Pa. school district takes street preacher to court

HARRISBURG, Pa. (RNS) Should a street preacher be banned from
approaching students at a bus stop?


Dauphin County, Pa., Judge Jeannine Turgeon is weighing that
question regarding Stephen Garisto, who says he has a constitutional
right to evangelize to the students.


Turgeon didn't make a final ruling after a hearing Thursday (Jan.
13) on a school district's plea for a permanent injunction to keep
Garisto away from the children.


Yet she did tell Garisto that while his intentions might be pure,
his actions eerily mimic those commonly associated with pedophiles and
child abductors.


"Mr. Garisto, you're not Mr. Rogers," Turgeon said, invoking the
children's television icon. "In our culture we tell children, `Do not
talk to strangers."'


For the time being, she continued a temporary injunction requiring
Garisto to stay away from the bus stop near his home in Penbrook, Pa.


Garisto was in court because school district officials and parents
are concerned about his interactions with the middle and high schoolers
who board buses near his home.


The district moved the bus stop in response to parent concerns, but
officials claim Garisto still approached children several times.


In 2004, county Judge Scott A. Evans fined Garisto $50 after finding
him guilty of disorderly conduct for protesting at the prior year's
PrideFest, Harrisburg's annual gay and lesbian festival.


Bus driver Carol Mihailoff reported repeated incidents with Garisto,
including one in October when he approached some girls as they got off
the bus.

"My concern is that the children need to get home and be
safe, because I have no idea what (Garisto) has up his sleeve,"
Mihailoff testified.


Garisto said his only intent is to preach God's word.


When he took the witness stand, he asked to be sworn in on a Bible.
None was available in the courtroom, so he provided his own.


"Being a street preacher and evangelist ... that is something that
is common for me to do," he said. "I have been ministering to children
since the `80s."


Questioned by Engle, he said he gave tracts to "unsaved children"
without asking their parents' permission. "My intention is to get them
saved and to get them discipled," Garisto said.


Engle conceded Garisto has a right to preach publicly, but argued
that a bus stop isn't an appropriate pulpit. "These are kids. They don't
have the wherewithal to say to Mr. Garisto, `I don't want a Bible
tract,"' Engle said.


"What he have here is a man who wants to be a good neighbor,"
countered Garisto's lawyer, Henry Sollenberger. "He wants to share his
faith with those around him."