Orr reintroduces bill that would prohibit protesting

Feb. 13—State Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, says a bill he reintroduced this legislative session wasn't motivated by protests at Mayor Tab Bowling's house over the police shooting of Steve Perkins, even though it would ban such protests at residences.

Decatur resident Alainah Dailey was arrested in front of Bowling's home Friday night while protesting Perkins' death and the city's response to it. She is charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct and remained in the Morgan County Jail on Monday. At a hearing Monday her probation on a prior offense was conditionally revoked, meaning she will remain in jail. Her next hearing on the bond revocation and on the bond in the disorderly conduct case is not until March 5.

Orr said he introduced the bill prohibiting protests at residences in the 2023 session in response to protests over the U.S. Supreme Court's abortion decision at Justice Brett Kavanaugh's Maryland home in May 2022.

"The bill bans protesting at anybody's home," Orr said. "It could be a lawyer's home; it doesn't have to be public official's home."

For example, he said the bill would stop protesting at the home of a lawyer "where everybody is mad at him" for representing a defendant in an unpopular murder case.

"They just need to keep the protesting at the lawyer's office or the courthouse," Orr said.

The bill, Senate Bill 57, prohibits picketing or protesting at or near a person's residence "with the intent to harass, intimidate, or disturb that individual or other individuals who reside at that residence."

Before an arrest can be made, according to the bill, a law enforcement officer shall instruct the protester to "immediately and peaceably disperse."

The bill passed the Senate and got out of the House committee in the 2023 session "but we just ran out of time. There wasn't a lot of opposition, Democrat or Republican. The Democrats in the Senate all voted for it. They said, 'We don't want people protesting at our houses.'"

Orr said the only difference in the new bill and the previous version is he added a penalty for swatting: the practice of calling law enforcement with the express purpose of luring them to a location, usually a home, under the false pretense that a crime has been committed or is in progress. This can result in a forceful response from local police or SWAT teams, who may have no way to know the call is a hoax.

Orr said his bill is limited in scope.

"This has (protesting) restrictions for neighborhoods and residences," Orr said. "It doesn't restrict (protesting) in commercial districts or anywhere else." — Bill criticized

Just hours before her arrest Friday, Dailey spoke with The Decatur Daily and said she was not impressed with Orr's bill.

"It's just another way for Alabama to infringe on our constitutional rights," Dailey said.

Terrance Adkins, of Standing In Power, a group that has organized several demonstrations in Decatur, agreed with Dailey that he doesn't like what he's seen of Orr's bill.

"I feel this is egregious," Adkins said. "We should be able to protest and use our First Amendment rights wherever it's possible as long as we're being lawful."

A Southeast Decatur resident, Adkins said rules abridging the right to stage demonstrations are a problem.

"We have rules and regulations in this country that have to be upheld, and we have to bring pressure to those people in order for them to see that we're not backing down," Adkins said.

Dailey said state law doesn't allow residents to have a recall election "so we can't even get our mayor out. The only action that we have is protesting in front of his home to pressure him to do his job or step down."

While Orr's bill has not passed, police arrested Dailey based on the existing disorderly conduct ordinance.

"We understand you can't disturb the peace, but our peace has been disturbed heavily. How far do you get to disturb our peace without us disturbing yours?" Dailey said Friday before her arrest.

Some demonstrators have demanded that the mayor and City Council fire Police Chief Todd Pinion because of the officers' involvement.

Bowling also announced Jan. 29 that he would no longer sit through public comments at City Council meetings, further frustrating Dailey and other demonstrators who regularly attend the meetings, and prompting Councilman Billy Jackson to suggest Bowling resign as mayor.

"The city won't take accountability for what their police officers did," Dailey said. "We're still in the same place we were back in September. Nothing has happened. No justice has been served. Our police chief is now defending his officers and he won't speak to residents. The mayor won't speak to us."

Councilman Hunter Pepper initially held up consideration of the proposed amendment to the city's parade ordinance, a change that generally is less restrictive than one that has been on the books for more than four decades, but ultimately voted with the council majority Feb. 5 in approving it.

Now demonstrators and the rest of the city are waiting for the criminal trial of former Decatur police officer Mac Bailey Marquette, who was indicted by a grand jury Jan. 4 for murder in the shooting death of Perkins. Morgan County Circuit Judge Charles Elliott on Monday scheduled the trial for Nov. 18.

Bowling in November fired Marquette and two fellow officers and suspended another. The four officers appealed, but the Personnel Board agreed in January to delay their hearings for up to six months.

Dailey on Friday said their purpose is to get justice for Perkins "by any means necessary. We don't feel that justice is being served — a Black man got gunned down in his own front yard. ... We wouldn't be changing any these ordinances if they weren't weaponizing them against us."

Adkins said he is glad they replaced the parade ordinance because it was approved in 1979 when his grandfather was protesting the arrest of Tommy Lee Hines, who is Black, on robbery and rape charges.

"I'm glad to see a little change come to Decatur," Adkins said.

Councilman Jacob Ladner said they are now planning to change the noise ordinance. The new ordinance will likely be the same as the new Florence noise ordinance, he said.

"We want to make changes for noises allowed in different zones," Ladner said. "The Florence template says after a certain time in residential areas the noise would have to be at a certain decibel level. We would clarify that it can be louder in a commercial zone while restricting the hours for louder decibels in residential areas."

Dailey said she's comfortable with some restrictions in a noise ordinance.

"We're OK that at 10 p.m. we should hush because everybody is trying to get some sleep," Dailey said.

— bayne.hughes@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2432. Twitter @DD_BayneHughes.