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Contents © 1998
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

September 1998 LITTLE NOTES

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After reading the News Notes account, local attorney Michael Kumeta sent a letter June 12 to police chief Jerry Sanders, urging an investigation of the incident. After hearing nothing for a month, in mid-July Kumeta said he planned to file a citizen's complaint over the May 6 incident. On July 29, a letter requesting comment was mailed by Kumeta to police chief Jerry Sanders, with copies to Officer Curran, SDPD Internal Affairs, and Bill Robinson, a police spokesman. On August 13, Robinson told Kumeta when a complaint is filed and is being investigated by Internal Affairs, there is a prohibition against comments being made.

After Kumeta's letters to the police, Youngkin's partner noted in ongoing pro-life demonstrations that the police had been unusually courteous and hands-off. They had even ceased the typical hassles they often cause the pro-lifers, such as asking them to move their van with aborted baby signs on it though it is legally parked.


"GRAY DAVIS IS NOT FIT FOR THE OFFICE OF DOG CATCHER, much less governor, as long as he condones abortion." So stated the California Life Coalition's press release announcing its protest of the Democratic candidate at the gubernatorial campaign debate held July 31 at the San Diego Convention Center. The CLC is a group of pro-life activists with an emphasis on sidewalk counseling which also engages in political activism.

During the debate, approximately ten pro-lifers on the public sidewalk outside the convention center displayed large, graphic photos of aborted babies and signs denouncing Davis for being pro-abortion. "He [Davis] has heavy support from the National Abortion Rights Action League and also from the National Organization for Women," said CLC director Cheryl Sullenger. "In fact, he's trying to make abortion one of the main campaign issues of this election." She said Republican candidate Dan Lungren "has always voted pro-life when he could, and he has also supported the pro-life position as attorney general." (According to the July 31 San Diego Union-Tribune, both men are Catholic.)

Also present were several pro-abortion demonstrators, as well as a few demonstrators calling for all gubernatorial candidates to be allowed to participate in debates. Sullenger reported that members of the secular news media flocked to the pro-abortion demonstrators and completely ignored the pro-lifers. Not so the general public. "People stopped by and thanked us for doing this, and told us to keep it up," she said. "We've had a lot more support than negative comments."

To contact the California Life Coalition, write to P.O. Box 712772, Santee, CA 92072-2772, or call (619) 562-3519.


AN NFP-ONLY PHYSICIANS DIRECTORY is now available from One More Soul, an organization dedicated to educating the public on the dangers of contraception and the blessings of children. Doctors listed in the directory do not perform or refer for abortions and do not prescribe artificial contraceptives. Some are listed as NFP users and/or instructors, and others conduct research on NFP or do speaking engagements. Local doctors: Arthur Stehly, M.D. (ob/gyn), 211 S. Grape St., Escondido, CA 92025, (760) 747-6910; and Jim Murphy, D.O. (family practice), 5445 Oberlin Drive #101, San Diego, CA 92121, (619) 450-5959.

To order the NFP-only directory, send $4 to One More Soul, 616 Five Oaks Ave, Dayton, OH, 45406 or call (800) 307-7685.


"THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF THE HOMOSEXUAL POLITICAL ACTIVISTS is the criminalization of...the Christian view," said Janet Folger during an August 11 interview on the Roger Hedgecock radio talk show. "It starts with saying, 'You're backward thinking,' and that 'you people are lunatics and bigots and homophobes.'" Folger is national director of the Center for Reclaiming America and campaign coordinator for the "Truth in Love" campaign, a project sponsored by 18 Christian ministries. On July 13, "Truth in Love" began running full-page advertisements in major daily newspapers that state it is possible to leave the homosexual lifestyle, that homosexual sex is sinful, and that help is available for homosexuals who want to change. (The ads are mentioned in the August 17 Newsweek's cover story on whether gays can
"convert.")

"Twenty thousand people that we're aware of have actually successfully left homosexuality behind," Folger said. With militant homosexual activists, she said, "it becomes no longer a case of 'just be tolerant of us.' They are now demanding that every American must adopt their political agenda." She also sounded the alarm on a federal hate crimes bill mandating "diversity training" that equates homosexual relationships to heterosexual marriage.

The American Psychiatric Association considered homosexual behavior a disorder until 1973, when politicking by gay groups such as ACT UP finally caused the organization to change its mind. "The studies that show there might be some kind of genetic link," claimed Folger, "those have been done primarily by homosexual activists, and their own research has shown that the contrary is true."

To obtain "Truth in Love" ads, call 1-877-IN-TRUTH/1-877-468-7884. For more information on the "Truth in Love" campaign and the Center for Reclaiming America, contact P.O. Box 632, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33302 / 1-800-582-4794 / 954-351-3353.


THE FOURTH DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS on July 20 reversed a $400,000 judgment entered five years ago against Operation Rescue of California. Womancare and several individual plaintiffs, including abortionists who worked there, claimed Operation Rescue members had harassed them and trespassed on their property. In reversing the judgment, the appeals court found that the plaintiifs' "failure to comply with statutory notice requirements deprived [Operation Rescue] of due process" and ordered the plaintiffs to pay the pro-lifers' legal bills for the appeal. A judgment against Jeff White of OR was also reversed, in part because the trial court had awarded emotional distress damages to Womancare which, OR attorney Rick Vattuone argued successfully, as a business entity is incapable of suffering such distress. The rest of the judgment was affirmed.

The appeals court also slammed plaintiffs' attorney James McElroy, a vociferous pro-life foe in the courts. The court stated it could not "condone McElroy's use of questions as a springboard for bringing unsworn statements before the jury as truth...." It also noted that many of McElroy's comments to the jury were unsupported by the evidence.


THE SISTERS OF LIFE, founded in 1991 by Cardinal John O'Connor, are dedicated to the protection and enhancement of the sacredness of human life. The sisters spend about four hours per day in prayer, maintain an extensive pro-life library, give retreats, days and evenings of recollection for those involved in the pro-life cause, and, since January 1996, have been engaged in directly assisting pregnant mothers.

The entire convent was scheduled to move into Sacred Heart of Jesus Convent in New York City in late February of this year, which the sisters plan to convert into a cloister for themselves and a living area for up to ten pregnant mothers. The sisters' fundraising letter describes this arrangement as follows:

"It is not fully a maternity home, but it is also more than that. It will be unique in that it will be run by sisters who spend a lot of time in prayer. Instead of a home structured to educate and train and reorganize the lives of the mothers (as good as those efforts are), we hope to create a holy respite. There we can truly minister to each one's spiritual and emotional needs, without neglecting the physical."

The sisters are now soliciting donations or other forms of material assistance for Sacred Heart Convent, which requires some renovation, furnishings, and many items for equipping the unwed mothers' section. Contact Sacred Heart of Jesus Convent, 450 West 51st Street, New York, NY 10019.


THOUSANDS OF SPECTATORS lined University Avenue in Hillcrest for approximately two hours to watch the annual Gay Pride parade Saturday, July 25 as part of San Diego's annual weekend-long Gay Pride Festival. Participants in the parade and other weekend activities included the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Paul, the Greater San Diego Business Association, Cox Communications, Cush Honda, Qualcomm, Saturn San Diego, the American Cancer Society, Cunningham BMW, and Kaiser Permanente's Association of Lesbians (sponsoring the "Kaiser Bedpan Revue").

Law enforcement and politicians marching in the parade included sheriff Bill Kolender and the Golden State Peace Officers' Association; city council members Christine Kehoe (an avowed lesbian), Barbara Warden, and Byron Wear; Todd Stevens, state assemblywoman Susan Davis, and state senator Dede Alpert.

Also marching in the parade was the University of San Diego's "Student Alliance Embracing Sexual Orientation" (SAESO). SAESO is described on USD's website as offering "friendship, alliance and mutual assistance to students working through the process of embracing their sexual orientation." SAESO is one of several member organizations of the United Front, a campus coalition whose objective is "to provide an environment conducive to the unique expression of micro-cultures that have historically experienced discrimination."

When asked why a pro-homosexual student organization is allowed to operate on the campus of a Catholic university, SAESO president Dung Hoang explained, "A lot of the [homosexual] students face discrimination and must deal with feeling unaccepted." When asked for examples of specific incidences of discrimination against homosexuals at USD, she declined to comment.

On Sunday, many businesses sponsored Pride Festival booths in Balboa Park, including Pacific Bell, Bank of America, Tower Records, American Airlines, the San Diego Padres, Dean's Photo, Sprint PCS, Century 21, and Wells Fargo Bank.

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