| GET OFF THE OVERPASS: Two La Crosse residents have filed a
federal lawsuit against the town of Campbell for passing an
ordinance prohibiting protests on the town’s pedestrian bridge. |
About two years later, the Campbell Town Board passed an ordinance
prohibiting the display of flags, banners and other signs on or near the
pedestrian bridge over Interstate 90 after local residents gathered there to
participate in a national movement calling for the impeachment of President
Obama.
“Campbell has a track record of stifling free speech when it suits them,” Erich
Rathke, a demonstrator from nearby La Crosse, told Wisconsin Reporter.
Alleging a violation of the First Amendment, the Thomas More Law Center in
Michigan has, on behalf of La Crosse residents Gregory Luce and Nicholas Newman,
filed a lawsuit in federal court against Town of Campbell, Campbell Police Chief
Tim Kelemen and Police Officer Nathan Casper.
Kelemen, who admitted he used to be a “really heavy Republican kind-of-guy”
while being investigated by authorities in May, was able to convince board
members to adopt the ordinance in October 2013 because of safety concerns with
passing motorists.
Kelemen pleaded no contest last week to charges he allegedly registered Luce for
solicitations from gay dating, pornography and federal health care websites.
Kelemen is the only town representative to submit an affidavit saying the
overpass protesters, who wore “Impeach Obama” T-shirts and displayed American
flags, were compromising the safety of motorists, according to Erin Mersino, the
Thomas More Law Center attorney representing Luce and Newman.
Mersino told Wisconsin Reporter she will be filing an report in the next few
weeks that proves the demonstrators do not pose a safety risk.
“It seems like the public safety argument is a pre-text … Even going down the
road, seeing pictures of this highway with all of the billboards and all of the
different electronic signs, it would not be any more clutter or any more
distraction for a person to have a small sign or to be a wearing T-shirt that
serves a certain political viewpoint,” Mersino said.
But Town Board Supervisor David Wilder defended the ordinance Tuesday, telling
Wisconsin Reporter the area surrounding the overpass is now more dangerous
because of nearby road and bridge construction projects.
Rathke and Campbell resident Tony Curtis said several people pleaded with board
members to let the law sunset after the construction is completed, but they were
told no.
Although Wilder acknowledged the ordinance isn’t “cast in stone,” he declined to
say if he would be willing to consider repealing the restrictions once crews
finish work on the road and bridge projects.
“It’s up to the rest of the Town Board,” Wilder said. “I mean, we’ve got a
lawsuit against us right now. So, until that’s all settled, I can’t tell you
what’s going to happen in the future.”
Wilder also didn’t offer any alternative locations for the Obama protesters to
gather.
[to top of second column] |
“I’m not suggesting anything,” Wilder said. “I’m simply
addressing the safety issues for this particular area right now with
the major construction.”
Campbell Clerk and Treasurer Chad Hawkins told Wisconsin Reporter
that town staff has been advised by their lawyer not to comment on
the situation because of the pending lawsuit.
Attempts to reach Town Attorney Brent Smith, who is out of the
office until Thursday, were unsuccessful.
Because town officials are using the construction projects as
justification for the overpass ordinance, Curtis said he is worried
his local government might continue with that rationale in the
future.
“They took a temporary safety situation and they are enacting a
law to permanently silence free speech, which I think is a grave
danger to our country,” Curtis said. “They can say, ‘Well, we’re
having construction on the sidewalk by this abortion clinic and
we’re going to pass a law to keep you from being there in the name
of safety. Oh, by the way, this law is never going to go away.’ See,
that’s the danger.”
Luce and Newman contend in their lawsuit the ordinance eviscerates
their fundamental rights of free speech by making it unlawful to
assemble on a pedestrian overpass, an area they say shares the same
protections as a public sidewalk and constitutes a traditional
public forum.
Luce, Newman and several other demonstrators started gathering on
the pedestrian bridge in early August 2013 to share their political
beliefs and participate in the national “Overpasses for Obama’s
Impeachment Campaign.”
The plaintiffs and their supporters demonstrated on the pedestrian
overpass because “there is no similar location that will reach the
same audience or the same amount of people,” according to the
lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims the group met five times at the bridge between
August 2013 and early October 2013 without any incidents or related
traffic mishaps.
The lawsuit also alleges the Campbell Town Board passed the overpass
ordinance on Oct. 8, 2013, in response to media attention
surrounding the demonstrations.
Luce and other members of his group returned to the pedestrian
bridge on Oct. 24, 2013, while wearing T-shirts calling for the
impeachment of Obama, but dispersed soon after Casper asked them to
leave or face fines of $132 each.
Newman was ticketed on Oct. 27, 2013, for displaying an American
flag on the overpass to “express his pride for his country and the
ideals upon which it was founded,” according to the lawsuit.
Four other demonstrators were cited during a December gathering at
the overpass for holding flags and a cross.
“This case is about (the) right of all Americans, not just Americans
who hold popular religious and political viewpoints, to exercise
free speech and free association within our traditional public
fora,” the lawsuit says.
[This
article courtesy of
Watchdog.]
Click here to respond to the editor about this
article.
|
