Harassment Complaints Aimed at Pastor

This story wasn't in the Cedar Rapids Gazette until yesterday. I found it in the QC Times so I could link it.

"LeCLAIRE, Iowa — The pastor who got the attention of his community and the police when he posted a graphic anti-abortion sign in his yard now faces harassment complaints from two church members who say he hounded them for supporting a presidential candidate different than his.
The women accuse the Rev. Tim Groves, pastor of New Life Community Church in LeClaire, of repeatedly harassing them by telephone and in visits to their homes because they supported John Kerry and say they are distraught over feeling forced to leave the church they love."

"Talbot said her relationship with the pastor has been strained in recent months, but it boiled over after a church deacon came to her house and told her to remove Kerry campaign signs from her yard. She said Groves followed up with a phone call, telling her she is not a Christian if she supports Democrats."


http://www.qctimes.com/internal.php?story_id=1039225&t=Local+News&c=2,1039225

Letting his light shine before men, that they may see his good works and all that jazz. :eyes:

They're creating a world that is hostile to rabid right-wing Christians. Even I find myself saying things in public without any regard for who is listening. My family and I went to go see the new Bridget movie and I couldn't help to recognize that Bridget is a socialist, as many british are. As we left, my daughter was chatty about Bridget and I told her that in England she'll find a lot of people who share her political views and "you won't find the Christian nutcases you find here." Suddenly I realized the group of tubby white seniors in front of us went silent. We were walking out of the theater at the time. They parted like the red sea and we walked through them.

No doubt he's threatening her with eternal damnation, etc.

Why does a man who spends his time chatting with the devil see himself as a Christian, and holier than thou to boot?

This is so incredible ... these people are doing themselves in. But, we need to be vocal and fight back. My family's pastor is a true gift ... he is fighting within the Lutheran church for gay marriage rights ... and our congregation loves him. However, my cousin has one of these wingnut minister's in her small town church. The scary thing is that so much of her little town votes straight party repuke because of his hate speech.

Sounds like LeClaire has their own little band of fundie nutjobs. Read in the paper today that they are now trying to ban a children's book called the "Misfits" because it has a gay character in it. I tried to find a link, I'll keep looking.

Tis truly the spirit of Jesus in them!

Maybe she could put a sign in her front yard with pictures of actual children blown to bits in Iraq in the name of democracy. It could be titled with a quote from our misleader, "this crusade, this war on terrorism..." Oh, wait, those kids don't count, they were already doomed to burn in hell, so no big loss there. We're just helping them reach their preordained fate early.

God bless America

He's only 34! How come so many "pro-life" people are men? As a representative of that gender, I apologize for those morons.

http://www.newlifeiowa.org/meet_the_pastor.htm

how self-centered that guy is. I bet even his mother, "still happily married," could not read through all that me! me! me! trivia.

I bet he got beat up on a pretty regular basis when he was a kid.

Article about a parent that wants a book banned for having a gay character. There really are some loonies in that town.
http://www.qctimes.com/internal.php?t=Search&doc=/2004/11/25/stories/opinion/1040268.txt

LeClaire happens to be my hometown and my parents still live there. I have a few fond memories of growing up there, as well as a few not so fond memories. But it is blatantly unfair to rip on my hometwon because of a few assholes. I also happen to know Mrs. Talbot and Mrs. Mizer and they are fine ladies. I still see a couple of the offspring of those two ladies. As far as the reporter, Barb Ickes, she is one of us. She reported on the nonsense that went on at the bush rally on the riverfront here in Davenport and she was thanked by me. She also responded to my email by saying something like "they must be stopped". But anyway, don't condemn the whole town because of the actions of a few. As far as the book banning, I do not believe it will happen. The Pleasant Valley school district is well known as being progressive and among the best in Iowa, as well as the USA at one time. Just because I went there is no reason to think otherwise. In closing, I apologize for my rough language at the start of this rambling, but I like my hometown and am proud to be from there.

Just the pastor and his followers. If it sounds like I'm picking on the whole town, I'm sorry. That is definitely not the case. I certainly admire the people in town that are standing up to this nut. I hope they keep after him and maybe he'll figure out he isn't all that welcome.
I don't think they'll succeed in banning the book either. If this was NW Iowa instead of Eastern Iowa it would probably be different, but I have faith that the people in this part of the state will have some common sense.

I sort of went off on a rant. I tend to do that sometimes, it's one of my few(?) faults. But anyway, as I stated earlier, I still keep in touch with Mrs. Talbot's offspring; at least her oldest son, and he's pissed! He also has never been a particularly political person until now. His mother is under attack fer cryin' out loud. Both of the ladies in the story are widows and one has had kind of a hard life as her husband suffered greatly before he passed on. So the alleged reverend Groves is a piece of shit for picking on this woman, who expressed her freedom, and not only that, he expected the LeClaire PD to provide patrols 24/7 around his house so his sign wouldn't get vandalized. People are upset about this clown and he may not be in town long.

Maybe it's time for the good people of LeClaire to start picketing his house so he knows just how unwelcome he is. If you do it on a weekend I'll come on over with my own signs.

freedom of speech, next thing you know you'll want the right to vote too!

BTW, I was from NW IA and I'm not sure that he would even be welcome there. Well on second thought...they did have that crazy sheriff that was going to deputize everybody because Y2K was the beginning of the end of civilization. Ah, home sweet home.

At least from a personal standpoint. First of all, I work Saturdays and do not get off until 5:00 PM. Secondly, it seems that this guy wants attention, so it may be best to ignore him. His original sign was vandalized and he is attempting to sue the city for not providing enough protection. This case has absolutely no merit, as no police department anywhere is going to provide 24/7 protection to one citizen at the expense of all others. If people picket in front of his house, he would undoubtedly call the police and the QC Times, because then he could accuse the picketers of being terrorists or whatever and slowly but surely, if he gets enough attention, people may swing around to his side. I say to just ignore the fool. It sounds like members of the congregation are unhappy with all of this stuff. I mean, the two ladies involved are LeClaire lifers and the reverend is a newcomer in town. The townspeople will rally around the two elderly lifers. Very little doubt about that. On a final note, I called the district office for PV schools today and said that even thinking about book banning went against American ideals of freedom. The lady agreed with me and I truly do not feel that the book will be banned at all.

I know about everyone in town rallying around the little old ladies that have been there since dirt was new. Those are the people that you want on your side, you never ever pick on them. People will probably still go to this guy's church, but they'll be talking about him, and he'll be out before too long.

Let me say this, too.....nothing beats living in a small town!!!