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Widow's standoff puts her in national spotlight
October 21, 1997
Web posted at: 7:49 p.m. EDT (2349 GMT)ROBY, Illinois (CNN) -- To neighbors, 51-year-old Shirley Ann Allen was the harmless loner who sometimes talked of spies in helicopters or sprang from ditches to surprise people. Outside this rural community, she was unknown.
But that was before she took up her shotgun and threatened sheriff's deputies who were sent to take her for a court-ordered psychiatric exam.
CNN's Lisa Price reports
2 minutesIn a standoff that has gone on for a month now, Allen has fended off a tear gas attack by slathering petroleum jelly on her face, withstood bean bag bullets by wearing heavy layers of clothing and ignored the Barry Manilow songs blared through loudspeakers.
Now, the widow is in the national spotlight, the darling of right-wing groups who feel she is the latest example -- after Ruby Ridge and Waco -- of innocent civilians being bullied by overzealous law enforcement.
Radio talk hosts across the nation have used the case to engage callers in a debate over property rights, mental health laws and the right to bear arms.
A demonstration last week on her behalf drew scores of people. Activists used bullhorns to make speeches as townspeople rallied to support her.
"The American people are not going to take this lying down"
— Thomas Wayne, spokesman, Michigan-based "patriot" group
Thomas Wayne, a spokesman for a Michigan-based "patriot" group, said the woman's cause is compelling because she has not been charged with any crime, yet must live under 24-hour surveillance of state police.
Family was disturbed by her behavior
The standoff began with the court order obtained by Allen's family, who had begun to worry about her increasingly bizarre behavior and depression since her husband died of cancer in 1989. The family cites the contents of a letter as an example of what they believe is disturbing.
"Every time I went to the bathroom. I was followed. In several other restaurants, I got the same treatment," the woman wrote in a 23-page letter.
Allen holed up in her home in Roby, about 20 miles southeast of Springfield, after telling sheriff's deputies and her brother to get off her property.
She fired at officers twice during the early days of the standoff, with no injuries. The second shotgun blast came after troopers pummeled her in the chest with bean bag bullets.
When deputies tried to drive her out with tear gas, she stuck her head under running water and used the petroleum jelly to prevent her pores from absorbing the gas.
Weary police speculate that the former nurse -- an avid canner -- has enough food in her cupboards to last several more weeks.
Allen's family issued a statement last week expressing support for police and saying "we're just trying to get her some help."
Her family says she also feared she might lose her property. They responded by saying, "What people may have read, about Shirley's family trying to get her money, is simply not true."
Neighborhood sympathies shift
But as the standoff drags on, sympathies in Allen's wooded neighborhood have shifted decidedly in her favor.
Last week, about 150 protesters gathered in the county seat to demand police leave Allen alone. Many said it was inhumane for troopers to cut off her water and power, particularly as temperatures dropped near freezing.
A legal defense fund has been set up. A Roby resident paid Allen's property tax. A woman was arrested after she sneaked past police barriers and tried to sprint to Allen's door with a bag of groceries.
"It's a surreal experience," said Shellie Jacobs, one of the neighbors.
Like residents in about a dozen other nearby houses, Jacobs must check in with troopers who have set up roadblocks at the entrances to the neighborhood. She must get clearance for visitors, and only recently had her family's mail and garbage service restored.
"The other day, my 4-year-old said, `Mommy, when are the policemen going to be out of our yard?"' Jacobs said.
That's a question State Police Director Terry Gainer is asked almost daily. He insists that the dozens of troopers and hidden tactical agents who rotate duty on the 24-hour watch -- at a cost to the state of almost $500,000 so far -- will stay at it until the standoff ends.
Gainer conceded that the waiting game and the criticism are frustrating. But he said mental health experts have assured him that this is the way to bring the standoff to a peaceful end.
"We are not in this woman's face. We are there for this woman's protection and for the protection of her neighbors.
"I think we're doing the right thing. We can't afford not to."
CNN Correspondent Lisa Price and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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