Tag Archives: ZZ: Frost v Town of Hampton

SeacoastOnline: “A federal judge has ordered the town to pay $35,000 in legal fees incurred by a pair of street preachers to defend themselves against their wrongful arrests, in addition to a $5,000 settlement to each and annulment of their arrest records . . . Those fees did not include representation the men received from the Alliance Defense Fund . . .”

Sea Coast Online: “Two Christian preachers who claim they were wrongfully arrested for spreading the word of God at Hampton Beach have reached a settlement with the town in a lawsuit they filed in U.S. District Court against the Police Department . . . The two men — backed by the Alliance Defense Fund — sued the town last October claiming their First Amendment rights were violated when they were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct Aug. 4, 2008, at Hampton Beach.”

Sea Coast Online: “The town of Hampton is close to settling a federal lawsuit filed by two Christians who claimed they were wrongly arrested by police at Hampton Beach in 2008 for preaching the word of God . . . At the time, ADF Senior Counsel Joseph Infranco said the lawsuit was filed to challenge what they call ‘vague’ state law regarding disorderly conduct, which they claimed inhibited free speech by prohibiting ‘loud or unreasonable noises in public’ without any method to determine what constitutes a ‘loud and unreasonable noises.’”

LifeSiteNews: “‘The government shouldn’t harass and threaten citizens for simply wanting to exercise their First Amendment rights in public,’ said ADF Senior Counsel Joseph Infranco. ‘The court did the right thing in preventing this law from being enforced against the free speech activities of these men. We hope that this lawsuit will result in a new state statute that affirms the First Amendment rights of all New Hampshire citizens.’”

OneNewsNow: “‘A federal court in the matter issued a preliminary injunction, meaning that the law can no longer be applied to people in its current and very vague form,’ [Joe Infranco] explains. ‘The vague form is that it restricts whatever a police officer might consider “unreasonable” or “loud” noise — and there’s no standard to that at all. So that’s simply an invitation for an officer to use his or her discretion and to censor a message that they don’t like.’”

WCAX (AP): “The street preachers were supported in the lawsuit by the Alliance Defense Fund – a national Christian organization.”

Sea Coast Online: “Now backed by the Alliance Defense Fund — a national Christian organization supporting legal cases that ‘protect religious freedom, the sanctity of human life, and marriage and the family’ — the street preachers have filed a U.S. District Court lawsuit against the Town of Hampton and members of its police department. Simultaneously, they’re challenging New Hampshire’s disorderly conduct statute as it pertains to unreasonable noise.” Also published in Boston Herald.

“The ordinance was used to arrest two men who were sharing their faith and singing worship songs on a public sidewalk in the Hampton Beach area.”

Sea Coast Online: “Now backed by the Alliance Defense Fund — a national Christian organization supporting legal cases that ‘protect religious freedom, the sanctity of human life, and marriage and the family’ — the street preachers have formidable legal representation. Through ADF lawyers, they’ve filed a U.S. District Court lawsuit against the town of Hampton and members of its police department. Simultaneously, they’re challenging New Hampshire’s disorderly conduct statute as it pertains to unreasonable noise.”