By John Miskell
Christian Gallery News

The Reading Police Department still has taken no action against the owner of Chubby's Sandwich Shop in Reading, for the assault on 63-year-old pro-life activist Linda Beckman and for the theft and destruction of her property. The jumbo sized and aggressive hoagie huckster also attempted to take a video camera away from Vince Sumoski and threatened him with violence for video taping the assault on Mrs. Beckman.

Mr. Sumoski taped of the entire incident. The tape shows Chubby tearing up the sign he took from Mrs. Beckman by force. It also shows Reading Police Sergeant Jerry Boyer refusing to take action to protect Mrs. Beckman and ignoring the pleas of people calling to him for help. Police officers who eventually responded to the scene refused to take statements from the dozens of witnesses gathered on the sidewalk where the assault took place.

Another videotape has surfaced from one of the pro-life visitors from Wisconsin. This tape not only shows the assault but it also shows all of the events leading up to it. It shows Mrs. Beckman walking along the sidewalk in the 300 block of Penn Street while she was bringing a sign to another pro-life witness standing at the end of the block. As Mrs. Beckman passed Chubby's Sandwich Shop, the obese owner accosted her on the sidewalk. The tape shows an irate six feet tall, 400 pound man spewing obscenities, wrenching the large sign from a frightened and struggling Mrs. Beckman who stands just 5 feet 2 inches and weighs in at about 100 pounds. Chubby destroyed the sign, which was taped to an 8 x 10 feet piece of insulation and then stomps on it like an enraged gorilla. He then turns his attention to Mr. Sumoski with the camera. The fat loud mouth unsuccessfully grabs at the camera as Sumoski backs up. The rotund Chubby insists over and over to "turn it off" and he threatens Sumoski. Eventually passers-by position themselves between the out of control sandwich salesman and Mr. Sumoski so he turns his attention to threatening other pro-life activists who by this time have rushed to the defense of Mrs. Beckman. He is heard telling the pro-life group that he "would stick the sign up the a** of the first person who dared stand on his sidewalk with one."

Since the Reading Police Department is unwilling to do the right thing in this case, I was advised to give a copy of the video tape showing the assault to Berks County District Attorney Mark Baldwin. I called Mr. Baldwin yesterday and told him about the tape. To my surprise he claimed he couldn't do anything because the crime happened in Reading and that he has no jurisdiction in the City. I reminded him that he was the District Attorney for the entire county and it was right about then that Mr. Baldwin terminated our conversation.

Copies of the Sumoski tape and the Wisconsin tape will be sent to the Pennsylvania State Attorney General's Office as soon as I have them. The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, which is the nation's largest Catholic civil rights organization has offered to look into the matter to see if they can be of any assistance.