Jefferson not allowed to work in front of store, calls Yuba County residents 'wicked'
December 18, 2009 11:48:00 PM
By Ryan McCarthy/Appeal-Democrat
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. won a court order Friday preventing a Yuba City resident from registering voters or collecting initiative signatures at its retail chain's outlets until the end of a trial over a permanent ban against the man.
The attorney for Wal-Mart said in court that the case involves private property, and that individuals witnessed harassing and annoying conduct by Edward James Jefferson, 61.
"What they show was intimidation," Matthew Kany said.
But Jefferson's attorney disputed that.
"Why would Mr. Jefferson want to chase away Walmart customers?" asked James Lynch, who spoke of legal protections for voter registration and signature collection on state initiatives. "It's called democracy in action."
Yuba County Superior Court Judge Debra Givens cited state court rulings on what places represent public forums and how Wal-Mart does not qualify for that status. The chain's rules for use of store property appear to be reasonable and to provide orderly pedestrian flow, Givens said.
The injunction follows a Dec. 8 temporary restraining order against Jefferson.
A case management conference is scheduled for Jan. 11. No trial date has been set.
Jefferson said after the decision, Wal-Mart filed its case locally because of his 2008 conviction in Sutter County Superior Court for trespassing at the Farmers Market in Yuba City. He had said then that he sought to register voters. Law enforcement said Jefferson occupied a booth and refused to leave or to pay $25 for the space.
Jefferson, represented at Friday's hearing in Yuba County by the attorney working for the Sacramento chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said during a break in the court hearing that "You've got a wicked county."
Residents here should wear Ku Klux Klan robes, Jefferson said.
"I read your blogs from your readers," he said later. "Your readers think I should be in jail."
Lynch, who attended Notre Dame Catholic School in Marysville as a youth and is a 1958 graduate of Marysville High School, said of residents here in the 1950s that "some had no — at least obvious — racial bias" but that some where hostile to blacks and Asian-Americans.
Jefferson said that at the Walmart in Linda, he sold T-shirts with Barack Obama's picture before the presidential election and that they were "selling like hotcakes."
He said he registers voters and collects signatures at sites other than Walmart without problems.
"I go to Safeway, Target, malls and the DMV," Jefferson said.
http://www.appeal-democrat.com/news/jeffer...
Posted By: Steve Williams
Saturday, December 19th 2009 at 4:57PM
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