Comments on: Georgia Cops Impound Anti-Abortion Billboard Truck, Jail Driver

By: Sara Michelle Harmon

Sara Michelle Harmon — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:01:34 +0000

I applaud anyone who is willing to stand up against injustice—and am entirely pro-life myself–but as the mother of four young children, I can tell you I would not want them to see the pictures depicted on the side of this truck. Although there are many adults who NEED to be shocked by the reality of what abortion truly is, I shudder to think at how a six year old would react to seeing such an atrocity.
Yes, we have our freedoms, but a lot of what is wrong with our nation today is its refusal to take responsibility for the innocence of its youth.
We should protect our children from things which they are too young to handle, and train them up to know the difference between right and wrong. Life and Death.
If the world hadn’t lost sight of this we would have no need for Truth Trucks.

By: Shannon

Shannon — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:21:01 +0000

This is not an issue of first amendment rights being violated. This is a matter of other people deciding for me that my four year old had to see this garbage. Whether or not I agree with the anti-abortion message, does not make a difference. People do have every right to voice their opinions. THE PROBLEM IS THAT YOU DECIDED THAT MY FOUR YEAR OLD CHILD SHOULD SEE GRAPHIC AND VIOLENT PICTURES. I cannot carry signs on the side of Sugarloaf Pkwy like you all did today with pictures of naked homosexuals kissing (which is legal whether you like it or not). I cannot force my morals on your children-don’t force yours on mine. If you want to protest abortion, and show graphic pictures, MAKE SURE THAT YOU ONLY ARE SHOWING THEM TO ADULTS-pass out pamphlets or take out ads in newspapers. My four year old cannot get into rated R movies, and those pictures were definitely R rated material!

By: Holly K

Holly K — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 17:34:01 +0000

Good for the Atlanta Police. As for “pro-life”, there are more than enough people already on this planet. Why don’t you religious zealots help the people in need who are already here? Once they are all “saved” then worry about digging into people personal choices.

By: jack

jack — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 02:48:16 +0000

On 1/20/08, my wife took my son and my in-laws out to celebrate my son’s birthday which was earlier that week. My father-in-law took a camcorder with him to picture my son, his grandson. Before using the camcorder, he found out that he forgot to charge battery.
Later that day, they went to a movie theater to watch a movie which my son had been waiting for several days. During the middle of the movie, my father-in-law was asked to get out from movie room. Police officers questioned him and checked his camcorder. The police office didn’t find the camcorder was used to video movie. Also the police officer noticed that it was out of battery and was not functional. My father-in-law doesn’t speak English, so someone found my wife. When my wife came and she was informed that the theater manager doesn’t like my in-laws to stay to finish movie. Then my wife told my farther in-lows to leave the theater to wait in nearby Toy RUS.

After a moment, my wife went back to the theater with my son to finish movie. When she saw the theater manager and asked her’ permission to have my in-laws back to the movie without camcorder or having camcorder kept by the theater. The manager refused. Then my wife asked for explanation, at this moment, one of the police officers got in the conversation. It was not cleared if the police officer had personal interest in the movie theater and he tried to help the manager against my wife by showing his authority. . The police officer was not able to answer why my in-laws couldn’t come back to the movie without camcorder. The officer got irritated and asked my wife for her ID and arrested her. This is against the fourth amendment. And against free speech.

Around 9:00pm (after my wife was put in jail for 6 hours), I was informed that I could have her back on ROR and she was put in to releasing room. But this is not the end of the story. When I got to the jail, I had to wait for 15 hours (10 hours in chilly winter night) to get my wife released.

We need your help to bring back my wife’s innocence. We cannot allow the illegal use of police authority to bully us into silence.

Chief of Police of Albuquerque Ray Schultz
Internal Affairs
(505)768-2880

By: Michael Moore

Michael Moore — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 17:10:40 +0000

Abortion is murder,it doesn,t matter what name you give it , doesn,t matter weather the baby is partly in the womb or out, doesn,t matter weather it,s an embroy or full figured baby. GOD has already chosen that life; Those who make the decision to abort their own flesh and blood rather than take on their responceibility, whether rape or encesed will give an account before God.Those pictures of aborted babyes are very shocking,I do not like to see them, but who created the image? Those who voted for abortion;The campain for prolife should be able to state their case publicly.The shocking truth should be uncovered and made public for all to see.With the exception of children.

By: Jim Newport

Jim Newport — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 12:16:11 +0000

Dear Sirs,

Please email me pdf copies of court charge or filings so I may write an amicus in favor of defendant’s free speech on matter of public concern.

If bloody pictures are unlawful, almost all combat photos would be unlawful. PETA postings would be unlawful.

Send info.

By: cw

cw — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 05:13:28 +0000

Anonymous, sorry, your words are not enough. In fact it sounds like a view from rose colored glasses. No, I do not expect any internal investigation to happen nor do I expect the public to hear anything about it. It will just quietly disappear. There is so much going on that people will forget about it. I think the fact that the POLICE DEPARTMENT was not even open to receive the demand letter this Saturday speaks volumes. As the chief is in charge of this department, in my opinion it speaks about him as well.

Anonymous, I have personally witnessed situations where police have said prolifers cannot peacefully and legally witness in front of an abortuary on Constitution Day of all days! The witness happens every Saturday without incident. When reminded what day it was, the officer’s comment was “so what?” I was once witness to an act of destruction of prolife property and attempted violence against a fellow prolife witness. When I called the police out there, the officer’s answer was at first “Well, this is the nature of your being out here.”

There are other stories of cops harassing and arresting people who drive trucks like the OR Truth Trucks. In one case I heard of an individual who was arrested in CT and the cop blasphemed our Lord and insulted the Christian faith while the truck driver was taken to the police station. Nothing ever comes of it. The police never bother to present their side to the public because in reality, they don’t have to. They can basically do whatever they want until they come across a group which has the money to fight them.

As I said, one bad apple ruins the bunch. It’s the same in any employment situation. If you have a rude or incompetent cashier at a fast food joint, it reflects back on that business.

Anonymous, you may be a law enforcement officer who knows the law and does everything by the book. If so, you have my respect. In that case, I clearly understand it may be upsetting to hear complaints about colleagues. It’s the same in every profession.

In an ideal world, everything would happen according to what you said. There would be an internal investigation and the police chief would come out and inform the public of the findings. (And most likely, the internal investigation would just declare the officers did nothing wrong even though their charges couldn’t stick since they were not legitimate.) The fact that the charges were so quickly dropped and the police station could not even be bothered to be open kind of says a lot. Unfortunately these types of things happen too many times and get swept under the rug far too often. The police who do not care about the Constitution reflect badly on the entire police department. Until the department makes them obey the Constitution or relieves them of their positions, they will continue to give a bad name to the entire department.

By: anonymous

anonymous — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 01:44:19 +0000

cw, it is not the police department that has the power to drop the charges. The case is in the hands of the Solicitor’s Office. Unfortunately, just as in any criminal case, you are innocent until proven guilty. One thing I’m sure the police department is doing is fully investigating the incident. There is a process to everything, and there are two sides to every story. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I haven’t seen or heard anything from those officers that were involved. I’m sure that when internal affairs completes their investigation we will all hear more from that department, and if it is determined that the officers violated Georgia State Law or Departmental Policy they will be dealt with. Being in Law Enforcement, I am familiar with the fact that a lot goes on in police agencies that the public never knows about. I can assure you that some action has been taken behind the scenes, and when they determine their course of action the public will be made aware. I have heard nothing but good about that department. Chief Walters is a very professional and thorough person. He does not jump to conclusions. I feel confident that he will do the “right thing”, whatever that may be, when he has all the facts in front of him. He is known for his good work all the way up the east coast and he didn’t become Chief based on a vote. He earned that position and he will deal with this situation.

Trust me, I agree with you that it is frightening when a few officers make decisions that reflect on an entire agency. I wear a badge, and I’m sure that I have been questioned, not knowing it, just because of this one incident. The message I am trying to get across to people is that a few officers are not a police department. Although I know better, I wish the public would not look at all police as if they were the few officers that did this. I have learned a very valuable lesson in this line of work. I don’t Monday morning quarterback, and I don’t believe everything I hear. I wasn’t there that day, so I don’t know exactly what happened and why. I’m sure everyone that has read these comments has been judged unfairly at some point in their life. Give the department time, and I’m sure a lot of questions will be answered, and then form an opinion on the “department”. I do agree that what appears to have happened was wrong and those officers should be dealt with….for good!!

By: Mike Hardin

Mike Hardin — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 19:03:39 +0000

I’m deeply troubled with the level of anger in these post from the pro-life crowd. I am a pro-life Southern Baptist pastor. I find abortion abhorrent. But when we allow the abortion debate to reduce us to hateful name calling, we’ve lost the battle already. We should be able to make our case with scripture, with logic, and with love. I find phrases such as “In another nod to your abhorrent hypocrisy” very damaging to our cause.

By: cw

cw — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 06:05:24 +0000

Anonymous, I disagree. The POLICE DEPARTMENT did not immediately drop the charges. The POLICE DEPARTMENT did not announce immediate disciplinary actions against ITS EMPLOYEES in a manner such as requiring them to take a mandatory class reviewing the U.S. Constitution (something junior high school students learn about), requiring unpaid leave, or just outright relieving them of their positions. It is frightening that this police department has employees who leave the impression that they believe they can make up the laws as they go. The POLICE DEPARTMENT has not made a public statement admitting these officers were WRONG and failed to follow the Constitution of the United States. They’ve merely said that for the time being they won’t make similar arrests. That is far from an admission of wrongdoing.

Anonymous, one bad apple spoils the bunch. These police officers are employees of this POLICE DEPARTMENT. They are not independent contractors. The POLICE DEPARTMENT has many options to avoid having a reputation of disdain and disrespect for the U.S. Constitution. As yet, I am not aware they have done anything satisfactory.