Free Watauga!
Man, it wasn’t so long ago you could see the steam start blowing out of my ears at the mention of the phrase “Free Kevin!”
It’s been almost a decade, and I still get riled up. This morning I got a little riled too. It seems that the City of Watauga goes beyond the 100′ rule banning signs on city property. According to the news, the City of Watauga doesn’t allow signs at all on city property…and sidewalks?!
A gentleman by the name of Chris Howe was arrested on March 2nd for violating an ordinance that prohibits campaign signs on city property.
Star-Telegram‘s Bud Kennedy writes:
Howe faces a Class C misdemeanor charge of violating Watauga’s ordinance Sec. 4.110: “Political signs shall not be permitted on any public property.”
“They arrested me for holding a sign,” he said.
Watauga City Councilman Jerry Adams was on the council in October 2000 when the ordinance was passed at the height of the George W. Bush-Al Gore presidential campaign.
“We don’t want any political messages on public property, period,” Adams said by phone.
“It’s all just clutter. If we let him carry a sign, soon we’d have two dozen people out there walking around with signs.”
Uh, I think that’s what we Americans call free speech.
Hey Watauga, Bud’s right!
First Amendment is a trump card, you don’t just make up your own ordinance because our freedoms and rights don’t make your city property warm-n-fuzzy. There is a line drawn. everyone is accepting of the 100 foot rule, and no campaign workers challenge it because there is often a Judge handy at voting sites, making arrests and citations very very handy. But for holding a sign outside the 100-foot range…on a sidewalk. That is what people with a little googling skill know to be a public forum, and it’s how police departments and city lawmakers get themselves in trouble all the time in first amendment cases.
Don’t get me wrong, I really hate how campaign signs turn to litter overnight, I don’t like people getting in my face about what they believe (or who they believe in), but engaging in dialogue and wearing a big sign doesn’t hurt anyone.
Watauga needs to lighten up a bit.
Dallas Morning News
WFAA (Citations Needed, loads of discrepancies versus the other articles)
Star Telegram
Star Telegram Editorial – Watauga has some odd ideas about free speech
Wow! Now that is one dumb council member! Anyone smell lawsuit? Millions and millions?
I worked with Chris Howe last year. He’s a pretty cool guy and what happened in Watauga was 100% idiocy. The good news is there is probably a long line of attorneys offering pro-bono 😉
His court date is on the first, I might be going…
Thank you legaleagle! THINK about this people. Do you really want to give permission to anyone that wants to hold a sign for any reason anywhere they please? What about MY right as a citizen of Watauga to take my children to the public Library or community center without being surrounded by anyone wanting to convey their viewpoint in front of a city facility in which I pay for membership and pay taxes to support? Do you want individuals to influence your children against what you are teaching them – especially on issues such as abortion or the death penalty? Mr. Howe states he is exempt because he was HOLDING a sign. Does the human brain not react to sight, sound and motion? Are our eyes not drawn to movement automatically? If he is holding a sign, doesn’t that make it more difficult for us to ignore if we so choose? As a property owner do you think you can sell your property for a fair market price if potential buyers have no protection from intrusive and unsolicited ads and viewpoints? Don’t even get me started on all the signs that will be left in parking lots, on sign poles, thrown down in handicap parking spaces, etc. All he had to do was move across the street. When you open the door to allowing anyone to walk around with a sign anywhere, you cannot discriminate about what the content of that message is – that is why it is called discretionary biased censorship! Please pick me for this jury!!! Mr. Howe needs to change his name to Mr. Howe NOT! The tide is turning and Mr. Howe is on the titanic…
FYI, I live next to an abortion clinic. As much as I would absolutely love for those asshats to stop protesting…it’s their right.
It is their right to freedom of speech…and I seriously doubt Chris is “offending” anyone by holding a sign. If we were to agree to your way of running things, people wouldn’t be allowed to speak in public?
All the reasons you cite have no bearing on why Chris was detained. He was holding a sign close to an election center. This isn’t criminal…it’s a constitutional right.
Just because you don’t like something doesn’t mean you should outlaw it.
Love the Adams quote. Let one sign round here, first thing ya know, there are a dozen, gotta stop em.
Jerry you should a had a dozen signs, and you would a got 200 votes and still ruled the council.