When I published the story, all I had was a “press releases from publicity seeking law firms.” of which I provided the link to.

You commented with additional information which consisted of…in other accounts of this story I found and in the official police report and If the arrest was related to Gideon activities, it would be The Gideons International who would be providing legal defense. without providing the sources or links to those sources.

Does Gideons International even have a legal arm in their organization to provide a defense?

Keep in mind, not all put as much faith and credence in “police reports” as others do.

The “Border Agents” issue is one example.

It is an evolving story that is shedding some bad light on the Dept. of Homeland Security and the U.S. Attorney who prosecuted the case.

I’d speculate that it should be possible to lodge a civil rights complaint against the school principal, Annette Martinson, the Key Largo School System and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, claiming denial of religious freedom.

    Gideons handing out Bibles on public sidewalk arrested after school officials complain by loboinok @ 5:07 am. Filed under ACLU , Church And State, 1st Amendment, News © 2007 WorldNetDaily.com Two men who are members of Gideons Intern…

Frank,

It would be helpful if you would provide sources for your statements

Read the updated WND article.
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54150
It doesn’t exactly back Frank up, but it does go into detail about the officer’s report. Apparently there is a dispute over whether the road & sidewalk in question are public property. If it is a private road, the trespassing charge is going to stick.

“What exactly does this story have to do with the ACLU?”

The fact that this blog covers a few stories that have nothing to do with the ACLU aside…

There’s nothing wrong with branching out into other stories, but this article is “Filed under ACLU, …”

Well, since the ACLU is supposed to protect citizens against things like this. Them not protecting the Gideons makes it about them, does it not?

That’s quite a stretch. The men in question have competent representation in the ADF and I’m sure they trust the ADF a lot more than they trust the ACLU, so it’s disingenuous to suggest the ACLU’s lack of involvement in this case is tantamount to siding with the police.

Profanity is not permitted on this site.

Ironically, deleting your post has the same result as what you proposed for the Gideons. All things being equal.

It would be helpful if you would provide sources for your statements… in other accounts of this story I found and in the official police report…

sat in their vehicle and called police headquarters to complain instead of getting off the property.

Was their car parked on “school property” such as the school parking lot or was it on the public street?

it seems quite unfortunate that our Gideon friends failed to use wisdom in their activities after the distribution ceased.

While I admit that anything is possible, it is widely known that Gideons have always complied with requests or orders of law enforcement and all other authority.

If you can show that not to be true, it would lend more weight to your contentions.

Actually, Aside from your statements of the parties involved, everything else is just speculation.

If you have some actual facts to refute any part of the article…post them.

This is a very important distinction. Whereas I personally disagree with the school authorities in refusing to allow a peaceable activity to continue, it seems quite unfortunate that our Gideon friends failed to use wisdom in their activities after the distribution ceased.

In addition, please notice that the Alliance Defense Fund is the legal representative. If the arrest was related to Gideon activities, it would be The Gideons International who would be providing legal defense. And finally, if they really were defending a Gideon activity, they would NOT be issuing public statements concerning the defense.

So the only conclusion to draw is that it appears that two men who had been performing an activity in relationship to the Gideon program were arrested, as was was stated, “AFTER” a Gideon activity, but what they were arrested for was not at all Gideon related.

Very sad indeed. Please pray for these men, and for a minimizing of the damage their action may do to the cause to which they were obviously committed.

Gideons handing out Bibles on public sidewalk arrested after school officials complain

by loboinok
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

Two men who are members of Gideons International, the Christian organization that is famous for, among other ministri…