Preacher sues fair over free-speech skirmish

Jason Powell hopes to preach freely outside the Iowa State Fairgrounds in August without a repeat of 2013, when law enforcement officers detained and photographed him.

The Des Moines man's concerns about his First Amendment rights are the focus of a federal lawsuit filed in June, asking a judge to rule that security officials acted unconstitutionally by asking Powell to stop preaching and sharing his Christian message on public sidewalks just outside the fairgrounds.

After 2013's incident, Powell's attorney wrote a letter to the Iowa State Patrol and the Iowa attorney general's office but got no response, according to the lawsuit. Powell now hopes a judge can send a message to the Iowa State Fair that will allow him to return this year without problems.

"I hope my free speech rights will not be violated," Powell said in an email statement coordinated by his attorney. "I want to be able to share the Gospel. I want the lost to hear the Truth so the Truth can set them free."

Iowa State Fair officials referred a reporter's questions to the Iowa attorney general's office. An official there declined to comment because the case is pending.

On two days during last year's fair, Powell was asked to leave sidewalks located outside the fairgrounds because he was preaching, according to the lawsuit.

Powell contends his actions caused no problems; he wore a T-shirt with a Christian message and held up a sign and spoke with people, according to the lawsuit.

The Iowa State Fair, which attracts about 1 million visitors, creates a perfect place for Powell to share his message, according to the lawsuit. At about 8 p.m. on Aug. 15, Powell was on a sidewalk along East 30th Street just outside the fair gate speaking to a passer-by when he was approached by security, according to the lawsuit.

An officer told Powell to go to the other side of the street or he could be arrested for trespassing, according to the lawsuit. Powell was not blocking vehicle or pedestrian traffic and was not using a megaphone or any other kind of device, the lawsuit said.

Powell returned to a sidewalk at a different gate the next night with only a sign, according to the lawsuit. He did not preach because he was afraid of being arrested, the lawsuit said.

But Powell was approached again by security and detained by an Iowa State Patrol trooper at a booking area at the fairgrounds, according to the lawsuit. The trooper took a picture of Powell and took his personal information and told him he had trespassed on the fairgrounds. Powell was given an "ejection notice" that barred him from going to the fairgrounds for any reason, according to the lawsuit.

Powell is being represented in his lawsuit by Nate Kellum, chief counsel for the Memphis, Tenn.-based Center for Religious Expression. For Kellum, the case is a clear-cut violation of Powell's freedom of speech, he said.

"If you have a right to walk in that area, you should have a right to talk in that area," he said. "We firmly believe that his constitutional rights were violated because he was not allowed to share his views in a public place simply because they did not like what he was saying."

A U.S. Supreme Court decision in June that struck down a Massachusetts law creating a "buffer zone" for protesters around abortion clinics is a "reaffirmation" that government entities can't pick and choose the messages it allows to be shared in public spaces, Kellum said.

However, the case may not be as clear-cut as Kellum argues if state officials have evidence that Powell caused problems with traffic, blocked a sidewalk or created any other hazard, said Brian Steffen, chairman of the communication and media studies department at Simpson College in Indianola. The Supreme Court has in past cases recognized that governments have valid public safety reasons for regulating the "time, place and manner" of free speech in public areas, he said.

A hearing for the lawsuit has not been set. The state has until Monday to file its response to Powell's lawsuit, and Kellum hopes to see fast action on the issue.

This year's fair is Aug. 7-17.

"The State Fair is coming," Kellum said. "Not only do we want to get relief for Mr. Powell, but give him relief at a time he could really use it so that he could speak at this year's State Fair."