Steubenville city officials said time is limited for a protester camping out across the street from the Jefferson County Jail.

City Manager Cathy Davison said the protester is not allowed to set up camp unless he has permission from the city. Davison said the man has been made aware of that policy by police.

The man is said to be the father of one of two Steubenville High School student athletes who are accused and kidnapping and raping a girl. The man has been protesting across state Route 7 across the street from the jail since Sunday.

City officials were weighing their options on Tuesday, and Davison said it's a two-fold issue.

The city of Steubenville owns and maintains the property, but the land is an Ohio Department of Transportation limited access right of way to Route 7. Officials said, in essence, ODOT has control of the property, but in order for protesters to stay on the land, a written request must be submitted to the city manager's office.


"We are evaluating our options because … under our city code, he has to have permission from the property owner to be on their property," Davison said.

As of Tuesday afternoon, no letter had been submitted to request permission to protest or camp there.
"We could ask him (to leave) today if we wanted to," Davison said.

Davison said if a letter were submitted to her, she would not grant permission because of the location of the protest. She said, when it comes down to it, it's a liability having someone camp out for days along a state route.

"I also think that there's protocol put in place and policies and procedures. And if one person takes advantage of it, then he's setting a precedent and we will don't abide by that," Davison said. "It comes out to be a liability issue. I mean, even though it's up on the hill, there's a possibility of a vehicle accident (or) something happening and we can't have someone up there."

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