News-Public comments
"Calgary…the city I was born and raised in….the arrogant, abrasive little city where poverty and homelessness is a crime. Calgary…where city council is more concerned with a company’s art work in their windows, a preacher in a park, and a lady with 5 chickens in her back yard, then they are about education, health care infrastructure needs, a corrupt and bloated police service, and a transportation system that is being left behind in the dust. Details though, huh?
It disturbs me to watch what Calgary has become……an "elitist" club where money and influence has more value than the human life….where the poor are made to feel guilty for even existing in Calgary. I am ashamed to say I am from Calgary. I moved away 11 years ago and watched it slide into the hands of arrogant newcomers who have no history, feelings, or a single care for the real Calgarians.
Looking good Calgary! Gotta keep up those high rankings, huh? Well, don’t let 5 chickens, a preacher, and a sign painting in a business window get in the way of dropping you down a notch! Calgary has gone to hell."
"Its not about noise, its hateful people don’t want to hear that they are going to hell."
A friend of mine said he was there again today, preaching and handing out food. Apparently the homeless is still hanging around.– Its 27 below zero & he is passing out food to homeless people- & this is the trigger for your complaint?
How many among you Calgarians know your neighbors next door? How many among you have real friends? I’m not surprised with the self-serving, nasty and hateful comments on a good samaritan. If there were more people helping the minister, performing charity, then he wouldn’t have needed the loudspeakers. But instead of helping, you priviledged ases would like to stop it. I hope karma doesn’t come back to bite you. Black souls. Really black.
Well, well, well.
I can’t help but notice that there are quite a few of you who seem to think that this guy should be guilty and have his fundamental rights and freedoms removed because of his crazy "religious" beliefs. Strange that I noted you are the same group that feel G20 protestors, gay rights rally’s, and union strike lines blocking streets and sidewalks are just fine…
Talk about hypocrisy at its finest. How pathetic!
Personally I would not listen to what this man has to say but I will defend his right to say it no matter what.
The judge should have backed the preacher not the constant complainers at silly hall! Let’s hope that the judge’s soul will be saved, in light of his error in judgement in this case. I’m sure the man up stairs will remember your verdict in this case!
Society needs to hear the message of Jesus more than ever and I totally disagree with this verdict. It was more likely that those that complained the loudest, didn’t want to hear about the grace of God. I pitty you and all who think like you! Come Lord Jesus and put this world in order!
Plain and simple intolerance and disgust for religious people who are doing something. Calgary society is evolving into egotistic atheists believing in nothing and doing nothing and whose source of happiness is finding faults and punishing any religious people for breaching their double standard rules.
It is ok for the City of Calgary Corporation to have loud music downtown several times a year, to close off roads and disrupt traffic for runs and walks and excess construction. But The City bullies this poor preacher who gives a free meal in return for the price of listening to his sermon at no cost to the taxpayer. The City is a bully and funded by the taxpayer. I am not a Christian. We are not freemen in Calgary.
This is not about noise its denial from people on the street walking by who dont want to hear what they are doing wrong.
Of the 176 public complaints I’d like to know how many people actually complained. I bet it’s a relatively small number of people generating the majority of the complaints. And why are Bylaw officer complaints being factored into this? How often does this happen? Sounds like a sneaky way for the city bureaucracy to get what they want.
Street Church comments in Calgary Herald 28 Feb. 2011
$65,000 bylaw battle continues with Calgary street preacher
What a joke $65,000! This is simply not true. Over 60 court appearances, Provincial Courts, Criminal Courts, Civil litigation's, at times there were 20-30 officers present at our peaceful gatherings. We have been told, by a police officer, that just by calculating the officers' wages, associated to time spent pursuing this matter, the total would amount to over 2 million dollars, and that is without all of the bureaucratic office staff and administrative support associated with tracking everything relating to the case.
Now if that cost were not enough, consider that at times, during different trials City Lawyers, representing the City of Calgary, representatives from the Attorney Generals Office from the Province of Alberta and different Crown Prosecutors were brought in to stand against us. That, of course, does not even consider the salary of the judges, the court clerks, the bailiffs and all other court and government legal staff behind the scenes (researchers, investigators, etc) that would have been involved in the case. Quite frankly it is obvious the costs not only to our organization, but also to the government is immense, unjust, and completely unnecessary.
Please note that some trials were as lengthy as ten days and over all we have had to appear before a judge to defend ourselves over 60 times, in criminal, provincial and civil courts. The estimated cost associated to this, amounts to easily over a million dollars.
Please also note, that to this day we have never been charged for being to laud, not even for disturbing the peace, never! This is all political propaganda, in this case also false information presented to the public!
We have repeatedly extended our hand of friendship and co-operation to the City of Calgary and its' former Mayor, Council and administration, but we have had that hand slapped down only to continue to have to defend ourselves in the courts due to fines, summons and injunctions placed against our ministry.
Please watch this movie, and you will be shocked: http://streetchurch.ca/index.php/20101121673/Street-Church-Videos/Evangelism-in-Action/Street-Church-in-12-min.html
