Repent Amarillo still swinging away

By Greg Rohloff and George Schwarz

The Amarillo Independent

Repent Amarillo has continued its campaign against the swingers, this time showing up at a private home in a rural part of Potter County on Jan. 9.

And, despite the homeowners’ complaints, no written documentation or reports were filed by either the Potter County Sheriff’s office or the Department of Public Safety.

Cristal Robinson, an attorney representing several clients who have been targeted for demonstrations by the evangelical group, was surprised on the night of Jan. 9 when a party for an Amarillo swingers’ lifestyle group — basically a drinking and talking party — drew protesters from Repent Amarillo.

The party was at her home in rural eastern Potter County; it was similar to one she had hosted on New Year’s Eve. That first party, with about 60 to 70 people in attendance, did not attract any protests, she said, and was held at her house after discussions with Repent Amarillo leader David Grisham that led her to believe the group would not protest the swingers’ parties so long as they were held outside of Amarillo at a private residence, and not at the group’s rented quarters in downtown Amarillo.

The site of previous Repent Amarillo protests on Sixth Avenue at the Route 66 Party and Event Center is now for sale.

Grisham did not immediately return a call for comment.

Robinson said the second party had fewer than 20 participants and late arrivals told her that Repent’s members were once again protesting and were partially blocking her driveway, trying to prevent people from turning into it.

She said she looked out and saw group member Russell Grisham walking on her property with a camera. Her husband went outside and told the group to leave, she said, and, because the Repent Amarillo members continued to walk around on the grounds of the house, she called 911 and asked that a Potter County deputy be sent to her home so she could file a trespass complaint so if they continued to come to her home and onto her property, they would be liable for arrest on any subsequent incident.

Potter County and DPS officers were dispatched several times that evening, responding to complaints from both the Robinsons and the Repent group, Cristal Robinson said. “They got on my front yard and they were in the ditch when the deputies came and I saw them on my side of the ditch.”

The deputies, though, told her she needed either video or photographic evidence of an actual trespass, Robinson said. While the deputies were there, the Repent Amarillo members stayed next to the road on public right of way.

Before the deputies left, though, Robinson said a DPS trooper, who told her he had heard the call on his scanner, stopped, and questioned the protesters for a report for the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security because of the home’s proximity to Pantex.

Lt. John Coffee, of the Sheriff’s Office, confirmed that officers initially responded to a complaint from the home­owners.

“Officers did go out there and it was, I guess, what they determined to be a lawful assembly,” he said. “There wasn’t anybody trespassing and so they met with them, identified them and that was the plan.”

The first complaint was over people with cameras and bright lights filming everyone who was entering and leaving  the property.

DPS arrived as the Potter County officers were leaving. Repent members were upset about the way DPS handled the situation, unhappy that nothing was done about a camera that was broken. Deputies were called out a second time, as was DPS, and then both agencies left, Coffee added.

Sheriff Brian Thomas said no incident reports or other paperwork were filed.

“They were on a public roadway. Everybody has a right to protest,” Thomas said. “The information I got, they weren’t on anybody’s property.”

Thomas said they were looking into the incident.

DPS also didn’t file any incident reports on the calls, said Lt. Don Cameron.

DPS isn’t the reporting agency when it backs up another law enforcement operation, he said.

“I have no records of that, but as far as us going out and generating a report, all we did was go out there as assisting Potter County. And since there were no arrests made, or anything like that, as far as I know, there are no reports generated by us.”