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 minutes

In 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.

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"The American people are not going to take this lying down"

— Thomas Wayne, spokesman, Michigan-based "patr