ST. GEORGE — Is a city park considered private property? That is a question at the heart of a criminal case to be tried next week in Beaver.
The case involves a member of the same animal advocacy group as the defendants who were acquitted of burglary last October in St. George for taking two piglets from the Smithfield Foods Circle Four Farm in Milford in 2017.
Curtis Vollmar, 36, is accused by Beaver County of criminal trespass and disorderly conduct at Beaver’s Pioneer Day celebration last year on July 23. While the disorderly charge is an infraction, the criminal trespass is a Class B misdemeanor, meaning Vollmar faces up to six months in jail.
The case will be heard Tuesday morning, April 25, at the Beaver County Justice Court. Unlike last October’s trial, next week won’t have a jury, with Judge Shadrach C. Bradshaw ultimately deciding on the verdict and sentence. According to his biography from the Utah Courts, Bradshaw has been the judge in Beaver County since January 1995 and until 2003 owned and operated a dairy farm. He has also been a director with the Beaver City Parks and Recreation Department.
Vollmar, of Berkeley, California, is the legislation and social media manager for the group Direct Action Everywhere. The group, also known as DxE, was co-founded by Wayne Hsiung, who was one of two defendants acquitted by a jury in St. George for the 2017 Circle Farms case after that trial was relocated from Beaver.
Vollmar contends that Beaver County, through its law enforcement, is trying to silence him and other people it disagrees with. He also claims the officials are doing this on behalf of Smithfield Foods itself.
“Smithfield Foods is weaponizing the police to silence people who oppose factory farming,” Vollmar told St. George News in an email. “As this issue gains more attention and more people speak up for animals and the planet, we need our First Amendment right to be protected.”
The Beaver County sheriff says Vollmar and others with DxE disrupted and harassed attendees at the Pioneer Day event at Main Street Park in Beaver last year. The county says while it is a city park, it is private property because the city is leasing the land the park sits on from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Main Street Park is listed as a city park on the Beaver City website as of April 12. There is no indication on the website or other city materials that the park is private property.
Beaver County Attorney Von Christiansen told St. George News that because the city leases what is LDS property, the park belongs to the church when it holds events there.
“Once a year, we treat it that one day as private property,” Christiansen said. “This is not a First Amendment violation. This is about private property, and we reserve the right to protect it.”
Flyers for last July’s Pioneer Day festivities in Beaver show city officials as being the contacts for the parade and nearby horse races, while local LDS leaders are listed as the organizers of the festival at the park.
Caught on video
Vollmar said he and the other activists initially had a booth at the park to pass out leaflets and provide information about the St. George trial to passersby, but they were asked to stop by organizers of the event and the sheriff.
DxE contends that they received permission over the phone from Brent Blackner, the Pioneer Day chairperson representing the Latter-day Saints Beaver Stake, to set up a booth, but Blackner later denied that claim. Blackner was previously Beaver’s city manager before being accused of misusing public funds for personal use. According to court documents, the charges were dismissed after the Beaver County attorney reached a plea agreement with Blackner that included restitution of $28.18.
Vollmar said he continued to speak with residents and pass out leaflets on the sidewalk next to the park and that’s where he was confronted by officers and cited.
A video taken July 23, 2022, provided to St. George News by DxE, seen at the top of this story, shows officers speaking with Vollmar on the sidewalk outside the park in front of the Veterans Memorial Wall. The video was cited as evidence by the federal court.
In the video, Beaver County Sgt. Warren Woolsey tells Vollmar they would need a permit to speak with residents on the sidewalk. After Vollmar points out that he is on public property, Woolsley says, “You don’t have a permit to talk to people.”
After Vollmar was asked by another volunteer officer not to film him, Woolsey threatened to cite Vollmar for disorderly conduct, saying his presence in itself was a disruption.
“You’re causing a problem in the community,” Woolsey is heard saying on the video. “All of this is because your group has been a direct influence on shutting down Smithfield Foods. What you are doing is causing a disturbance to the community.”
According to Utah Criminal Code, “Recording the actions of a law enforcement Officer with a camera, mobile phone, or other photographic device, while the officer is performing official duties in plain view, does not by itself constitute (a) interference with a police officer, (b) willful resistance, (c) disorderly conduct, or (d) obstruction of justice.”
Vollmar pointed out, and records also say, that Woolsey was the arresting officer of the defendants in the Circle Four Farms trial.
Emotions have been running high in Beaver County, where up to a year ago 1 in 4 of the county’s working residents – including Mayor Matt Robinson – worked for Smithfield, according to county employee statistics. However, last summer Smithfield announced a downsizing of its Beaver County operations by two-thirds and many residents reportedly blame the animal advocates for the loss of jobs.
Those emotions were cited by 5th District Judge Jeffrey C. Wilcox for relocating the Circle Four Farms trial to St. George.
When Vollmar tried to speak to another resident about the Circle Four Farms trial, Woolsey is seen going up to the resident saying, “Don’t talk to him. These are the people trying to shut down Smithfield.”
DxE said it is unconstitutional for a police officer in uniform to be advocating against someone else’s free speech.
Woolsey is then seen escorting Vollmar to a nearby table set up on the sidewalk. While in the process of citing Vollmar, he is heard warning Vollmar not to go to the Pioneer Day horse races at the nearby racetrack.
“You’ll definitely get killed there. People are sober here but get a little liquor in them at the horse races, it will probably be a bigger issue. You understand?” Woolsey said.
After Vollmar asks if officers would protect him, fellow Deputy Lonnie Laws replies, “If you’re wasting my time coming and dealing with this stupid issue and get your ass kicked, that’s on you.”
Beaver County deputies say after Vollmar was cited, he tried to return to the park. The charging document also accuses Vollmar of operating an unmanned aircraft above the park illegally and either posting or intending to post graffiti.
First Amendment violation?
Vollmar, DxE and the Utah Animal Rights Coalition filed a civil rights lawsuit against Beaver County and several sheriff’s deputies, including an initial motion to place an injunction on Beaver County from preventing them from practicing their right to free speech.
The motion was heard by U.S. District Court Judge Jill Parrish on Oct. 11, and in her ruling issued late last month, she denied the injunction.
In her ruling, Parrish said the plaintiffs had the burden to show that a violation of their constitutional rights was “not an isolated incident.”
At the same time, Parrish stated that Beaver County did violate Vollmar’s First Amendment rights July 23. That’s something that DxE representative and Utah Animal Rights Coalition Executive Director Jeremy Beckham said was a victory for them despite the denial of the injunction.
“It feels like we lost the battle but we can win the war after the judge said it was a First Amendment violation,” Beckham told St. George News.
In her ruling, Parrish said the sidewalk was a public space, not private property, and Vollmar and other animal advocates were entitled to pass out flyers and speak with residents there. The judge said she would not rule on the merits of whether the park itself is private property.
Parrish also stated that Vollmar has merit to his claim that his criminal case is a civil rights violation. “The court is persuaded that plaintiffs are substantially likely to be able to demonstrate that defendants violated plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights,” the March 24 federal ruling said.
Christiansen said he disagrees with the ruling’s contention that Vollmar’s First Amendment rights were violated.
“I don’t think that’s true,” he said.
Beckham said the civil rights case in federal court is continuing no matter the outcome of next week’s criminal trial. However, he accused Beaver County of adding on the criminal trespass charge after the civil rights case was filed in October.
“It raises some question about the intentions of this prosecution,” Beckham said.
Initially, the charge against Vollmar was just the misdemeanor for disorderly conduct. However, Beaver County later filed amended charges, dated Nov. 11, that added the criminal count of criminal trespass.
Beaver County officials say the trespass charge was meant to be included in the original charging document but was left out because of a clerical error. And Christiansen said the criminal case is about trespassing, not protesting.
“They weren’t arrested for protesting. They were arrested for going back to the park,” Christiansen said. “That’s what the criminal case is about, not a disruption.”
Past arrest
Next week won’t be the first time Vollmar faces jail time for his animal advocacy activities.
Vollmar was convicted along with two others in 2021 of disorderly conduct in Smithfield, Virginia – the location of Smithfield Foods’ headquarters – after disrupting a planning commission meeting with loud music and shouting. Under Virginia law, Vollmar faced up to a year in jail but was sentenced to a $2,000 fine.
During the federal hearing in October, Beaver County Sheriff Cameron Noel said the Sheriff’s Office spent three hours over the phone taking complaints about the DxE advocates being in the park on the day of the event and accused Vollmar of harassing a minor.
“One witness said they harassed her very young child, aged 17,” Noel testified during the Oct. 11 hearing. “They have a right to protest but they can’t go on private property and harass citizens and harass kids.”
That 17-year-old is listed as a witness for the county at next week’s trial, along with Blackner.
“We hope the judge finds in the state’s favor but every defendant has a right to a fair trial,” Christiansen said. “But you can’t count your chickens before they’re hatched.”
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