Code Enforcement Officer Dave Paquette stated that memorial crosses are allowed in public areas, but only for short amounts of time.  Memorials are specifically exempted from the City sign ordinance under Chapter 17.60.080.

The crosses which memorialize the specific babies killed each week in Bakersfield are taken down every week, and are much smaller than the other crosses in the Bakersfield area which have been allowed to remain in the public area for months after the deaths occurred.  In addition, the crosses outside the abortion center have always been attended while memorial crosses in other parts of town are usually unattended.

Please join us at the Bakersfield City Council meeting on Wednesday October 7 at 5 to let the Council know that you stand with us as we seek to keep posting crosses outside the abortion center.

Compare photos of local memorial crosses (ours and others)…

As we have done for the past several months, we visited the Bakersfield City Council on September 9, sharing our concerns about how new parking restrictions impact our ministry activities and possible new efforts to interfere with our First Amendment rights . After we spoke, Councilmember Jacquie Sullivan spoke of her intention to send the issue to a committee.

As you listen to this video and realize what has happened over the past few weeks (with Sullivan claiming on September 23 that the Council would not be able to consider the issue, crosses being confiscated on September 30 and 40 Days for Life signs being called "illegal" on October 2), please consider joining us at the next City Council meeting , Wednesday, October 7, to make the Council aware that this is not only a concern of a few individuals.

(The video of the September 9 Council meeting just became available this week; the video of the September 23 Council meeting is not yet available.)

Meanwhile, God continues to work in many ways through the 40 Days for Life prayer vigil, saving lives and helping women.

Tim and Terri Palmquist spoke during the public comment time, encouraging the Council members to pray during the 40 Days for Life.  Tim emphasized that abortion not only kills our community’s children but also brings serious harm on women in our community, giving the example of a woman whose post-abortion anguish caused her to jump to her death off the high bridge at the 58-99 interchange.

When Sullivan began to speak, it was clear that something had changed. "Most of us on the Council agree with you and with what you are doing with 40 Days for Life," she said, "but we have to stay with our existing parking policy."

City Manager Alan Tandy had been absent at the last meeting, when Sullivan had expressed her determination to send the matter to a committee.  Tandy had previously gone on the record at a Council meeting stating that the parking issue would not be reconsidered.  The courage Sullivan expressed outside of Tandy’s presence suddenly melted on Wednesday night.

This appears to be another instance of the ongoing problem with the Bakersfield City Council acting as if they work for the City Manager instead of understanding that he works for them.

Councilman David Couch (who has been supportive of our position) was absent on Wednesday, so there may still be hope for a policy reversal.  Couch has shown that he keenly understands the fact that the City Manager’s position that there has been a "consistent parking policy" regarding situations like this is untrue.

Please plan to join us at the next City Council meetings, October 7 and October 21, to encourage the Council to follow through with establishing a committee to review this situation.  "Like the widow seeking justice in Jesus’ parable, we are going to keep coming back until justice is done," Tim Palmquist commented.

I am writing you for I seek your help and guidance on Friday September 11 2009 I walked in to an abortion clinic and I took the first of the abortion pill also known as ru486 I am so regretful I want to keep this baby if it isnt too late!! I cannot and will not kill this baby! I was forced into this abortion and now I dont care what I have to do to save it Help Me and my baby please!!

Having dealt with several similar situations trying to save babies from the abortion pill, we had been instructed by Dr. George Delgado to try to find a local doctor at the Fertility Care Centers of America website and/or the One More Soul website . (According to Dr. Delgado, any doctor who is familiar with NaPro Technology should be able to deal with these situations.)  Thanks to Dr. Delgado’s advice, within a few minutes we were speaking to a doctor in the Newark area who was willing to help.

When I explained how we have found that Dr. Delgado’s recommendation of using natural progesterone shots to counteract the effects of the abortion pill may be able to save the baby’s life, the doctor initially expressed some reluctance, saying,  "I have never dealt with a situation like this before."  I replied "I know; there have only been a few situations like this that we know of."

The pregnant woman is the mother of seven children outside the womb.  Her tubes had been tied but somehow she became pregnant anyway.  After having a dream Saturday night that she was holding her baby, see went on the Internet and found our family website .  "When I saw you and all of your kids, I said ‘if they can do it, I can do it.’"

Erin, Terri, and "miracle baby" Kaylee, whose life God saved from the abortion pill.

In addition to connecting her with a doctor, we prayed with her and put her in touch with Erin, the El Paso mother of a little girl God enabled us to help save from the abortion pill last year.  She called Erin and they "had a good cry together."

Please pray that the progesterone treatments are successful, and that God will be glorified in the life of this mother and all of her children.

These abortion pill situations help to show that "choice" is really a lie.  So often we are told "the women going in to these abortion centers have already made up their minds.  What you are doing is just making their decision more difficult."  But when women like this contact us seeking to save their babies’ lives after they have already completed the first part of the abortion process, doesn’t that prove that what these women really need is more help (and God!), not abortion?

For over two decades, Pouillon had dedicated his life to speaking out against abortion.  He opposed violence in any form, but had said he would be willing to die for his beliefs.  Sara Edwards, the chief assistant prosecutor for Shiawassee County, has confirmed that Pouillon’s pro-life stance was the reason he was murdered, according to a statement from the suspect, who is in custody.

“Jim often participated in ministry activities with many of our close friends,” commented Terri Palmquist, who noted that Jim had been the target of death threats and violence in the past.  “Jim had no way to run from this attack, just like the babies in the womb.  We abhor this cowardly act, but I’m sure that if Jim were here he would want us to emphasize the tragic deaths of over 3000 innocent children aborted in our nation every day – more than the number of people who died in the September 11, 2001 attacks.”

Palmquist revealed that she and other LifeSavers Ministries volunteers have been attacked and received death threats in the past.  “Quite often the Bakersfield police act like it is no big deal when someone attacks or threatens us,” Palmquist said.

“Although we are sad that Jim was murdered,” Palmquist remarked, “we know that he has received his final reward and we will not allow this violence to keep us from reaching out to save local women from abortion.”

Palmquist is helping to lead a 40 day, 24 hour peaceful prayer vigil at Bakersfield’s only abortion business.  The vigil begins on September 23 with a kickoff rally on Saturday, September 19 at 6 pm outside Bakersfield’s only abortion business at 25th and H Streets.  Similar prayer vigils are being held in over 200 cities nationwide.  For more information on the prayer vigils, go to www.40daysforlife.com .

Councilmember Jacquie Sullivan

When Terri and Tim Palmquist shared their concerns at last night’s City Council meeting, Councilmember Jacquie Sullivan requested that the matter be submitted to a committee. During the discussion which ensued, Sullivan agreed to come back to the Council at the next meeting with a specific proposal narrowing the issue which is to be sent to a committee. The committee may be one of the existing Council committees, but at last night’s Council meeting the possibility of establishing a special ad hoc committee for the purpose of addressing this issue was presented.

At last night’s meeting, Tim Palmquist had informed the Council of the upcoming 40 Days for Life campaign, emphasizing the fact that the past three campaigns have been conducted without any problem and that no police involvement had been necessary. Pointing to the recent problems with the 30 minute parking zone, Tim encouraged the Council to ensure that the City does not create any unnecessarily problems for the coming 40 Days for Life campaign.

Terri Palmquist challenged the Council to remember that the staff works for them, not vice versa. At the previous Council meeting, City Manager Alan Tandy had instructed the Council that the 30 minute parking zone is a settled issue and nothing is going to change. Terri requested that the Council take action in spite of the City Manager’s opposition. She also provided 40 Dqys for Life flyers to the Councilmembers, inviting them to come out to the vigil personally to pray.

As various people expressed their concerns about the parking situation at the past several Council meetings, it seemed that the Council was determined to ignore the situation, even though most of the Councilmembers have privately stated their opposition to the restrictions. Even when petitions were presented bearing approximately 800 signatures of citizens opposed to the parking restrictions, the Council did not seem to be moved. Isn’t it interesting that the issue is now set to be addressed on September 23, which happens to be the very first day of the 40 Days for Life campaign?

God may be preparing us for a long-awaited breakthrough during this 40 Days for Life campaign. Pray that it may be so, in order that every obstacle which hinders the most effective life-saving ministry may be permanently removed.

The primary problem appears to be that Council members tend to defer to the Council member in whose ward a situation exists, which places this parking issue squarely in the lap of Councilwoman Sue Benham, reputedly an advocate of abortion.  The pro-life members of the Council apparently do not want to base any of their actions on their pro-life convictions, so they need to be provided with strategies for opposing these restrictions which do not involve the necessity of exposing the way in which abortion is harming our own community and the way in which ministries to help rescue women and children from abortion benefit our community.

But regardless of the life-and-death issues involved (as if those weren’t the most important!) here are some important points which should help every Council member to see that to serve the public interest, the parking restrictions need to be removed.

• Off-street parking: FPA has full control of three separate off-street parking areas.  Other businesses which have requested timed parking changes in the past 18 months have not had their own off-street parking areas.  Because it has ample parking in its own lot, FPA should not be allowed to control the adjacent public parking areas, especially when there are hundreds of members of the public who have notified the City of their need to park in this area for more than 30 minutes at a time.
• The "policy" is not consistently applied: City staff’s claim that the timed parking requests from businesses are always granted is false.  In early 2008, a business on 17th Street presented an offical "Request for Signing and Marking" to City staff, indicating their desire that "no signs [would] be present" on the street outside the business, which provides services which require their customers to be on site for more than 30 minutes at a time.  The customers were being ticketed for violating a 30 minute parking zone outside the business, so the business owner clearly had a legitimate business reason for the request.  Nevertheless, staff did not remove the signs as requested, but instead erected new 30 minute parking signs.  Tim Palmquist notified the City staff of this on June 25, but his call has never been returned.  This parking request was one of only three requests for timed parking since the beginning of 2008 other than the FPA (most parking requests handled by City staff relate to handicapped parking spaces, not timed parking).   The 17th Street business has no off-street parking. Clearly, in spite of staff’s claims to the contrary, a consistent policy has not existed and/or has not been enforced.
• First Amendment issues: Correspondence between the FPA abortion business representative and the City staff clearly indicates that these parking restrictions were always intended to discriminate against those who frequent these public streets to pray and seek to save children and their mothers from the violence of abortion.
• Fourteenth Amendment issues: Enforcement of these parking restrictions has also been viewpoint-based, targeting those who participate in the life-saving ministry while ignoring others. (Attorney Catherine Short of Life Legal Defense Foundation sent a letter to the Council and Mayor on June 24 documenting these Constitutional issues in this case.)
• Inconsistencies: The timed parking throughout this area is full of inconsistencies.  Every possible timed parking restriction is represented in nearby blocks.  Such inconsistencies render structured enforcement of timed parking to be virtually impossible.
• Public interest: The voice of the public should be considered when a significant number of citizens expresses concern about parking on public streets. In the case of the restrictions at 25th and H, approximately 800 local residents have indicated in writing their need to park in this area for more than 30 minutes. Many of these signatures also represent nearby businesses which oppose the 30 minute parking restriction.
• Safety issues: Many people who frequent 25th and H Streets (to pray for those entering the abortion facility) bring along small children, who now must cross these busy streets more often because of the parking restrictions.  Contrary to the insinuation included in the June 22 staff report to the Council on this issue, those who participate in efforts to save children and their mothers from abortion consistently strive to follow laws.  The allegations alluded to in the staff report relate primarily to complaints against the signs displayed by prayer vigil participants, and the use of signs is clearly a First Amendment issue.

If you have not yet written a letter to the Mayor and/or Bakersfield City Council member who represents your area , please do so now.  If you previously sent a letter, please place a phone call or send a follow-up letter requesting a response to these issues.

It appears at this point that we will once again be expressing our concerns at the next City Council meeting, Wednesday July 29 at 5 pm.  Please consider coming to the meeting to express your concerns or just to stand with us in prayer.

Contact information for the Council and Mayor:

• Bakersfield Mayor Harvey Hall mayor@ci.bakersfield.ca.us
• Council member Irma Carson (Ward 1, southeast and south-central Bakersfield)
• Council member Sue Benham (Ward 2, central Bakersfield, north Stockdale)  sbenham@sbcglobal.net
• Council member Ken Weir (Ward 3, northeast Bakersfield)
• Council member David Couch (Ward 4, northwest Bakersfield, north Seven Oaks)   david.couch@morganstanley.com
• Council member Harold Hanson (Ward 5, southwest Bakersfield, west Laurelglen)    hwhanson@cbbank.com
• Council member Jacquie Sullivan (Ward 6, east Laurelglen, Silver Creek, and points south)    jacquiesullivan@sbcglobal.net
• Council member Zack Scrivner (Ward 7, south Bakersfield, Valley Plaza, Greenfield)

If you cannot attend the meeting, it is available for viewing or listening online. If you wish to send an e-mail message to Council members, please let me know and I will send you the addresses of some of the Council members.

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Moments earlier, City Attorney Ginny Gennaro had told me, "this is not a controversial situation. I have only received one e-mail from a Council member about it." She was responding to my comment that in controversial situations, the City should study the situation more carefully before granting one party’s request for a parking restriction.

Early last Saturday morning, a Bakersfield City crew snuck in to install 30 minute parking signs outside the abortion center at 25th and H when we weren’t watching. The parking signs are apparently intended to interfere with our ministry activities, especially the Traveling Life Center RV. Now City officials like Raul Rojas want to convince people that it is too late to change anything because the signs have already been installed. Rojas told me that even if we submit a detailed study to prove that the 30 minute zone is not needed, he will not change his mind.

While leading Bakersfield City staff members like Rojas and Gennaro clearly oppose our efforts, most of the City Council members have expressed agreement with our concerns. However, the Council members have been convinced by the staff that there is nothing they can do about the situation. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. The City staff works for the Council, not vice-versa.

In my various contacts with Bakersfield City staff members and Council members, it has become clear that Bakersfield has no written policy governing how they handle requests for parking restrictions. Instead, they are guided by an unwritten policy which assumes that business owners know best what parking restrictions are appropriate on public streets adjacent to their businesses.

A business like Family Planning Associates, however, which has full control over its own parking lots, should not be able to exercise sole control over the parking on the public streets near their property. Parking restrictions should be based upon the needs of the public, not just the needs of business owners.  A new, written, policy on timed parking which emphasizes the importance of considering the interests of the public may be necessary.

Council member Sue Benham, who apparently opposes our efforts, indicated that "longstanding city policy… is to accommodate timed parking to businesses" when a property owner submits a request and pays a fee, and City staff detects "no safety issues or inconsistencies."  I pointed out some safety issues (such as more children crossing the street) and inconsistencies (such as the fact that FPA tells its clients they need to allow at least two hours) to Gennaro and Rojas (I had previously explained these issues to the City’s Traffic Engineer Ryan Starbuck), but neither seemed to consider them to be significant.

We have the names of over 700 people who have come to this area to pray over the past 9 months. Each of these people are members of the public who have a right to use the public streets. Most of these people needed to park in this area for more than 30 minutes at a time as they participated in prayer vigils.

If you are one of these people who has participated in prayer vigils in the past, or if you intend to participate in prayer vigils in the future, the City Council needs to hear your voice. They need to understand that their decision does not just affect "Tim and Terri Palmquist and their RV," but that hundreds of their constituents are concerned about this.

The next City Council meeting is coming up on Wednesday evening, June 10. At that meeting, we hope to present the Council with a petition bearing hundreds of signatures of people asking the Council to remove these parking restrictions. We also hope that many people will come to the Council meeting to speak out against these parking restrictions. Please print out a petition (available in English and bilingual versions) and gather signatures this Sunday at church or at other locations where you meet people who may be concerned about this situation.

And if you are willing to speak to the Council during the public comment time at Wednesday’s meeting, please call us at 706-2229 so that we can coordinate the speakers to obtain the maximum impact.

• Petition in English
• Bilingual (English-Spanish) petition

Please return all signed petitions to us by 5 pm on Wednesday, June 10.

She responded with the following text message: "I know but sorry i hope god forgives me…."  A few hours later, her boyfriend picked her up as she left the killing center with an aching, empty womb.

A few hours after that sad experience, Terri received this encouraging text message from another woman whom she had helped in the TLC a few weeks ago: "Hi miss terri how r u doing….  I havent forgoten about u and what I owe 2 u.  My baby is growing in the same way my faith is.  Love u and God bless u and ur family." As you can see, text messaging has become an important part of our ministry activities.

You can also keep up with our day-to-day activities through text messaging and have more opportunities to join us in prayer by following us on Twitter .

The TLC ministry is still in its infancy, but it is already effective, as evidenced by FPA’s efforts to restrict the on-street parking outside their abortion building.  Please consider speaking out against these restrictions by signing our petition and/or coming to the next Bakersfield City Council meeting on Wednesday, June 10.

We are also being asked to bring the TLC to other communities, including Las Vegas, but we need additional funds to do so.

There is much more we hope to do with the TLC, but we are struggling just to find funds for basic needs like insurance right now.  Thank you for your essential part in helping to save lives by expanding these ministries.