassing. Tell them to stay the hell of your property. As far as the gun thing, if they are just stepping onto the property, i doubt he'd need it. Get them on tape, call the cops, then if all else fails, head to Justice Court and get a peace bond, then a restraining order when they break the bond.

Ole Miss Alum

Apr 6 2007

I think you'd only use the Castle Doctrine if they attempted to break into his house/business.

Ole Miss Alum

Apr 6 2007

I think the problem here, Alum, is that these folks are rabid. I don't think most of them care if they break the law by trespassing. They have God on their side. So to speak. (The gun thing was a joke. Lange used to have a crime Web site with a big-ass gun on top of it to, uh, scare off the bad guys, I guess. I don't think most of them were visiting his site, though, so maybe it was a waste of a perfectly good big gun.) Also, I'm surprised that, as one of Melton's loudest supporters, he can't just pick up the phone and get some help on this little problem.

DonnaLadd

Apr 6 2007

I think the problem here, Alum, is that these folks are rabid. I don't think most of them care if they break the law by trespassing. They have God on their side. So to speak. ladd Well, these "god folks" sure took trespassing seriously when it came to the group protesting at Mississippi College. If the school can have them arrested fro stepping foot on their property, then our City needs to step up to the plate and arrest them when they step foot on Lange's land. He should post a sign with the Trespassing Ordinance on it dully warning those who may trespass. From there, he needs to coordinate with the JPD to crack down until a solution can be reached.

pikersam

Apr 6 2007

I can't get upset about this. The topic of this post should be "karma." There is an old Japanese saying that says something like "occasionally, if a warrior waits quietly long enough, the body of his enemy will float by him in the river." So, um, here's to doing the right thing and waiting.

Lori G

Apr 7 2007