Judge to anti-fur protesters: back off elderly store owner

A judge has ordered animal rights activists to keep their distance from a 75-year-old furrier because state law protects the businessman from elder abuse by shouting profanities.

Horst Grimm, the owner of Nicholas Ungar Furs, won an order Wednesday requiring four anti-fur activists to stay at least 50 feet away from Grimm and 15 feet away from his downtown Portland store.

Attorneys in the case believe it was the first time state laws to protect the elderly have been used to limit free speech.

Clackamas County Circuit Judge Jeffrey S. Jones said both sides presented reasonable arguments. But he said the level of profanity that protesters directed at Grimm clearly violated state law.

The Oregon elder abuse law prohibits using derogatory names, harassment, coercion, threats, cursing, or intimidation that threatens significant physical or emotional harm to elderly or disabled people.

Free speech ends when it is interwoven with unlawful conduct, said Gary Grenley, one of Grimm's attorneys.

But lawyers for the protesters argued their clients were exercising their right to free expression.

"It's a complete misuse of the statute," said Jeffrey Siefman, one of the attorneys for the protesters.

The judge said his ruling allows the four people subject to the restraining order to continue their protest but gives Grimm "sufficient space ... so the abuse would no longer occur."

Demonstrators have been a fixture outside Grimm's store for the past two years. They regularly follow Grimm from his store to the garage where he parks his car.

Last summer, Grimm took the novel approach of citing the elder abuse statute to get restraining orders against four of the most vocal protesters: Jeffrey John Wirth, Justin R. Kay, Andrea August Parson and Jonathan Waylon Brooks.

The hearing Wednesday was the first time legal arguments were presented to determine whether the restraining orders should be lifted or modified.

Both sides used videos made by the protesters to make their case.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)