Defense fund, ACLU 'fight' for preacher
by JAMES MINTON - Advocate (excerpt)

While ‘sticks and stones may break your bones,’ words are seldom criminal.” So say lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union in taking the side of John Todd Netherland in a dispute with the city of Zachary over the Baker man’s preaching against drunkenness and fornication outside a Plank Road restaurant and bar.

In a bit of situational irony, the ACLU is combining its legal talents with those of the Alliance Defense Fund to defend Netherland’s right to preach in public.

The ACLU is the organization that conservatives love to hate, while liberals accuse the Alliance Defense Fund of constantly trying to blur the boundaries between church and state.