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