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Pro-life Activist Shot While Demonstrating |
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Prayer-Soldier writes "
On 11 Sep 09, Catholic Culture reported that James Pouillon, an elderly pro-life activist was shot to death while demonstrating peacefully on a sidewalk in Owosso, Michigan. According to an 11 Sep 09 CNN report, the suspect, “Harlan James Drake, was offended by anti-abortion material that the activist had displayed across from the school all week.”
According to the The Operation Save America web site, the pro-life group of which Pouillon was a member, indicated that a motive of the slaying is not yet known. The reports also related that after killing Pouillon (63), Drake (33) went to Fuoss Gravel, a business outside Owosso, and killed Michael Fuoss (61). Police also indicated that Drake may have been searching for a third victim. Despite early reporting, it is unknown to what degree, if any, Pouillon's right to life advocacy played in leading to the fatal event.
An 11 Sep 09 LifeNews.com report stated, “While Pouillon was active in protesting abortion -- and his death will bring up the issue of abortion and violence again in the wake of the shooting of late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller -- he always condemned violence as a solution to the violence of abortion.”
Pouillon had a history of protesting in support of pro-life and freedom of speech. According to the records of the Sixth Circuit United States Court of Appeals, Pouillon was arrested in 1994 while protesting abortion in front of the Owosso, Michigan City Hall. According to the record, Pouillon was arrested for "refusing a lawful police order" to move, and "obstructing passage to a public building."
According to the record, “James Pouillon is a dedicated anti-abortion protester whose non-working life is largely devoted to activism in that cause. He was a familiar figure on the streets of Owosso, where he staged abortion protests for a portion of each day almost every weekday for over ten years. On the date he was arrested, he had decided to move his protest from his customary post on the sidewalk to a position on a small plaza separating upper and lower short flights of steps to city hall, or on the steps themselves. On the sidewalk, he had often been the target of verbal abuse as well as assorted missiles, and had once been almost run down by a motorist who swerved onto the sidewalk and drove straight at him. He had also been issued a ticket on the sidewalk by Sergeant Little on an earlier occasion for violating a city ordinance banning signs in the public right-of-way. However, Sergeant Little testified that this incident involved a large, free-standing sign rather than Pouillon's usual hand-held sign, and that it was the sign, rather than Pouillon's presence, that had constituted the sidewalk obstruction and resulted in his ticket on that earlier occasion.”
In an appeal ruling, argued in 2000, the Sixth Circuit concluded, “Based on the record before us, we hold that the judge's instructions, properly objected to by the plaintiff, did not state the law correctly. We further hold that the record reveals a genuine issue of material fact as to the conduct of Pouillon on the day in question, and as to whether he could be constitutionally arrested for those actions.”
According to LifeNews.com, one acquaintance of Pouillon's related, “"I knew him very well. He told me one time God put in his heart a passion for the little babies that have the right to be born and they were being denied that right...He even told me once he'd be willing to die for that belief. That's what I hear him saying right now."
According to the Free Press Lansing Bureau, “Pouillon was divorced, and used an oxygen bottle at times for his emphysema. He was retired from GM and was on disability.” The report also related that Pouillon had a number of run ins with the law over the approximately 30 years he sought to protest abortion. Pouillon was apparently known as the “Sign Guy.” To some, Pouillon was a controversial figure, but others viewed him as a peaceful advocate for children conceived but not yet born. Pouillon's story will appear in news reports and blogs, but it will eventually fade. One must wonder, though, how many minds did Pouillon influence over the years to ponder, wonder and eventually turn to respect life. What ever anyone judges about Pouillon in this world, it will be God who will be the true judge the works of the man.
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Posted on Saturday, September 12 @ 21:56:28 MDT by admin
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