BishopAccountability.org
	Victims' Group, Police at Odds over Flyers near Ballpark By Laren Weber Toledo Blade August 9, 2007 http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070809/NEWS03/70809015 A member of a local victims' advocacy group who was asked to move across the street from Fifth Third Field Tuesday by a Toledo police officer while handing out flyers said she wasn't doing anything wrong. But Toledo Police Chief Michael Navarre said a policy has existed for several years that those handing out flyers or getting petitions signed are supposed to do so on the opposite side of the street from the stadium. He did say, however, the sidewalks surrounding Fifth Third Field are public property. Claudia Vercellotti, co-coordinator of the Toledo chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, was passing out flyers outside the baseball stadium to gain community support to get the signs designating a stretch of St. Clair Street as "Monsignor Jerome Schmit Way" taken down. The Toledo Municipal Code states it is "not unlawful on any public place for any person to hand out or distribute, without charge to the receiver, any handbill to any person willing to accept it." Ms. Vercellotti is advocating for the removal of the signs because Monsignor Schmit allegedly interfered with the original 1980 murder investigation of Toledo priest Gerald Robinson, who was convicted in 2006 of killing Sister Margaret Ann Pahl in a chapel at the former Mercy Hospital. "It's never too late to do the right thing," she said of her efforts to get the signs removed. "Just don't put somebody up there who obstructed a murder investigation." Chief Navarre said the officer who asked Ms. Vercellotti and the others to move across the street "didn't do anything wrong." He couldn't confirm who the officer was. "They do that no matter who you are," the chief said. People often walk out onto the street to avoid those handing out pamphlets or seeking signatures, which is a safety concern when there are large groups of people heading to a baseball game, Chief Navarre said. Ms. Vercellotti said although she and the others moved across the street, she was upset by the officer's behavior, calling it "heavy-handed." "You would have thought I was a Nazi coming from out of town," she said. Ms. Vercellotti said members and supporters of the organization handed out more flyers at last night's game without any problem.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.