BY TATSUO AKIMINE

Since August 13 Tatsuo Akimine has preached every morning at a local DMV in Torrance without fail. He gets there at about 7:30am then preaches to the line of people waiting for the doors to open at 8am. Recently he discovered that the local Social Security office just up the street opens at 9am, giving him another preaching opportunity. An aggressive security officer has not approved of this unorthodox behavior and has forced Tatsuo to move off the government property and onto a public sidewalk where he now preaches to his “congregation.” Here is an encounter with two angry ladies who also didn’t approve.
I had an incendiary open air meeting this morning in front of the Social Security Office. As I was preaching from the sidewalk, a woman who stood in line with about 20 other people began yelling at me. I couldn’t make out what she was saying so I just continued my 10 minute message. Noticing that I wasn’t going to stop she then left the line and headed straight for me exclaiming in anger that she didn’t appreciate what I was doing and wanted me to stop.

I paused and calmly mentioned to her that I had First Amendment rights and continued. She returned to the line and began singing the anthem “God Bless America” with another woman to drown out my voice.

I continued. They then tried to stir up the crowd by chanting “Stop him! Stop him!” but I continued. Finally she left the line, walked to the parking lot and activated her car alarm. I continued. The other lady asked the security guard if I came every day and if the police could be notified. I finished my message remembering Paul’s words to Timothy: “Preach the word, in season and out of season.”Tatsuo has been warned that he cannot pass Gospel tracts to those in line, nor is he allowed to even step onto the premises; if he does, the police will be called.