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Michigan State Lawmakers Question Terrorism Charges for HIV-positive Man

2009-11-10T09:08:12-05:00

This article was originally published at Michigan Messenger and is republished here in partnership with Michigan Messenger and the Center for Independent Media.

An HIV-positive Macomb County man is facing charges created under Michigan’s 2004 terrorism laws for biting another man in a neighborhood scuffle. That, HIV advocates, state lawmakers and legal experts say is “cowardly” and “nonsense” and increases ignorance and stigma surrounding the virus.

State Rep. Mark Meadows, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee said in an interview he does not believe the legislature had the neighborhood fight situation in mind when it drafted the terrorism laws. The Democrat from East Lansing also said he thought the prosecution was “silly.”

“Is this a dangerous instrumentality? It’s like saying that because I breathed on you and I have tuberculosis and we are fighting, that somehow because I have this disease it suddenly becomes more than just that I have this disease,” said Meadows, a former assistant attorney general. “The other charges are more than sufficient to deal with the issues involved.”

In the end, Meadows believes that the circuit court judge will toss out the terrorism charge, which he said was “a stretch.”

A fight among neighbors

The case arose out of an Oct. 18 fight between 44-year-old Daniel Allen and his neighbor Winfred Fernandis Jr. What happened that day is disputed.

According to a report from Clinton Township Police Department, Fernandis said Allen jumped him without provocation when he went to retrieve a football neighborhood kids accidentally threw onto Allen’s yard. Fernandis, according to the police report, said Allen “hugged up” to him and began to bite him. Fernandis suffered a bite wound on the lip so severe, police say, it went all the way through the lip. Fernandis sought medical treatment and the wound was sewn shut.

Allen, however, alleges that Fernandis, his wife Denise and Fernandis’ father assaulted him, and he does not recall biting the younger Fernandis. He too sustained injuries during the incident, and his lawyer during a Nov. 2 hearing presented 37 photographs of injuries, including bite marks to Allen’s body. Allen and his attorney maintain Allen was the victim of a hate crime because Allen is gay. Since the incident, Allen has filed a personal protection order against the Fernadis family and a criminal complaint with the township police.

Following the incident, police were called in and after a brief investigation, placed Allen under arrest and charged him with two crimes: aggravated assault, a misdemeanor charge which carries a punishment of up to one year in jail and/or $1,000 fine and assault with intent to maim, a 10-year felony.

Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith refused to return multiple messages left for him. Allen’s attorney, James Gallen, did not return calls.

HIV Becomes the Feature of the Story

The story, a man severely biting another man, drew the attention of the Detroit-area media, and Fox 2 News soon had Allen on video admitting he was HIV-positive.

That admission lead Smith, a Democrat, to say he would seek additional charges. On Nov. 2, Smith’s office amended its complaint to add a charge of possession or use of a harmful device. That law is a 25-year felony and was part of a 2004 package of terrorism laws created by the legislature in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The law makes it a crime to have a harmful device, which is defined as either biological, chemical, electronic or radioactive. Smith’s office is arguing that Allen being infected with HIV was “a device designed or intended to release a harmful biological substance,” and that his bite was thus an attempt to spread HIV.

Smith’s office is relying on a Michigan Court of Appeals ruling in a case of an HIV-positive, and hepatitis B infected prisoner who spit at prison guards during an altercation in the prison. In that case, People v. Antoine Deshaw Odom, the three judge panel found:

We therefore conclude that HIV infected blood is a ‘harmful biological substance,’ as defined by Michigan statute, because it is a substance produced by a human organism that contains a virus that can spread or cause disease in humans.

The three judge panel was silent on whether the hepatitis infection weighed in as a factor as a harmful biological substance. As a result of this finding, the court upheld a stricter sentencing score for Odom. In 2008, the Michigan Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal on the matter, upholding the Appeals Court decision.

On Nov. 2, District Court Judge Linda Davis concurred with Smith’s office and bound Allen over to Macomb Circuit Court to face the three charges.

According to The Macomb Daily, the judge said:

“[Allen] knew he was HIV-positive, and he bit the guy,” Davis said from the bench. “That on its own shows intent.”

Criminalizing HIV with traditional, non-HIV specific laws not new

HIV experts say it is a near impossibility to spread HIV through a human bite.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said it has one case on record where it believes HIV was transmitted through a human bite. But the case, out of South Carolina, is of an older man who claims to have had no other risk factors except being bit by a sex worker who was infected with HIV. That sex worker claims the man refused to pay for her sexual services, and she bit him in an attempt to get her money.

But, even allowing for that case, experts say there are other factors to consider. In 2003, the most recent year available for statistics on the CDC website, about 1 million people in the United States were living with HIV/AIDS, putting the prevalence of HIV transmission via biting at .000000001 percent. In contrast, an online search of news reports finds hundreds of media reports of biting incidents involving HIV-positive people.

“Even if you accepted that as a transmission case,” said Catherine Hanssens, executive director of the New York City-based Center for HIV Law and Policy. The charges against Allen, she said, simply aren’t warranted. “It’s just nonsense. It’s cowardly. It’s the kind of thing that keeps kids [with HIV] out of day care and camps and allows kids [with HIV] to be kicked out of karate case.”

She said cases like Allen’s are proof that the nation is failing to address the epidemic with common sense. “It’s continuing the boogey-man characterization of people with HIV,” she said.

“This troubles me very much,” says Lambda Legal HIV Project Director Bebe Anderson. “I think it is a very dangerous thing for prosecution to proceed with a charge or an enhanced charge based on a person’s HIV status. Typically these prosecutions are based on ignorance about HIV transmission. These prosecutions add to ignorance in the general public about HIV transmission, and they certainly add to the stigmatization of people living with HIV.”

The move to charge Allen with terrorism-related charges, Anderson said, was deeply troubling.

“Its a very dangerous notion that somebody who has a physical condition such as H1N1 or HIV or some other virus, that, that person then can then be charged with having a harmful biological substance and then if they are out there in contact with other people and they are putting other people at risk it is troubling.” said Anderson. “That’s not something that is legitimately criminalized and these prosecutions start us in that direction in a very dangerous way, I think.”

Anderson said to her knowledge this is the first time she has seen a terrorism law used in connection with an HIV-infected persons prosecution. She said she believes the terrorism law is being misapplied, and that Allen’s defense is going to have to make basic information about HIV and its transmission clear to the courts.

“I think it is very important to try to get in front of the judges and the prosecution accurate information about HIV,” Anderson said. “I think what happens is that these prosecutions are fueled by ignorance, then unfortunately that ignorance gets compounded because the judge makes a ruling or the jury makes a ruling based on fear and myths of HIV and not the actual risk posed by particular conduct.”

Hanssens and Anderson said that the trend of charging HIV-positive people with charges based on their HIV status is nothing new, but both say there has been an increase in cases in recent years.

“What seems new is there seems to be a sudden uptick in the number of these type of cases in the last year or so,” Anderson said.

HIV activist Mark Peterson, from Michigan POZ Action said he is also concerned about this case. In an email statement to Michigan Messenger, Peterson said:

“This sort of conflict is sad anytime it happens. At the same time, charging a person with possession or use of a harmful device simply because they have an infection, especially where the is NO scientific evidence of HIV ever being spread this way, is just another example of how our laws are based on fear and ignorance and not science…Its interesting to see how the impact of stigma and homophobia that still surrounds HIV shows up in our legal system.”

And Meadows is not the only legislator sounding off on the case.

State Sen. Hansen Clarke, a Detroit Democrat and a vocal advocate on behalf of people living with HIV/AIDS, said in an interview that the charges are out of proportion.

“I think we need to put this in perspective in light of the tragic events at Fort Hood,” Clarke said. “That should be investigated as terrorism. The magnitude of the instances is not even similar.”

He said the impact of such a prosecution was “harmful” to addressing HIV stigma in the state.

“I don’t think our legal system should treat everyone that has a disease that could be communicated to some one else differently,” Clarke said.

State Rep. Rick Jones, a Republican from Grand Ledge who sits on the Judiciary Committee, said the terrorism charge was likely not appropriate.

“If it was a fight and people were biting each other I would not think that is an appropriate charge,” said Jones, a former Eaton County sheriff. “I think you should able to be charged with attempt to transfer HIV if it can be shown in a court of law you made a genuine attempt to transfer [it].”

Changes in law deemed necessary

While the use of non-specific HIV laws to criminalize those infected is not a new trend, neither are the laws to criminalize HIV. Michigan passed a law in 1988 which makes it a felony for a person who knows he or she is infected with HIV to engage in sexual penetration, however slight, without disclosing that status first.

In April, Michigan Messenger highlighted the story of Michael Holder who spent eight years in a Michigan prison for allegedly failing to disclose his HIV-status to his partner. The Iowa Independent, Michigan Messenger’s sibling site, has closely followed the criminal prosecution and conviction of Nick Rhoades, who was convicted of failing to disclose his HIV status and sentenced to 25 years in prison. He was released in September and is serving a five-year stint on probation after a judge reconsidered his harsh sentence.

Federal law mandated all states to certify each had a law in place to criminally prosecute people with HIV who did not disclose that to people before engaging in behavior which might spread the virus. That mandate was made in 1990 and by 2000 all 50 states had certified.

But two decades into the epidemic, with science getting a better understanding of HIV and how it is spread, lawmakers are beginning to say the current laws need to be revisited.

Jones said during an interview that if some one with HIV spits at a police officer while screaming ‘I hope you get AIDS,’ that that person should be charged with a crime, because that shows an intent, even if the mode of possible transmission via spitting “would be a very difficult way to transmit” the virus. He said the intent to spread the disease is the issue, not necessarily the mode.

Jone, who also once served as a jail administrator, was tasked with knowing universal precaution rules inside and out. He also added that the law should be expanded to include other diseases, such as tuberculous and hepatitis.

Jones discussed Michigan’s 20-year-old disclosure law which makes it a crime for an HIV-positive person to engage in sexual penetration, however slight, without first disclosing their HIV infection. He was surprised to learn the law did not address sharing needles, but including activities that cannot spread HIV, such as sex toys. Asked if he believed it was time to revisit the disclosure law, he said: “Yes. Yes, I would agree with that. But I might add things like needle sharing, and I might subtract things to make more of an intent crime.”

Michigan Legislator Calls for Repeal of Gay Marriage Ban

2009-11-06T06:00:00-05:00

This article is reprinted from the Michigan Messenger, as part of a partnership between RH Reality Check and the Center for Independent Media.

Following up on a June surprise, Michigan House Speaker Pro Tem Pam Byrnes on Wednesday announced she had introduced legislation to roll back a 2004 constitutional amendment which bans same-sex marriage in the state.

Pam Byrnes

Byrnes, a Democrat from Washtenaw County’s Lyndon Township, introduced a package of bills which includes: a repeal of of the Constitutional amendment, which will require a two-thirds vote of both chambers of the legislature; a bill to explicitly legalize same-sex marriage in Michigan; and a bill to remove state law restrictions which prevent Michigan from recognizing same-sex marriages performed in another state.

“This really boils down to treating all people with the dignity and respect everyone deserves,” she said. “So many of us were raised to treat others how we’d like to be treated — it’s about time we start actually doing that. Last time I checked the Golden Rule didn’t say ‘treat others how you’d like to be treated, unless they are gay or lesbian.”

Byrnes told Michigan Messenger in June, that she thought the time was right for the legislative move.

The time has come. … I think attitudes are changing. We are seeing other states flip on this issue especially when you get the former Vice President Dick Cheney acknowledging same-sex marriages then I think we definitely see a change in attitude and it’s time to revisit this.

Byrnes’ proposal would require a two-thirds vote of approval from both the House and the Senate in order to revise the state constitution by putting a question on the ballot.

And electoral success in Michigan Tuesday might just support Byrnes’ June optimism.

Byrnes announcement on Wednesday came less than 24 hours after Kalamazoo voters overwhelmingly approved an ordinance to prohibiting discrimination on the basis of, among other things, sexual orientation and gender identity. Those same voters in Kalamazoo voted openly gay resident Terry Kuseke to the city commission.

Voters in Detroit also sent openly gay former news man Charles Pugh to the president’s seat on the Detroit City Council — making him the first openly gay council member in the city’s history. Meanwhile, voters in Ferndale return Michigan’s first openly gay mayor, Craig Covey, to the mayor’s seat there.

The issue of same-sex marriage itself had a mixed result nationally. Maine voters rejected a law which would allow same-sex couples to marry, while Washington state voters approved a ballot measure dubbed “everything but marriage.” A year ago, as the nation celebrated the election of then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama to the White House, LGBT Americans were outraged to lose the right to marry in California because an initiative there, called Proposal 8, passed.

Byrnes was flanked by representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan; Triangle Foundation, a Detroit-based LGBT rights group; Michigan Equality, a Lansing-based LGBT rights group; and from both organized labor and clergy.

Michigan Corrections Officials Push Change to Policies on HIV-Positive Prisoners

2009-11-05T06:00:00-05:00

This article was originally published at Michigan Messenger, and is published here in partnership with Michigan Messenger, the Center for Independent Media, and RH Reality Check.

A Michigan Department of Corrections official has confirmed that the department is in the first stages of making a change to a controversial policy barring HIV-positive prisoners from working in food service jobs.

MDOC Assistant Director Russ Marlan said in an interview last week that the department’s director, Patricia Caruso, has approved a plan to change the policy, something Michigan Messenger first examined in April followed by an investigation by the Michigan Department of Civil Rights.

“[Caruso] has authorized a change in the policy,” said Marlan, who serves as a department spokesman. “She authorized me to begin that process with our policy people.”

As a result, a letter and draft language eliminating the food service prohibition provision went out sometime in the last week to wardens and other stakeholders in the corrections department, Marlan said. Those officials will have 30 days to respond to the proposed changes, and if nothing surfaces to challenge the change, the policy could go in effect as early as the beginning of December.

Marlan stressed that while the policy change was not a “done deal,” only strong reservations from wardens and others backed up with substantial information could derail the roll-out of the policy revisions.

“She has said it couldn’t just be anecdotal, they’d have to have real data,” Marlan said.

Statistics from 2006 show1 percent of the Michigan’s prison population was infected with HIV, the virus which causes AIDS.

The current policy is in place, Marlan said, to prevent violence. The basis for the policy was the cause of some controversy earlier this year, when Marlan told Michigan Messenger that the policy was to prevent HIV from being spread to other prisoners through food. At the time, Marlan suggested it was possible for the virus to be transmitted through a HIV-positive inmate sneezing on food. Marlan also suggested that an infected prisoner could transmit the virus in kitchen accidents, saying, for example, that blood on a radish could cause HIV to spread.

Months later, Marlan retracted his comments telling Michigan Messenger they were “ridiculously wrong.” They also triggered a review of the policy by the Michigan Department of Civil Rights.

The actual reason for the policy is the fear that out of ignorance, a prisoner who is HIV-positive serving other prisoners could result in targeted violence against the HIV-positive prisoner. Federal courts have ruled corrections policies do not have to be based on facts, but have a wide latitude to address real or perceived threats to security. Potential violence could certainly be a threat to security.

But Marlan said education in place in all MDOC facilities should negate the ignorance factor which could fuel potential violence. Prisoners are tested annually for the virus, and are given extensive peer-lead education on HIV and its transmission.

Activist Mark Peterson, a director with the Michigan POZ Action Coalition, is praising MDOC officials for the policy change.

“I think it shows we are in a place where a department is seeing HIV as a health issue and not so much a hysteria disease response,” Peterson said.

Stupak Will Vote for Reform Even With Abortion Coverage

2009-10-29T07:00:00-04:00

This article first appeared in the Michigan Independent and is reprinted as part of a partnership between RH Reality Check, the Michigan Independent and the Center for Independent Media.

Congressman Bart Stupak says that while he is leading the charge to prevent any healthcare reform from using tax payer funds for abortion, if health care reform legislation makes it to the floor of the U.S. Congress and includes funding for abortions, he will support it.

In a video featured on the conservative blog RightMichigan.com, Stupak, a Democrat from Menominee, says:

“I offered an amendment that says no public funding for abortion that’s been the law of the land for many many decades and we lose that vote. Let’s say we lose that vote– we need 218 to win–let’s say we get 217 and we lose. Would I vote against health care? If I had a chance to vote my conscience I probably would not. I probably would still vote for the health care bill at the end of the day.”

This is another moment of message confusion from Stupak and the abortion question. In July Michigan Messenger reported that Stupak had entered into negotiations with Congressman Henry Waxman about the fate of health care and state abortion laws.

That happened after Stupak, co-chair of the House Pro-Life Caucus, sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying any health care reform bill that contained provisions to fund abortions would be “unacceptable.”

Stupak’s response to the audience that at the end of the day, having been given an opportunity to vote on the abortion issue and lost, he would support the health care reform was greeted with jeers from the audience. The video was shot at a Cheboygan town hall meeting Oct. 23, and was presented by the Heritage Foundation’s blog The Foundry.

Michigan HIV Activists Angered by No-Consent Testing Legislation

2009-10-19T14:38:07-04:00

Activists with the group Michigan POZ Action are organizing a campaign to get state lawmakers to stop legislation that will remove a law that requires persons being tested for HIV do so with informed consent.

Under current law, anyone seeking an HIV antibody test must sign a document acknowledging they have consented to the test. But under revisions proposed in the House and the Senate, any doctor would be able to order an HIV test for a patient without permission, consultation or counseling.

The legislation has sparked concerns about no-consent testing causing patients to lose their health insurance.

Kendra Kleber who previously practiced law focused on HIV and government benefits, told Michigan Messenger earlier this year:

The whole idea of anonymous testing is that you can control when you are tested and what happens to your results. Everything about this bill, except that little section [on anonymous testing], says you have no control over when you are tested and what happens to your results. You have no control. … But the fact of the matter is that if you went to your normal doctor and had a physical last week and even if you doctor didn’t say anything to you about HIV, he could have tested you and so your results could already be in the record. Which means they are already knowable to an insurance company.

Kleber, who has been appointed to an administrative law judge position in Cleveland, said she found the legislation to be “very, very, very problematic.”

Activists infected with HIV and their advocates are up in arms.

“Being tested doesn’t do anything to prevent anything,” said Mark Peterson, an HIV activist based in Detroit. “This sort of puts a wedge between doctor and patient when it comes to an important health conversation.”

The legislation was proposed in March by State Rep. Roy Schmidt, a Grand Rapids Democrat. He told Michigan Messenger in April the bill was created at the request of Spectrum Health, a large health care provider in West Michigan. The system’s spokesman Bruce Rossman confirmed Spectrum had requested the law, noting that Spectrum physicians had indicated the current law created a barrier.

He also noted that Spectrum had not implemented a policy mandating HIV testing for patients over 16, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended.

“We have not [implemented the CDC guidelines] under the current law because, unfortunately, a lot of our current physicians feel that it [informed consent] is a hurdle,” he said.

An official with the Michigan Department of Community Health told Michigan Messenger the agency was opposed to no-consent testing.

“We feel [the CDC recommendations] can be implemented successfully in the state without changing the law,” said Debra Szwedja, acting director of the MDCH’s Division of Health, Wellness and Disease Control.

The Senate Health Policy Committee will take up the legislation Wednesday at a 2:30 p.m. hearing in Lansing, and Michigan POZ Action members plan to organize a grassroots lobbying campaign to oppose the legislation.

“This is about a convenience for doctors versus the ability of patients to have an informed conversation,” said Peterson. “The patient’s informed consent outweighs the convenience issue for physicians.”

Is a Drunk Shaming and Sexual Assault Case in Michigan Part of a National Trend?

2009-10-13T09:34:17-04:00

Todd A. Heywood, a freelance journalist living in Michigan and a member of the Center for Independent Journalism also writes for RH Reality Check. This article originally appeared Tuesday morning, October 13th, in the Michigan Messenger.

A police report from Meridian Township, Michigan detailing an evening of troubling incidents among a group of Haslett Public Schools teachers involving drug use and “drunk shaming” is prompting questions about the teachers’ behavior and institutional accountability in this suburban community near East Lansing.

The police report addresses a number of incidents that took place at an end-of-year party hosted in 2007 by a Haslett teacher and attended by several other teachers from the district. The police report was provided to Michigan Messenger by one of those teachers, Veronica Piechotte, who says she was victimized by her colleagues that evening and that neither the Haslett school administration nor the legal system had acted on her complaints until Michigan Messenger began its inquiry.

PHOTOS: What follows is a photo slideshow of the incident, some taken by participants during the drunk shaming incident and some taken the next day at the medical examiner’s office. Some viewers may consider the photos graphic.

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

According to the account Piechotte gave police the day after the incident, on the last day of school in 2007, Piechotte and five other Haslett school teachers, Lauri Etheridge, Timothy Beebe, Brian Town, Daniel McKinney and Heather Woodworth, joined their colleagues at an East Lansing bar to celebrate the beginning of summer vacation. As the party moved from the bar to McKinney’s house, things took a turn for the worse. The people involved dispute some of what happened during the evening, but each of them spoke with police at the time, providing a contemporaneous, first-hand account.

‘Degraded, defiled, lifeless’

According to the police report, Etheridge, Town, Piechotte and Woodworth stopped at Town’s home on the way to McKinney’s house, which is a short distance from the school. There, according to the report, they decided to smoke marijuana and Town produced and provided the drug for the three women, who went to the garage to smoke it. The teachers then continued on to McKinney’s house.

Later that night, after more alcohol consumption by all involved, Piechotte crawled between a coffee table and a sofa in McKinney’s living room. There she passed out.

According to the report, Town and Beebe decided it would be “funny” to draw on Piechotte’s unconscious body. The two proceeded to draw penises on her legs, glasses on her face, write the word “balls” backwards on her forehead and write their names on her stomach. Much of the writing was sexual and crude. McKinney and his wife, as well as Etheridge and staff member Phil Rutkowski, watched the drawing. McKinney took pictures with his digital camera, and at least one person took pictures with a cell phone. (Editor’s Note: Some readers may consider the photos taken during the drunk shaming to be graphic.)

Beebe and Town told the police that they had each written references to the other on Piechotte’s body, Town writing “Beebe was here” and Beebe writing “I love Brian Town” on her midsection. Beebe says he did not recall writing any obscene symbols, but his recollection was not clear.

What the two men had done, with the other teachers watching, was called “drunk shaming,” or humiliating people after they pass out from intoxication.

Beebe, Town and others told police the markings were not done maliciously but as a joke, or as Town said, because they “love her.” Beebe said he had done similar things to others, including Town.

Piechotte has other words for how the drawings made her feel: “degraded, defiled, lifeless, treated like an object, treated like, frankly, a bathroom stall.”

“I have never been so humiliated in my whole …” her voice trailed off during a recent interview with Michigan Messenger. “You ask me to explain it, and I don’t have the words.”

Piechotte said she understands that she made inappropriate choices that night. She said she drank too much and smoked marijuana, but she said that didn’t give her co-workers permission to write on her body.

“The humiliation that goes with people writing horrendous things on intimate parts of my body,” said Piechotte, who is openly lesbian. “I mean we’re talking one inch from my vagina. We’re talking names on my stomach like they were signing some graffiti on some property they had claimed. There is nothing more humiliating.”

Piechotte said she is going public because she wants her experience to prevent others from having to go through her trauma by bringing awareness to the practice, which has been documented in countless YouTube videos and photos that have become popular online.

“You just don’t treat another human being like that,” she said.

Piechotte also alleges that she was given a date rape drug and sexually assaulted in a bathroom before she passed out. The other person involved admits to sexual activity but claims it was consensual and denies providing Piechotte any date rape drugs. The prosecutor did not file any charges on these claims, finding that the evidence and testimony were insufficient.

No police charges over drunk-shaming

Piechotte went to the police the day following the incident.

When asked about the drunk shaming during an interview with police, Town admitted to providing the marijuana but told the officer he did not have it anymore. The officer told Town he did not believe him, and according to the report, Town subsequently went back to his home and returned to the Meridian Township Police Department with 1.25 grams of marijuana and a pipe.

When Meridian Township police officials concluded their investigation, they submitted their report to Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III, seeking among other charges, charges of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and possession with intent to distribute marijuana without financial remuneration against Town.

Dunnings, however, said he felt he was unable to issue a charge on the alleged sexual assault, explaining to Piechotte that he could support seeking battery charges against the alleged assailant. Piechotte was not satisfied with this determination, and Dunnings had another, unnamed female county prosecutor review the file. She agreed with Dunnings’ assessment. Shortly thereafter, Dunnings became aware that he had a minor business relationship with one of the witnesses in the case and disclosed this to Piechotte’s attorney. Piechotte asked Dunnings to recuse himself, which he did. The case was referred to the state attorney general’s office, which sent it to Clinton County Prosecutor Charles Sherman, who chose not to file any charges at all.

In an interview with Michigan Messenger, Sherman said what happened to Piechotte was not acceptable. But he felt he could not bring criminal charges for a number of reasons, including the length of time that had lapsed between the incident and when he reviewed the case.

“It’s a judgment call that has to be made between what’s considered a practical joke and what the criminal justice system should get involved in,” Sherman said. “[Prosecuting] is like coming in with a hammer. That’s my remedy. That’s the only remedy I have. I can’t send you to your room and say no video games for three weeks.”

Sherman also said he did not file the marijuana charges against Town because he viewed that incident — specifically the allegation that Town had delivered the drugs to the police himself days after the incident — as a separate issue that was outside the bounds of what he had been asked to look at by the attorney general’s office.

Dunnings said that he had to recuse himself from the case before he had made a final determination on whether to issue warrants. He said he was very reluctant to pursue the marijuana charges because he would have to charge not only Town, but Woodward, Etheridge and Piechotte for possession. Dunnings said he felt Piechotte was traumatized enough as it was without charging her with a crime.

“You see the quandary?” Dunnings said. “You try to do something to bring justice, but what would the justice have been in charging her, too?”

Dunnings said the marijuana charges were part of the referral to Sherman. In regard to Sherman’s claim that he saw the drug charges as outside of his scope, Dunnings disagreed, noting that the knowledge of the marijuana possession and use came to light as a result of the investigation into the drunk-shaming incident.

Dunnings is unable to prosecute anything connected to the case now that he has recused himself from the case. He called the drunk-shaming incident unacceptable.

“I think it is absurd that adults, [in] college or not, would engage in this,” Dunnings said. “It’s repugnant. I don’t see how anyone can find pleasure in doing this.”

Drunk-shaming common but legally ambiguous

Shari Murgittroyd, program coordinator for Michigan State University’s sexual assault program, said the issue of drunk shaming is nothing new. She said she has heard stories for 20 years of situations where people who had passed out were drawn upon, but that the stories have changed dramatically in recent years.

“The phenomenon that I have seen in the last two years, more and more women are experiencing the drunk-shaming after passing out or becoming unconscious or blacking out or whatever with alcohol and having pictures drawn on them and vulgar language of a sexual content,” she said.

“I think that this is a whole other level of sexual harassment and sexual assault that’s disturbing,” Murgittroyd said. “It’s just another form of humiliation, you know, someone taking power and control over some one in a degrading way to humiliate them. I don’t see it as funny or a joke. … [W]hen you start removing clothing and drawing on parts of the body that are very private, if you are touching those parts of the body and somebody is not giving you consent to do that, that is sexual assault. That is criminal sexual conduct in the state of Michigan.”

She acknowledges prosecutions in drunk-shaming can be difficult.

“This is up and coming. I think law enforcement and prosecutors are just having more of these reports coming forward and learning how to investigate them,” she said. “And I think they are going to see more and more people coming forward trying to make reports and press charges, because it is of a criminal nature. But I think that because of our culture, and the way that it is seen as joking and in fun, that it is going to be difficult to prosecute those cases, to get jurors to buy in that someone is really victimized.”

She said that in order to address this situation, it may be time for legislators to create a new law, although she hopes law enforcement will use laws already available to them.

Haslett schools took little action

While criminal charges were never filed in this case, Haslett school officials — according to police records, emails and other documents provided by Piechotte and an interview with Superintendent Mike Duda — were aware of the incident and took little if any action in response to it until Michigan Messenger started examining the case.

The police reports show that Beebe, Town and Piechotte each made contact with different administrators of the high school following the incident. The reports record that Beebe informed Assistant Principal Darin Ferguson “that Beebe drew a soccer ball and some other innocuous things on Piechotte’s body …”

The report also indicates that Piechotte had informed another assistant principal, Lynne Bartley, who has since retired. The investigator was told as well by principal Bart Wegenke that he was aware of the incident.

As a result of the trauma she claims to have suffered because of the incident, Piechotte was on a leave for part of 2007. The district tried to separate her from her employment because her medical leave had expired. She declined because felt she was not being offered a fair separation agreement. She returned to the classroom to teach at Haslett’s alternative high school and this year was assigned to the middle school. During negotiations over her future with Haslett Public Schools, Piechotte showed Duda the pictures of the drawings on her body from the night the drunk shaming took place.

Duda, in an interview with Michigan Messenger, said the district had attempted to gain access to the police report from both Meridian Township Police Department and Dunnings, but had been unable to do so. Duda said he had not been provided with any police reports about any of the incidents.

A document in the police report mandated by state law was faxed to Duda on June 28, 2007. That document informs the district of an alleged crime within 1,000 feet of school property. In this case it was the marijuana use at Town’s home that was being reported. The document informs Duda that Woodward, Piechotte, Town and Etheridge were alleged to have been in “illegal possession of a controlled substance, or a control substance analogue, or other intoxicant.”

In addition the document noting the incident had been reported to Duda, there is a hand-written note that reads “901 [Chief David Hall] showed the form to Mr. Duda and discussed it with same.” The note was signed by Meridian Township Police Department Sgt. Greg Frenger.

Duda says he was out of town when the document would have been sent to the district, and that he had no conversation with Hall about the incident. Hall confirmed that it was possible that a conversation did not happen, and noted that the mandated reports are often misplaced by school officials in Meridian Township.

Piechotte said that no investigation ever took place and she was never questioned, nor is she aware of any disciplinary action taken toward any of the other teachers.

As a result of Michigan Messenger’s inquiry, Duda said the district’s law firm was reviewing the police incident reports with an eye on what, if anything, the district can do in relation to the incident. He termed the review an investigation.

In addition to the investigation, Duda said the school district would be bringing in outside consultants to develop a conversation about diversity. The news of the drunk shaming comes following separate allegations of ethnic insensitivity on the part of Duda.

The personnel files of the teachers involved in the drunk shaming incident reveal nothing to indicate that the school district took responsive actions, including any records of counseling sessions to discuss inappropriate behavior, letters of reprimand, nor evidence of an investigation or questioning by the administration.

It is that apparent lack of action that most bothers Piechotte. “While I am dismayed that both my employer and Michigan’s legal system have failed to recognize the brutality of this incident by not taking any tangible action,” she said. “It underscores the need to have meaningful dialogue about the underlying issues that enable a culture of bias and violence to exist, so that others will not suffer as I have.”

Comments were sought from Woodworth, Town, Beebe and Etheridge, but none responded before press time. The Haslett Education Association has advised the teachers not to make any public statements.

More Than 150,000 Marchers Demand End to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," Passage of Hate Crimes Laws

2009-10-12T13:42:20-04:00

Todd A. Heywood, a freelance journalist living in Michigan and a member of the Center for Independent Journalism is on assigment to RH Reality Check for the National Equality March in Washington. You can follow Todd reporting from the march on twitter @rhrealityCheck. Heywood also has interviews with Cleve Jones as well as HIV activist and author Shawn Decker and will be cornering many others for interviews on Sunday so check back regularly to see what the movers and shakers are saying about gay America and the equality movement.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A crowd estimated to be over 150,000 people strong marched through the streets of Washington D.C. Sunday to demand equality under the law for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.

"We are going to say to our President, to our Congress and to the leaders of our organizations no more compromise. No more delays. We are one country, one Constitution," said Cleve Jones, one of the event organizers. "We continue to love democracy even as we witness the ballot box used to strip us of our rights."

While police and National Park Service officials refused to provide a formal estimate of the crowd, several Capitol Police officers said the crowd was at least 150,000 strong. The group marched from near Layfette Park, past the White House and to Capitol Building. There on the west side of the Capitol they rallied to speeches from Julian Bonds, head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Oscar winning screen writer Dustin Lance Black; pop icon Lady Gaga; Lt. Dan Choi, a former member of the U.S. Military discharged under the policy that prohibits gays from serving openly; actress Cynthia Nixon; and youth and leaders of the LGBT community from across the country.

"I know that there are many things that are worth fighting for," thundered Lt. Dan Choi, who was kicked out of the military after disclosing he was gay during an appearance on the Rachel Maddow Show earlier this year. "But of those things that are worth fighting for: Love is worth fighting for. Love is worth it.

"Choi and other marchers were demanding an end to the military's 1993 policy dubbed Don't Ask, Don't Tell. That policy, which is backed up with a law, prohibits openly gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans from serving in the armed forces.

Just hours before the march and rally, President Barack Obama addressed the Human Rights Campaign annual dinner. HRC claims to be the largest LGBT civil rights organization in the country. The event is the group's largest fundraiser. During his speech, Obama echoed campaign promises when it came to Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

"We are moving ahead on Don't Ask Don't Tell. We should not be punishing patriotic Americans who have stepped forward to serve this country," the President said. "We should be celebrating their willingness to show such courage and selflessness on behalf of their fellow citizens, especially when we're fighting two wars. We cannot afford to cut from our ranks people with the critical skills we need to fight any more than we can afford -- for our military's integrity -- to force those willing to do so into careers encumbered and compromised by having to live a lie. So I'm working with the Pentagon, its leadership, and the members of the House and Senate on ending this policy. Legislation has been introduced in the House to make this happen. I will end Don't Ask, Don't Tell. That's my commitment to you."

"I joined the military because my country beckoned me," Choi said. "But when we are telling the truth about our love, our country slaps us in the face and orders us don't ask and orders us don't tell. Well I am telling you that the era and the time for asking is over. I am not asking anymore I am telling... will you tell with me? Asking is over. We will tell because in the face of injustice and in the face of the discrimination, patience is not a plan."

The event also served as a bitter reminder of the brutal slaying of Wyoming college student Matthew Shepard in 1998. Shepard was kidnapped and taken to a field outside of Laramie Wy, where he was beaten, tied to a fence and left bleeding to death. His mother, Judy Shepard, addressed the crowd.

"Had I still had my wonderful Matt with me, I would be telling that no one has the right to tell my son where and how to worship," Shepard said. "No one has the right tell my son whether or not he can work anywhere, or that he cannot live where ever he wants to live and whether or not he can be with the one person he loves. No one has that right. We are all Americans. We are all equal Americans."

Hate crimes legislation which is pending before the U.S. Senate bears Matthew Shepard's name, and Judy told the crowd that while President Obama will fulfill his promise to sign hate crimes legislation and other LGBT specific laws, he needed those attending the rallies behind him. She encouraged them to return to their homes and "tell your stories," and become involved.

"Rights for gay and lesbian people are not special rights in anyway," said Julian Bonds, chair of the NAACP. "It isn't special to be free from discrimination; that is an ordinary, universal entitlement of citizenship."

Bond continued, "When I am asked are gay rights civil rights? I always answer of course they are."

In a sea of humanity, hundreds of rainbow flags could be seen framing handmade picket signs. Some of those signs read "Who would Jesus discriminate against?" "Proud father of two sons, one gay, one straight. They are equal to me," and "Equality Across America." While right wing fanatics such as Fred Phelps and his clan of God hates fags followers had threatened to make an appearance at the march and rally, they were nowhere to be found. Only three people showed up to protest, and they mixed a message of condemnation for homosexuality with anti-choice rhetoric and signs. The three men were surrounded by marchers, and one marcher, using a bull horn lead the crowd in a chant of "hey, hey. ho, ho. Your homophobia has got to go." All three men declined requests for interviews.

Even at Rally to End AIDS, Stigma is Present

2009-10-11T12:02:33-04:00

Todd A. Heywood, a freelance journalist living in Michigan and a member of the Center for Independent Journalism is on assigment to RH Reality Check at the National Equality March in Washington. You can follow Todd reporting from the march on twitter @rhrealityCheck. Heywood also has interviews with Cleve Jones as well as HIV activist and author Shawn Decker and will be cornering many others for interviews on Sunday so check back regularly to see what the movers and shakers are saying about gay America and the equality movement.

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- As I waited quietly for Shawn Decker to finish his sound check for his band's appearance during Saturday night's HIV/AIDS rally, I had the opportunity to listen to the comments of those walking by. While some were so interested in the rally, dubbed Rally to End AIDS, that they made donations and received t-shirts, others were fat less open to the event.

Sitting on a bench behind the stage, I overheard an African American male tell his friend he was excited that there was to be a free concert. That is until he saw the sign that the concert would be dealing with the AIDS pandemic.

"I ain't going to no rally for AIDS," he loudly opined. His friend empahticaly concurred.

Thousands Rally in Washington D.C. for Gay Rights

2009-10-11T11:53:18-04:00

Todd A. Heywood, a freelance journalist living in Michigan and a member of the Center for Independent Journalism is on assigment to RH Reality Check for the National Equality March in Washington. You can follow Todd reporting from the march on twitter @rhrealityCheck. Heywood also has interviews with Cleve Jones as well as HIV activist and author Shawn Decker and will be cornering many others for interviews on Sunday so check back regularly to see what the movers and shakers are saying about gay America and the equality movement.

Thousands of Americans are expected to flood the streets the nation's capitol Sunday to demand full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

The National Equality March which is the brain child of San Francisco organizer Cleve Jones and media mogul David Mixner, will feature a march through the nation's capitol, past the White House and conclude at the lawn of the Capitol building. The event has been in over drive planning since this past June when Jones and Mixner called for the march.

While the original call to action was initially met with skepticism by the country's leading LGBT rights organizations, including the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and Human Rights Campaign, most have since signed on and endorsed the event.

Openly gay Congressman Barney Frank, D-Mass., has been vocal in recent days about his opposition to the march which he has dubbed a "waste of time," and called on LGBT Americans to stay home because "[President Barack] Obama doesn't need pressure."

Obama addressed the annual HRC dinner Saturday night, laying out his vision of full equality for LGBT citizens. He has taken much criticism for not acting fast enough to repeal the military's exclusion of gay soliders, Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) and for a brief filed by his Justice department earlier this year which supported the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which allows the states to choose whether or not to recognize same-sex marriages. It also prohibits the federal government from recognizing marriages of same-sex employees by providing health benefits and other benefits of marriage.

Frank and other LGBT activists are not the only ones upset with the event. Fred Phelps and his clan of God hates fags family members have announced they will be in Washington to protest the rally and march and Terry Randall, head of Operation Rescue an antichoice organization, has announced he too will protest the march and rally.

In an interview Saturday, Jones said the march had a very important goal-- sending energized activists back to all 435 Congressional districts to organize, lobby and fight for equality for LGBT Americans. He said the current trend of winning muncipality by muncipality and state by state was failing, and that the only way true equality will come is through the federal government. He noted as an example the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Jones also said it was time for gay Americans and their allies to create acts of civil disobedience.

In preparation for the march, NEM and sponsors such as Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, a media monitoring group; HRC; NGLTF and Soulforce held workshops all day Saturday for participants. Among the topics covered were nonviolent, civil disobedience, youth organizing, protests against DADT, discussions about transgender issues and laws, and the intersection of the battle for LGBT equality and the battle for racial equality in America. Many of the programs were directed at youth. Hundreds attended sessions across Washington.

Featured speakers at Sunday's rally include pop icon Lady GaGa, Judy Shepard, mother of hate crime victim Matthew Shepard; Lt. Dan Choi, who was recently discharged from the U.S. Military for disclosing his sexuality on the Rachel Maddow Show; Julian Bonds, head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Oscar winning screen writer Dusting Lance Black who authored the script for the film Milk.

Hundreds Gather in Nation's Capitol to Rally Against HIV/AIDS

2009-10-11T09:49:38-04:00

Hundreds of people effected and affected by the HIV epidemic rallied on the Washington Mall Saturday night to call for an end to the epidemic.

The event, sponsored by Housing Works, an HIV/AIDS service organization, featured speeches from people with HIV, musical entertainment and spoken word art designed to inform, challenge and bring attention to the epidemic.

Sean Strub, founder of POZ magazine which has an audience of HIV infected persons, said the event was the first time in about a decade that those infected, effected and affected by the virus, which causes AIDS, had planned. Planning for the event got underway in the beginning of Sept. Strub said.

Gathered in the shadow of the Washington Monument, and a stone throw's distance from the back of the White House, the crowd gathered. They were young and old, men and women, African American as well as African nationals. There were lesbians, and gay men as well as transgenders. Rainbow flags and red ribbons were the accessories of the day.

The rally and candle light vigil come a week after President Barack Obama made a historic call to action on the issue, and has launched an initiative to develop the country's first every HIV/AIDS Strategy.

"This weekend is about achieving full equality for LGBT Americans," said National Equality March organizer Cleve Jones. Jones is also the founder of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and cut his teeth organizing the LGBT community in San Francisco alongside gay icon Harvey Milk. "We need to use that political power to remind the country that the AIDS epidemic continues."

Jones said he was hopeful the many youth attending the National Equality March would take up the issue if HIV/AIDS and continue the battle in the realms of prevention as well as treatment, and fighting the stigma of HIV.

Housing Works issued a press release noting that gay and bisexual men, labeled men who have sex with men in community health circles, are 50 times more likely to become infected with HIV than any other demographic in America. Among younger gay men, the rate of new infections between 2001 and 2006 have continued to increase 12 percent annually.

"Most of our energized LGBT activists are too young to remember the devastating impact AIDS has had on the gay community. We must re-engage the larger LGBT community in AIDS activism," said Charles King, president and chief executive officer of Housing Works. "Ending the HIV pandemic is an issue of justice that must be their fight as well."

Shawn Decker, a 34-year-old Virginia resident who was infected with HIV through tainted blood products, echoed those concerns in an interview.

"College students today are coming out eight years of abstinence only education," Decker said. "They've been told, in effect, don't have sex before marriage or you'll die."

That scare tactic is a failed education program, Decker said. He said the abstinence only focus of the Bush years has resulted in higher incidences not only of HIV, but also other sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancies.

"We're not giving young people any credit for their intelligence," said Decker, who is also author of the book My Pet Virus. "I don't believe in learning backwards."

Decker also noted that the front page stories and media focus on HIV the country saw during the late 80s and early 90s, before the advent of antivirals which have dramatically improved the quality and longevity of those living with HIV, may never return. And while the mainstream media is unlikely fully engage in the discussions around HIV and prevention, Decker said the generation of young people coming of age today have a new tool.

Social media. He said that is going to revolutionize the way HIV prevention messages are delivered, he said.

"A couple of college students can create a prevention video and put it up on Youtube, and it is shared with their friends, who in turn share it with their friends," Decker said. And he said it is key that youth lead the messaging, as they are the most at risk for infection.

As a straight man who was infected with the virus by tained blood products given to him to address his hemophilia, Decker and his wife Gwen travel the country talking to college students and classes. He said is about empowering young people.

"It's about taking it into our own hands," he said.

"The HIV epidemic is not over," former Miss America and current broadway star Kate Shindle told the crowd. She was joined by other broadway and theatre veterans. Shindle won the Miss America title in 1999 and made HIV/AIDS her platform. While she no longer has the crown, she has continued her activism.

Activists also ralled against other countries, where being gay and HIV positive will get a person denied access to life saving medications. They also called on the United States to honor its commitments to funding through PEPFAR and other funding mechanisms.

The event was one of several events around the National Equality March for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender rights. Thousands of people are expected to descend upon the capitol to demand the repeal of laws such as Don't Ask, Don't Tell which prohibits openly gay people from serving in the U.S. military, and the Defense of Marriage Act, DOMA. In addition, marchers will demand the immediate passage of the Matthew Shepard Act, a law created to battle hate crimes, as well as the Employment Nondiscrimination Act, ENDA.

Michigan Lawmakers Reduce Support for Family Planning and Medicaid

2009-10-01T08:53:37-04:00

This article is published as part of a partnership between the Center for Independent Journalism, Michigan Independent and RH Reality Check.

LANSING — On Wednesday, the Michigan Senate approved the budget for the Michigan Department of Community Health. The vote was 20-17.

The budget cuts Medicaid payments to providers by eight percent, as well as chops programs such as pregnancy prevention. Democrats, who are in the minority, argued against the legislation saying it was untenable to balance the budget on the backs of Michigan resident’s health.

“I have heard over and over again that there will be a supplemental that will restore some of the cuts we are making. Well I say I don’t wish to play roulette with people’s lives,” said Sen. Deb Cherry, D- Flint. “And I believe we should take this action now so our budget can provide basic needed services to our vulnerable citizens. I reject the idea that only by cutting programs can we balance this budget.”

Republican Sen. Tom George, who is a medical doctor and is a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor in 2010, said the Medicaid programs merely illustrates how damaged the state’s budget is.

“I wish to point out that this budget more than any other illustrates the structural problems in our budget the state faces. It represents a program that is open ended. From one million medicaid to nearly 1.7 million, one in every ten to now one in every six Michigan residents covered by medicaid. It’s not sustainable,” said the Texas Township Republican.

The budget was approved earlier Wednesday and now heads to Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s desk for signature or veto.

Pouillon's Son Says Father Didn't Really Care About Abortion

2009-09-17T13:44:51-04:00

The son of slain Owosso anti-abortion rights protester James Pouillon told the Flint Journal that abortion foes have selected the wrong man to lionize as a martyr for their cause.

Grand Rapids podiatrist James M. Pouillon has not had contact with his father since 2001. But he isn’t staying silent about the way his father is being called a martyr by some in the anti-abortion rights movement.

“I don’t think he really cared about the unborn,” said Dr. James M. Pouillon, a Grand Rapids podiatrist, who had not spoken to his father since 2001. “I don’t think he was really pro-life.”

Pouillon’s sister disagreed with the doctor, saying her father was a Christian acting on his beliefs.

“He died out there doing what he believed in,” 26-year-old Mary Jo Pouillon of Owosso said at a memorial service Wednesday.

But the son argues that the actions of his father, who would regularly protest, carry signs and yell at passers-by, was all part of a larger plan. The younger Pouillon called his father a “sociopath who terrorized a small town while hiding behind his First Amendment.”

“You could speak with a couple of hundred people who don’t agree with me, so who is right? I’m not going to try to yell louder than my dad’s friends,” he said.

The son also said his father used his abortion stance to terrorize women and said his father abused his mother, Mary Lou Kadera. The two divorced in 1987 and she died in a 2001 car accident.

In a 1992 interview with The Flint Journal, the activist acknowledged years of marital problems, including a fight where he pushed his wife into a piano. Three days after the fight, he told the Journal that “the Holy Ghost came on me.”

The senior Pouillon has been hailed as a martyr by Cal Zastrow of Kawkawlin, chairman of the Michigan Citizens for Life.

Pouillon was gunned down last week Friday while standing in front of Owosso High School, something he would do regularly. Officials have said the alleged shooter, Harlan Drake, told them he was offended by Pouillon’s graphic signs and felt children should not have to view them.

An attorney representing the Drake family put out a statement saying Drake was suffering from depression and that they did not believe the shooting had anything to do with abortion.

Drake is also accused of shooting the 61-year-old owner of a gravel pit in Owosso Township. Drake is in jail without bond awaiting trial on charges of first degree murder and weapons violations.

President Obama Condemns Owosso Shooting

2009-09-13T19:58:05-04:00

President Barack Obama released a one sentence statement on Sunday regarding Friday’s shootings in Owosso. One of the two men killed was a longtime anti-choice advocate, who at the time of the shooting was standing in front of Owosso High School with his political signs, including one showing the picture of a baby with the word “Life” emblazoned on it.

“The shooting last week in Michigan was deplorable. Whichever side of a public debate you’re on, violence is never the right answer,” the President’s statement said.

Prosecutors have said accused shooter Harlan Drake shot Pouillion multiple times because he did not like the graphic pictures the anti-choice advocate presented to children. Drake’s other alleged victim, Mike Fuoss, was a 61-year-old owner of several businesses in Owosso, including the gravel pit at which his body was found Friday morning. A third man, an Owosso realtor named James Howe, was allegedly to be Drake’s third victim, but police apprehended him at his apartment before he had an opportunity to find the realtor.

Drake was arraigned late Friday afternoon on two counts of murder, along with other charges.

The Flint Journal reports that Pouillion appears to be the first anti-choice activist killed because of his beliefs. Abortion supporters and providers have been the target of violence for some time, including the recent shooting Dr. George Tiller in Kansas. Both sides have called the violence unacceptable.

Pouillion is hailed as “America’s first peaceful pro-life rescuer martyr” by Cal Zastrow onLifeSiteNews.com, a pro-life news outlet. Zastrow is identified in the story on LifeSite as a “friend,” but is in fact chairman of Michigan Citizens for Life.

And while Zastrow claims Pouillion was nonviolent, the slain activist had an extensive history of contact with law enforcement, including convictions for malicious destruction of property and stalking.

Prosecutors believe Drake also held grudges against Fuoss and Howe. The Associated Press reports that Howe has fled Owosso as a result of finding out he had been targeted for murder.

Anti-Choice Activist Shot, Killed in Owosso, Michigan

2009-09-11T12:45:20-04:00

Editor's note: Update as of 3:11pm EST: According to the New York Times, the suspect in custody cited displeasure with Pouillon's protests in front of children at the school where he was shot and killed. Still, however, investigators have not cited a reason for the murder of the second victim, the owner of a local gravel-pit.

The Flint Journal is reporting that well known Owosso-based anti-abortion activist James Pouillion, 63, has been shot to death in front of Owosso High School. The shooting happened at approximately 7:30 a.m.

Police have said they do not know if Pouillion’s murder was connected to his activism, reports the Lansing State Journal.

Susan Wooden, interim superintendent of the Owosso schools, told the State Journal that Pouillion was a regular off and on protestor at the school. She said the district has long worried about the potential for violence as a result of his protests.

“We had spoken to the gentleman before and insisted that he be off the school property with his message,” Wooden said. She said the victim had been picketing this morning just off school property before the incident.

In addition, a second homicide was discovered shortly after the Pouillion murder. WLNS, the Lansing CBS affiliate, reports police have confirmed the two homicides are connected and that they have a suspect in custody.

The shooting in this rural Shiawassee county town resulted in a lock down of the school, which has since been lifted.

The Flint Journal reports that the activist has had several incidents with police and city officials.

Pouillon was arrested in 1994 for disorderly conduct, in a case where he allegedly harassed parents as they took their children to day care at First Congregational Church in Owosso.

In a 2003 Flint Journal report of the case, Pouillon said that he targeted the church because it had hosted a 25th anniversary celebration for the local Planned Parenthood office.

At the time, Pouillon said he urged parents escorting children, “Don’t take your kids to that church. They kill babies in there. They support abortion.”

The 1994 police report indicated Pouillon was screaming at pre-school children and their mothers but Pouillon said he and a church member were shouting only because they stood hundreds of feet apart.

The state Supreme Court ordered the state Court of Appeals to rule on the case, which overturned Pouillon’s conviction in 2003.

He is said to have traveled to both Flint and Saginaw to pray outside abortion clinics and was supposed to be present at a clinic in Flint today.

Michigan Lawmakers Seeking to Reduce High Rates of Unintended Pregnancy, STDs

2009-06-29T09:00:00-04:00

LANSING — Citing state statistics showing that one in four teenagers has a sexually transmitted infection and the state has an “unacceptable” number of unplanned pregnancies, State Rep. Rebekah Warren, an Ann Arbor Democrat, and State Sen. Gilda Jacobs, a Huntington Woods Democrat, on Tuesday introduced a series of bills they say will address the crisis.

“It’s these sort of moral imperatives because of these pretty alarming statistics and the economic imperative,” Warren said in an interview, noting that studies show that for every one dollar spent on preventing sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancy, the state saves four to six dollars in the first year in social services costs. “We can spend those dollars on other needs we have in the state now.”

“There has been a lot of conversation about choice,” said Jacobs. “This really can act to bring both sides together. To really reframe the conversation.”

The wide-ranging set of 15 bills addresses sex education, dispensing of prescriptions, regulation of crisis pregnancy centers, and access to emergency contraception for victims of criminal sexual conduct or rape.

H.B. 2472 would create a new law to regulate crisis pregnancy centers, mandating that such centers provide medically accurate and objective information about the wide range of options available to women facing unintended pregnancies, including abortion services; require that such clinics post notices to clients when the organization does not employee licensed medical professionals nor provide information about abortions or birth control; and ensure distribution of specific educational literature provided by the Michigan Department of Community Health.

The legislation, if passed, would allow clients to sue crisis pregnancy centers for damages if a group violates the act.

Warren, who worked in women’s reproductive health issues before being elected to the Michigan House, said those organizations have been found to be providing false information in the past, and it’s a problem seen elsewhere in the country.

“From our perspective, we really want women to know when they’re walking in that they are getting unbiased information, they’re getting true information, they’re getting medically accurate information,” Warren said. “We wouldn’t let people do fraudulent advertising in lots of other places in the state, and we just want that same courtesy when it comes to women’s reproductive health.”

Warren stopped short of accusing Michigan-based crisis pregnancy centers of committing fraud, saying she did not have enough current information to make such a claim.

Another bill in the package would amend the state public schools code to mandate abstinence-plus education. Currently, the state mandates abstinence-only education, but studies have shown those programs while helping youth put off sexual activity for some time, also lead to more risk behavior exposing those youth to sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancies because they “do not have the tools” to address them, Warren said. Abstinence-plus stresses abstaining from sexuality activity, but it also teaches youth about how to protect against sexually transmitted infection and unwanted pregnancies when they do decide to become sexually active.

“We want to make sure young people get what they need,” said Jacobs. “Good sex education.”

For her part, Warren said abstinence-only education has not been “a good investment.”

In yet another piece of legislation, the lawmakers are targeting the need to make emergency contraception available to rape victims. This bill, H.B. 822, would mandate that facilities providing emergency and urgent care for rape victims make emergency contraception available. A similar piece of legislation passed the Democratic-controlled House last session, but was not taken up by the Republican-controlled Senate.

Both Warren and Jacobs had not thought about, but agreed it was a good idea, to mandate counseling and access to anti-retroviral medications for rape victims as well. Studies have shown that when these medications are taken within 72 hours of an exposure, there is a high likelihood of preventing infection with HIV. Currently, state law does not mandate victims of rape be counseled about access to the medications.

“I think that is actually something good and important for us to consider,” Warren said.

“I don’t think we’ve ever thought about that, but I think it’s a great idea,” Jacobs said of adding HIV-medication protocols to the law.

The legislation with the most likelihood to trigger controversy is a measure that would mandate that pharmacists distribute medications prescribed by a doctor. Current federal rules allow health care workers, including pharmacists, to refuse to participate in medical treatments they find morally or ethically offensive. The legislation, H.B. 2358, specifically states that pharmacists shall not refuse to dispense or transfer prescriptions based on his or her ethical, moral or religious beliefs.

A competing piece of legislation was introduced earlier this year which would codify the right of a pharmacist or medical provider to refuse to provide services based on personal ethical, moral or religious beliefs.

While Warren said testimony given to various legislative committees has proven pharmacists have refused to dispense medications because of their beliefs, Jacobs said both pieces of legislation will face an uphill battle, “because they are so controversial.”

Warren concurs, saying she doesn’t see an easy path for the legislative package, but said the decision for medical treatment should remain between a doctor and patient, without the interference of a pharmacist.

“We don’t think a pharmacist should sit in judgment on a prescription a doctor has prescribed and that is in their patient’s best interests,” Warren said.

Ed Rivet, policy director for Right to Life, and Dave Maluchnik, spokesman for the Michigan Catholic Conference, both said their organizations were still reviewing the legislation.

Rivet said most of the legislation was out of the domain of Right to Life.

“We generally don’t take positions on contraception-related issues or emergency contraception,” he wrote.

But he did provide statements regarding two pieces of the legislative package. The first piece he took aim at was a bill targeting pregnancy crisis center.

This bill to mandate certain actions by pregnancy centers was obviously drafted out of ignorance on how these centers operate. Many of them do have licensed professionals providing services like ultrasounds. Furthermore, the bill’s mandate to provide women with lists of abortion providers, etc. is absurd government-mandated speech. These centers would never accommodate this mandate; it is contrary to their mission. So is this a thinly veiled effort to force pregnancy centers to either defeat their own purpose or just close down?

Rivet also took issue with legislation mandating that pharmacists fill prescriptions, even if doing so would violate their moral, ethical or religious beliefs.

The bill to override the conscience rights of pharmacists is exactly the wrong kind of blunt legislative instrument needed to address the conscience issue. President Obama said in his speech at Notre Dame that a reasonable conscience clause law can be drafted. There is nothing reasonable about this proposed bill. Rather, Rep. Pete Lund and Sen. Roger Kahn have introduced the Employee Accommodation Act, H.B. 4850/S.B. 499 that creates process to accommodate employee conscience rights without compromising the requirements or mission of the employer.

Maluchnik said the Michigan Catholic Conference would also oppose the pharmacist provisions.

President Obama recently spoke of drafting sensible conscience legislation. His message clearly didn’t reach the sponsor of this bill. Such a measure is blatantly anti-religious and displays utter disregard and disrespect for the importance of freedom of conscience. The Conference will unconditionally oppose this ill-conceived legislation.

Maluchnik said the conference needed to further review the remainder of the legislation before commenting.