Pro-lifers ordered out of eatery

ABORTION INDUSTRY IN MELBOURNE, FLORIDA
NEWS

FLORIDA TODAY, Sunday, August 22, 1999

Pro-lifers ordered out of eatery

By Aaron Davis, FLORIDA TODAY

SUNTREE -- Three pro-life demonstrators were ordered out of a Suntree Plaza restaurant Saturday when Sheriff's deputies said they were violating a trespass warning.

Meredith Raney, a spokesman for Christians for Life, and two others were quietly ordered to leave Niki's Family Restaurant about 1 p.m., said Commander Joe Crosby of the Brevard County Sheriff's Department.

"Put down your food, and leave quietly or be arrested," Crosby said he told the three.

Picketers last week periodically walked along a public sidewalk adjacent to Suntree Plaza which is home to Woman Care of Melbourne -- a clinic that performs abortions. On Saturday, police photographed demonstrators and warned them against entering the plaza's parking lot or shops.

Photos of the picketers were given to shopkeepers with instructions to call police if any of them entered private property.

"We quickly paid our bill, gave the waitress a tip and left," Raney said. "But half my sandwich was still sitting on my plate."