Man jailed 100 days in dispute over Web reporting

By The Associated Press

06.06.02

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SEATTLE — A man has been jailed for 100 days for refusing to delete addresses, phone numbers, other personal data and claims of abuse from a Web site in which he lambastes the retirement home where he once lived.

The jailing of white-haired Paul Trummel, a 68-year-old native of England who moved to the United States in 1985, has drawn fire from national and international writers groups that support his First Amendment claims.

"Our concern is that he's being punished for speech on the Internet that should be protected," said Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in Washington, D.C.

Other groups that have questioned the jailing include the National Union of Journalists in London and Reporters Sans Frontières of France.

He is accused of being delusional, obsessive and inflammatory by management and some residents at Council House, a low-income retirement home from which he was evicted last year partly because of his Web site and newsletter Disconnections, a takeoff on the center's official publication, Connections.

Critics also say his only journalism job was as a printer's apprentice in post-World War II England.

He was jailed indefinitely on Feb. 27 for violating an anti-harassment order by King County Superior Court Judge James A. Doerty. Doerty ruled in April 2001 that Trummel had been abusive and disruptive and stalked residents and administrators.

Doerty ordered Trummel to remove from his Web site the home phone numbers, addresses and other personal data on employees at Council House, opened in 1972 by the National Council of Jewish Women with funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Trummel also was ordered to remove a picture making administrator Stephen Mitchell resemble Osama bin Laden.

"It is my finding specifically that his claim to be a journalist is a bogus claim," Doerty wrote. "He is not employed by anyone but himself. There is no publisher involved. There is merely the misguided use of an obviously well-developed talent to write."

Doerty imposed fines of $100 a day for failing to comply, and Trummel's lawyers say he was in jail for 63 days before the judge appointed a lawyer to represent him.

Last week Doerty limited Trummel's phone privileges, saying he was still harassing residents and staff members, and he was placed in solitary confinement. His incarceration is set for court review June 17.

The National Writers Union, of which Trummel is a member, has created a Web site that says Doerty "doesn't understand what a free-lance journalist is."

The ruling "totally ignores the fact that First Amendment rights are not reserved solely for journalists working for a publication but are the single most basic right guaranteed every person in the USA," wrote Joe Harkins of New York, who created the Free Paul Trummel Web site.

Trummel went to court in March 2001, claiming Mitchell was threatening to evict him over his newsletter. Trummel, acting as his own lawyer, also sought an order to bar the staff from "allowing and encouraging residents to make nocturnal noise depriving him of sleep."

Doerty found there was no evidence of harassment by Council House employees and invited them to file a counterpetition. They did so, and the judge barred Trummel from going within 500 feet of the building.

The judge said his orders were "severe" but necessary because Trummel refused to follow court rulings.

"I don't want him in jail," Doerty said. "He is an elderly guy who ought to be living out his years, not harassing people."

Update

Judge frees man jailed for Web postings
But Washington man could return to jail this week if he doesn't delete addresses, phone numbers from his Web site, court says.  06.18.02