Community Corner

Hillcrest: Soliciting Debated After Police Called on Jehova's Witnesses

Should Jehova's Witnesses knock on your door if you have a "no soliciting" sign? A case in the Hillcrest area has people debating it.

Hillcrest Patch Local Editor Roger Vozar had an today about Jehova's Witnesses after a Mayfield Heights woman called police when she said the Witnesses ignored her "no soliciting" sign.

Here's an exceprt from the story:

Police spoke to the people who were at the woman's house and told them not to return. The point wasn't so much that they were not allowed to knock on doors with "no soliciting" signs, but that they should honor the sign in this particular case because they were clearly told they were not wanted at the house.

Melvin Walker, a spokesman for the Hillcrest Congregation, said laws governing solicitors do not apply to Jehovah's Witnesses going door-to-door.

"The key is that we're not soliciting anything," he said. "That (a 'no soliciting' sign) does not apply to us. We're not selling anything. We're trying to share some encouragement from the scriptures."

However, Mel Durchslag, an attorney representing the American Civil Liberties Union, said he's not certain that the Jehovah's Witnesses were not soliciting.

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