City attorney confronts PETA protesters at Jackson Raising Cane’s opening

JACKSON — The city of Jackson’s attorney confronted PETA protesters at a Raising Cane’s restaurant Tuesday morning, citing sidewalk compliance violations.

Lewis Cobb, Jackson’s city attorney, arrived at the protest site about an hour after demonstrators set up on the sidewalk. We spoke with Cobb and asked if he was there in his role as the city’s attorney.

Cobb responded saying he was asked by the director of planning to ensure protesters were following their permitted activities.

“I had been in communication with the director of planning and he asked me to go and make sure they were compliant with what they were promised to do and they weren’t,” Cobb said. “So I was explaining to them the problem and then asked the police officer to take it from there.”

Sidewalk space dispute

Jackson police officers had spoken with protesters about an hour before Cobb’s arrival. The issue centered on Cobb’s claim that protesters were taking up too much sidewalk space.

Protester Tricia Lebkuecher said they had already cleared their setup with police.

“We would be very happy to speak with an officer once he arrives. Like I said, we did speak to a police officer as soon as we got here and he said as long as we stayed on the sidewalk we were perfectly fine. He saw the prop in its entirety,” Lebkuecher said.

Cobb told protesters the planning code required them to leave three feet of right-of-way open.

“The planner code says you had to leave three feet of right of way open and you haven’t done that,” Cobb said.

When Lebkuecher mentioned someone was bringing a tape measure, Cobb responded, “Well I can tell you that’s not three feet.”

Camera blocking incident

During the confrontation, Cobb appeared to position himself in front of our camera, blocking video of the demonstration. When asked to move, he said, “Two can play at this game.”

A protester told Cobb, “You’re pitiful dude. Go away.”

Cobb responded, “You go away.”

Cobb later said he was unsure if we were filming as part of the protest group.

“Well I couldn’t tell if you were filming as part of their entourage or who,” Cobb said.

When asked if protesters would be allowed to film, Cobb said they would be permitted to do so unless they were blocking the sidewalk as part of the performing arts group.

Cobb said his intention was not to block viewing of the demonstration.

The protesters packed up and left at their originally planned time of around 10:15 a.m. Tuesday.