Pa. College Professor Arrested at Schiavo Hospice

NEPA News and AP ^ | March 29, 2005 | AP

[Palladin]

A professor at a Bible college near Scranton, Pa., was arrested Tuesday as he tried to storm into the hospice caring for Terri Schiavo.

Dow Pursley, 56, was zapped with a Taser stun gun and tackled to the ground by officers before he reached the door, Pinellas Park police said. He became the 47th protester arrested.

Pursley, who is on the faculty of the Baptist Bible College & Seminary in Clarks Summit, Pa., had two bottles of water with him, police said. He was charged with attempted burglary and resisting arrest.

Baptist Bible College officials said in a written statement that Pursley was not acting on the school's behalf and had traveled to Florida on his personal time.

"He is a dedicated man with strong beliefs and God-given convictions," the statement said.

Pursley is the clinical director of counseling programs for the theological college's graduate school. He also helps oversee a campus clinic that offers psychological counseling based on biblical teaching.

Baptist Bible College spokesman Mark Robbins said that while the college "believes in the sanctity of life," it has not taken an official position on the Schiavo case.

Doctors said that Schiavo, 41, would probably die within a week or two after the tube was removed on March 18. She suffered catastrophic brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped for several minutes because of a chemical imbalance.

[R. Scott]

I don't believe he has any medical background.

Obviously not.
In days back, people participated in civil disobedience by actually doing something practical. The Blacks who sat at lunch counters or registered to vote could actually order and eat a meal or register to vote. To call what he did an act of civil disobedience is a misnomer. It was – if anything - a shameless grab for publicity.

[steve86]

Hope he enjoys his newfound criminal record.

Is that the principle that governs every moment of your waking life: Act in such a way as to please law enforcement and local courts? Does that not make you feel like a slave to the whims of mankind, come good or bad leaders and laws? Do you not feel a responsibility to any higher authority? Are you aware of an important text with rules for proper living called The Bible?

[Conservative til I die]

No. Police officers, acting within the law, stopped him.

Or do you advocate lawlessness?

Are you against civil disobedience?

Do you feel that all laws by mere virtue of being passed, are automatically and always just?

[sinkspur]

Are you against civil disobedience?

No. But, be prepared to pay the consequences.

[Charlespg]

I want a congressional investigation

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

The Homosexual Network was the first book to document the queer-priest problem. Fr. Rueda knew, well, the extent of the difficulty. I still have it as a reference item and yes, all the names you think should be in it ARE in it. 262 posted on 03/30/2005 8:20:47 AM EST by ninenot

Yeah. That this has weakened the church in its ability to confront the moral dilemmas of the "culture of death" is very clear. No idea why anyone would want to try to dispute that. Weird. The heckling of pro-life conservatives on FR is ridiculous.

[Longwalled Newbie]

Who knows?

[**shrug**]

[Longwalled Newbie]

No, I haven't "...read about a law that allowed a husband to kill his wife by starvation...."; but I have read about a wife who's fight was (is?) to keep her husband on life support despite the Texas Futile Care Law which allows a hospital to pull the plug--thanks, in part, to "...National Right to Life...help[ing] to write the Texas law."

See March 10, 2005 Houston Chronicle story here:

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3079622