Beach Policemen Refuse to Arrest Teen Picket
By James McNabb, Jr., Daily Pilot Staff, The Daily Pilot, California
December 19, 1968, North America
Two ranking Huntington Beach police officers Wednesday refused to order the arrest of a lone Teen for Christ after being called to do so by Marina High School administrators.
Capt. Earle Robitaille, commander of the detective division, said he could “see no reason to arrest” pretty Terry Painter, 24, who about 3 p.m. had crossed over to picket on the forbidden northwest corner of Edinger Avenue and Springdale Street.
“She isn’t breaking any law,” said Robitaille, who with Patrol Capt. Harold Mays responded to the call of administrators.
Miss Painter, attired in modern dress and carrying a small American Flag said she crossed over to “be a test case.”
She admitted she had been warned repeatedly by campus security chief Obie Moore and Miller that she would be subject to arrest for picketing on the corner bordering school property.
The dark-eyed [brunette], who gave her address as 116 Main St., declared, “I’ll go to jail any day for Jeuss Christ. It’s our country that is no longer worth going to jail for or fighting for.”
It was the second day the militant Teens for Christ have picketed schools in Huntington Beach. Tuesday, 18 members of the hippie-appearing sect marched for three hours in front of Golden West College.
Late Wednesday, three others joined Miss Painter. None was arrested.
The teens garnered support from several Marina students who joined them in the picket line. According to Jonathan Berg, 19, sone of the sect founder, they were members of a campus “Bible and prayer circle.”
officer Moore saw the demonstrators “as the type of people who have complete disrespect for authority.”
The Teens demand “God be given fair treatment in public school curriculum” and speak for a return to the “Christianity that Christ taught.”