Kansas man appeals ticket over anti-war signs

[Thom Little]

A suburban Kansas City man is appealing a ticket Prairie Village gave him for homemade yard signs opposing the war in Iraq.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and Western Missouri is helping David Quinly appeal the citation in Johnson County District Court. Quinly sought the ACLU's help after losing an appeal in municipal court.

At issue is a Prairie Village ordinance prohibiting signs bigger than 5 square feet and limiting the total area of temporary signs displayed on a property to 10 square feet. Signs can't be up more than 60 days.

"It's clearly a First Amendment issue," said Quinly's attorney, John Simpson. "We think ... that the Prairie Village sign ordinance is too restrictive."



http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/K/KS_WAR_SIGNS_KSOL-?SITE=VARIT&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-12-24-15-28-09

[BOSSHOG]

1. Okay, how many sea lawyers do we have out there?

Is the issue "anti-war signs" or the size of the signs? I believe the man's lawyer sunk his case by stating "we think ... the ordinance is too restrictive." In other words, it has nothing to do with the content of the signs. Its as if I murdered someone and my lawyer says the communities restrictions on murder are too restrictive. Case closed.

I'm as big an anti-war wackjob liberal veteran as there is but I don't think our friend in Kansas has a case.

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. I don't think he has a case either

Others have tried and failed to throw out this ordinance.

[djg21]

20. It's a shitty, no-brainer of a case.

So long as the zoning ordinance is content-neutral, which it is, it passes constitutional muster. If the ordinance is selectively enforced, that may be another issue, but bans on signs and billboards have been routinely upheld all across the United States.

[Seedersandleechers]

2. I lived in Prairie Village for a number of years. One

time on Easter Sunday I watched the cops there stop a car with a family of black people. They were all made to get out of the car-they had on there Easter outfits. I was sick.. Prairie Village is not diverse.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. Have you ever been to PV Traffic Court?

It is every Thursday at 6:00. 90% of the defendants there are black. But I would bet only 1% of the people who live in PV are black.

Oh the stories I could tell about racial profiling by PV cops! It is the single thing I am the most embarrassed about as a PV native. I can remember my dad, in the 1960s, calling the PV police chief to complain about racial profiling. And yet, it continues today. Makes me sick.

[Scout1071]

16. I've commented for years that every time I drive down SM Parkway

and I see a car pulled over I can guess it's a black person/family. I hate to see it, but it's true. State Line Rd is kind of a "border" of sorts between the urban and the suburban.

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. This is an issue I can get quite passionate about

I have black friends who won't come over to my house, especially at night, because they are so sure they will be pulled over. PV is especially bad.

I love Johnson County. It is a great place to live. But the cops here SUCK and they are racists.

[BlueJazz]

3. Being in Kansas..if the sign had said "Intelligent Design is God's Work"

..there wouldn't have been any problem.

[Seedersandleechers]

4. The neiborhood would not be so picture perfect if eyery one had signs in

their yards.

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. There is an idiot down the street from me

who puts rw signs in his yard all the time.

'US out of the UN'
'Support our president'
'Keep Marriage Between a Man and a Woman'

These are the only ones I can remember now. But it seems like every time I get irritated with his latest sign, it comes down. So I have never called the city to complain (I live in Overland Park) but I swear I will if I think he is violating the sign ordinance.

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. Just gotta get that Kansas jab in there, don't ya?

FYI, the school district that serves PV has decided NOT to change their Science curriculum to reflect the changes by the state board. So the kids in PV will still be studying evolution. So a sign as you described would be way out of place there.

Kinda helps to get some facts in line before you start your bashing. :eyes:

[BlueCollar]

19. As a resident of Texas

all I have to say is "Welcome aboard"...

[proud2BlibKansan]

21. You have my assurance I will not bash Texas

just because it's Texas. Or because it is the 'in' thing to do.

[BlueCollar]

23. thanks...

it's getting old

[BlueJazz]

25. Hey..I'm a Resident of Florida. I can match anybody's state in

..total ignorance!

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. I am a native of Prairie Village

My mom still lives there.

They have very strict codes. BUT it is one of the nicest suburban communities I have ever seen. Property values are among the highest in the KC area.

Over the years, this sign ordinance has been challenged a couple times. The problem is the people in PV want the ordinance. So I will be surprised if this guy wins this suit. But I wish him luck.

[DRoseDARs]

7. While restrictive, this doesn't look at first blush like a 1st Am issue...

If they prohibited signs altogether or had spotty and blatantly biased enforcement of political signs then yeah, but from the article it seems like his fine was on the up-and-up. He was warned, he ignored the warning, and was fined. The mistake was his in thinking it would only be $20-30 dollars (and the officer or whoever should have made it clear), though I agree the $300 is a tad excessive for the infraction...unless his signs were the size of a barn, had lights blinking madly, and blowhorns sounding off every hour on the hour. ;-)

Don't like the ordinance? Petition to have it amended or otherwise altered. Dragging the ACLU into a dispute about a simple fine makes you look petty and makes the ACLU look even worse to its critics.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. There is a neighboring city

that prohibits ALL signs. Until recently, realtors couldn't even place signs in yards there. When people had garage sales, they would hang a shirt on a stick with the sleeve pointing in the direction of the sale. They must have challenged this sign ordinance a hundred times in my lifetime. They finally changed it but I believe real estate signs are the only ones allowed.

They are kind of big on banning yard signs here.

[DRoseDARs]

13. Don't get me wrong, I have no love for such ordinances...

...but visual blight still needs to be controlled. Restricting things like yard sale or "Birthday Party This Way" signs is just silly - as long as the people putting them up secure them well and take them down when done with them - and I can't for the life of me understand blocking real estate signs. :eyes: There are good ways of controlling visual blight and bad ways...



...and then there are home owners' associations. God almighty, they are by-and-large a scourge upon civil society. :thumbsdown:

[peanutbrittle]

10. speaking of city ordinances

I ran across this story today (FAUX NEWS actually reported it)

and I followed up with a little google research and found interesting

Of course there are always two sides to a story but:

Tequesta woman fights code violations (83 year old / $1.8 mil fines)

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/pbcnorth/content/local_new...


TEQUESTA, FL Would appear to be a Republican stronghold


TEQUESTA, FL Political Contributions by Individuals

http://www.city-data.com/elec/elec-TEQUESTA-FL.html



Instead of picking up a lawnmower and helping,,they force her to sell her assets

[peanutbrittle]

12. another link in case the PB doesn't work

new link

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47764

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/pbcnorth/content/local_news/epaper/2005/12/12/c1b_TEQSEIGEL_1212.html

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. SEVEN dump trucks full of vegetative 'trash'?

Who would want to live next door to that?

[tkmorris]

17. Not as bad as it sounds

Your average South Florida yard can produce a dump truck full of waste vegetation in approximately 2 days after a good solid rain. This place is nuts!

[zann725]

22. Good for him! However does ACLU find time to fight all the assaults on

our Rights?!

As Tiny Tim would say, "God Bless 'em all."

[proud2BlibKansan]

24. I doubt he will get anywhere with this suit

As I said upthread, I am a native of PV and the anti-sign ordinance has tons of support from the public. There have also been other challenges over the years and none have succeeded.