Argyle arrests street preacher
Posted on 01/01/2003 5:02:36 AM PST by MeekOneGOP
Argyle arrests street preacher
Woman charged with trespassing after refusing to leave site
01/01/2003
ARGYLE - A 56-year-old street preacher who had been living outside an abandoned bank building for four years was arrested Tuesday on a charge of criminal trespassing.
Janet Savage, a former nurse in Florida, was known in Argyle for praying in the rain, reading her Bible by the halo of a streetlight and singing hymns that echoed off the building's crumbling walls.
She had refused to leave her roadside shelter next to the bank because she said God told her to stay and minister to the residents of Argyle, which has a population of 2,500.
"I have a lot of grief," said Ms. Savage, who hitchhiked to Argyle in the late 1990s because it was then the headquarters for a Denton televangelist. "This is wrong. It's not moral, it's not principled, and it doesn't exemplify Jesus Christ."
Ms. Savage was arraigned on one count of criminal trespassing. Her bail was set at $500; she was still in custody late Tuesday.
Argyle officials say Ms. Savage is welcome to stay in town, but she cannot live next to the bank because it is zoned for commercial, not residential, use.
The owner of the property, 96-year-old Otha Mullens, told Ms. Savage four years ago that she could live underneath the awning of his bank. But when city officials threatened to fine him nearly $100,000, he signed a letter asking the city to make her leave the property.
When Ms. Savage was arrested Tuesday on Mr. Mullens' property, she urged him to help her stay longer.
"Can't you sign a letter saying I can stay for just one more day?" she asked.
But Mr. Mullens said: "My daddy was a justice of the peace. ... I've got his badge and gun in the house somewhere. He raised me up to do right. You gotta live by the law."
Ms. Savage's friend Karyl Smith, who was present during her arrest, said, "I can't stand to see her go to jail; she's never hurt anybody."
Mrs. Smith has agreed to take care of Ms. Savage's dog and cat, and Mr. Mullens said her belongings will be put in storage.
"It's going to be OK. Jail won't kill her. Time will take care of all of this. When water goes down the river, you don't ever see that water again," Mr. Mullens said.
"We're sorry it came to this," said Argyle Mayor Richard Tucker, who waited across the street in the police station. "We were hoping she would obey the law and the wishes of the property owner. We didn't really have a choice."
City officials said they hope Ms. Savage's arrest will end the controversy that has gripped the town in recent weeks. Some people in Argyle say Ms. Savage is taking advantage of the town's generosity, but others say her unorthodox ministry is a blessing.
Ms. Savage's father, Robert Savage, has said that his daughter's odyssey began more than a decade ago when televangelist Mike Murdock visited her church in Bradenton, Fla.
He said Ms. Savage became so enamored with Mr. Murdock that she quit her job, stopped making payments on her house, left her 15-year-old daughter with a relative and started following the preacher from church to church across the South.
"Mike Murdock was all she could talk about," Mr. Savage said. "She said they were going to build churches, and they were going to get married, and they were going to do all these things."
Mr. Murdock has not returned several calls to his church office.
Ms. Savage said recently that she believes God is about to anoint her pastor of a large church that will be affiliated with Mr. Murdock's ministry. She said her arrest will not force her to leave Argyle.
"We all know God allows these things to happen sometimes," she said. "It's not unusual for apostles to run into trouble."
E-mail sfarwell@dallasnews.com
Picture from above article previously posted on FR:
"It's going to be OK. Jail won't kill her. Time will take care of all of this. When water goes down the river, you don't ever see that water again," Mr. Mullens said.
not good
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