FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CR

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1995 (202) 616-2765

TDD (202) 514-1888

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SUES FOUR INDIVIDUALS FOR BLOCKING ACCESS TO

A NORTH DAKOTA CLINIC AND INTIMIDATING ITS STAFF

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Three North Dakota residents and a

Minnesota resident who allegedly blocked a women's health clinic in
Fargo or followed members of its staff were sued today by the
Justice Department under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances
Act (FACE).
In its complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Fargo, the
Justice Department alleged that Ronald D. Shaw of North Dakota,
Timothy Lindgren of Minnesota and a group of other unidentified
persons blocked access to the Fargo Women's Health Organization in
November 1994, by constructing a barrier made of cars and scrap
metal. It alleged that Shaw and Lindgren locked themselves to the
cars so that the vehicles could not be moved without injuring them.
The complaint also alleged that Kathy Kirkeby and John B.
Brennan of North Dakota as well as Lindgren have intimidated
members of the clinic's staff by continuously following, chasing or
shouting at them. In June 1994, it also alleged that Brennan
attempted to enter and created a disturbance at the clinic
administrator's home at 3:00 AM. Although he pleaded guilty to
disorderly conduct and was ordered to stay 100 feet from the
administrator, Brennan allegedly has violated the court order on
several occasions.
Today's suit is the fourth civil action filed under the law
signed by President Clinton in May of 1994. The law forbids anyone
from using force, threat of force or physical obstruction to
injure, intimidate or interfere with a person obtaining or
providing reproductive health services. It allows the Justice
Department to ask a court to prevent people from blocking clinics
and harming health care providers who provide reproductive health
services.
The Justice Department seeks a federal court order preventing
the defendants from violating FACE or coming within 200 feet of the
clinic, its employees or their family members. It also seeks
statutory damages of $5,000 for each aggrieved person and civil
penalties up to $10,000 for the first offense. Violations of a
court order could subject the defendants to an array of criminal
and civil penalties.
"Congress passed the clinic entrance law to protect women's
constitutional rights to reproductive health services," said
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Deval L. Patrick. "We
intend to vigorously enforce the law."
Two weeks ago the Justice Department obtained a federal court
order restraining a woman from coming within 500 feet of a clinic
in Kansas City and asked another federal court in Cleveland to
prevent an Ohio man from threatening a doctor that provides health
care services in the midwest.
Last month the Justice Department asked permission to enter
into an existing civil suit filed under FACE by a clinic in
Milwaukee against eight persons who blocked the entrance. In
November, a federal court, using the criminal provisions of the law
for the second time, convicted six of the individuals. A second
case in which a group of individuals blocked another Milwaukee
clinic is scheduled for trial later this month.
In October 1994, the Justice Department obtained the first
criminal conviction under FACE, when a federal jury convicted Paul
Hill of killing a doctor at a Pensacola, Florida clinic. Hill was
later sentenced to die in the electric chair following his state
conviction.
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95-031