Sunday, April 18, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Street preachers open another front on rights of demonstrators on Strip

Tom Griner, left, and Jim Webber, both of Las Vegas, carry religious signs on the sidewalk in front of Bellagio Wednesday night. The two said they have clashed with casino security guards and police over their right to demonstrate on the Strip. Photo by K.M. Cannon.

Jim Webber, a street preacher for three decades, believes the Strip is the best place on earth to spread the Gospel.

"By being here, the world comes to me," says the 59-year-old retired real estate agent, who often stands in front of Strip casinos with a huge fluorescent sign that reads, "The sin and the sinner go straight to hell together."

Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union say casino security guards and Las Vegas police frequently boot demonstrators like Webber off Strip sidewalks, despite prior federal court rulings to the contrary.

"The court cases made it very clear that as a matter of law, the casinos do not have the right to determine who can and cannot be out there," says ACLU of Nevada general counsel Allen Lichtenstein. "We have a very clear pattern of disregard for the constitution and the law."

Last week, police cited Pastor Tom Griner with misdemeanor obstruction after he refused to leave a public sidewalk in front of Bellagio with his sign. ACLU attorneys have criticized the county's obstruction ordinance as vague, but Undersheriff Doug Gillespie said the laws are sound.

"It is clear enough so that enforcement of it is fair," Gillespie said. "We don't look upon this as a First Amendment issue. The problem is the blockage of passage on the sidewalk. The First Amendment does not give people the right to deny others passage along a public right of way. And that's what occurs on Las Vegas Boulevard many times when these pamphlets are being handed out."

Police and the ACLU have faced off over Strip sidewalks before, most recently involving workers who stand around distributing pamphlets for escort services. Webber and his fellow preachers often set up shop near those smut peddlers.

On Tuesday evening, days after Griner was cited by police, he and Webber were back in front of Bellagio sharing their message with anyone who would listen.

The hotel was in the midst of a blackout, and pedestrian traffic was light, but a casino security guard approached Webber and Griner, both of Las Vegas. The guard told the demonstrators they were standing on Bellagio property and asked them to move on.

Webber and Griner didn't budge.

At 7:54 p.m., a police officer in a marked sport utility vehicle pulled onto the curb in front of Webber, who was holding a bullhorn and a sign bearing the words, "Homo," "Sex addicts," "Liars" and "Porno freaks."

The officer asked Webber to go elsewhere, but left after Webber produced a tape recorder and asked for his name.

Webber turned to Griner, laughed and said, "That was an absolute scream."

Another confrontation occurred 30 minutes later when the pair journeyed across the street to a sidewalk in front of The Venetian.

Two Venetian security guards approached.

"This is private property. We don't want you holding up signs," one of them said, threatening to cite the duo for trespassing.

Webber's tape recorder was going, and Griner captured the footage on videotape. Those are among the tricks Webber has learned in more than 20 years as a street minister, going from state to state with his sidewalk ministry.

"Once that video camera comes on, they just automatically start getting smarter and better manners," Webber said.

Two bike patrol officers arrived and said the sidewalk is the private property of The Venetian.

"This is basically their house," one officer, who identified himself as Christopher White, politely told the demonstrators. "(If) for any reason at all, they want to evict someone out of their house, they can do that."

Webber showed the officers a newspaper story about a July 2001 ruling in which the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found the sidewalk in front of The Venetian constitutes a public forum where individuals have the right to exercise their First Amendment freedoms.

Soon, Lichtenstein and ACLU of Nevada Executive Director Gary Peck arrived and the debate continued. Crowds sat and watched the spectacle, and a crew from the television show "COPS" arrived at the scene.

Penny Kipp, a 47-year-old tourist from Montana, didn't mind the demonstrators.

"It adds to the entertainment," Kipp said, "and it's free."

"If it's a public sidewalk then they should be allowed," said Wisconsin resident Judy Berger.

Eventually, after police huddled with a supervisor, Venetian officials said Webber and Griner could stay. Minutes later, having proved their point, the two men left.

Peck said there was nothing to celebrate. He foresees similar battles in the months ahead on Strip sidewalks.

"These are not isolated instances of police harassment," Peck said, adding he has received numerous complaints similar to Webber's.

"They ignore it. They flaunt the rule of law," Lichtenstein said of casino security and police in regard to the First Amendment privileges of demonstrators. "Basically they are saying, `We don't have to follow the courts, we'll do what we want to do.' "

The biggest problem, said Lichtenstein and Peck, is that police officers seem to always side with casinos on such issues.

"As much as tourism fuels the economy of this city, it cannot be done at the price of giving up fundamental constitutional rights," Lichtenstein said.

Gillespie disagreed that police officers have a pro-casino bias.

"We're a neutral third party," said Gillespie, who, like Sheriff Bill Young, has met personally with Peck in recent weeks to discuss the sidewalk issues.

Within the next month, officers working on the Strip will be handing out pamphlets to demonstrators, Gillespie said. The pamphlets are intended to outline the rights of demonstrators, and will be educational for demonstrators and reminders for officers, he says.

The ACLU is demanding that the Metropolitan Police Department immediately change the way it enforces the obstruction ordinance on the Strip.

"But we are not going to stop enforcing a valid ordinance because Gary Peck demands us to," Gillespie said. "We have an obligation to enforce a law that is a good law on the books."