KKK Lawsuit Persuades Arnold to Allow Flyers on Vehicles
The American Civil Liberties Union has issued an injunction on behalf of the Ku Klux Klan that Arnold allow the placement of advertisements on vehicles in spite of the city's law banning the practice.
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Arnold shoppers may find Ku Klux Klan literature on their car windshields as soon as this weekend, and the group will not be penalized for the practice.
An Arnold law dating back to 1975 bans the placement of advertisements on vehicles and imposes penalties against offenders, said Arnold City Attorney Bob Sweeney. It was enacted to address littering and to protect private property.
However, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)—on behalf of the KKK—has served the city an injunction requesting that it rescind the ordinance to allow KKK members to place literature on vehicles without penalty, Sweeney said.
"Do we want to challenge the action, which could result in a lawsuit?" Sweeney asked the city council at its meeting Thursday night. "Or do we inform the ACLU that we do not intend to enforce the law until we can amend it?"
The KKK recently took the city of Cape Girardeau to federal court over the same issue, and the court ruled in favor of the KKK, saying that the city's law was unconstitutional, Sweeney explained.
The lawsuit claimed that Cape Girardeau's law prohibiting flyers on vehicles was a violation of the group's right to free speech under the First Amendment, according to a Sept. 27 article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
In an effort to avoid a similar lawsuit against Arnold, the council on Thursday agreed that the city would not enforce its law against KKK members until the measure can be amended.
Prior to that decision, Ward 4 Councilman Ken Moss asked if the council could consider the action at a later meeting.
Sweeney said the decision could not be postponed because the injunction goes into effect Monday. He added that's he's been advised that KKK members were planning to place flyers on vehicles within the next few days, which could mean as soon as this weekend.
Sargesgiftshop.com
11:16 am on Friday, October 19, 2012
That pesky ole 1st Amendment rears it's head again.
Ms Anne Thrope
12:49 pm on Friday, October 19, 2012
I would treat KKK flyer's just like any others....to the "Circle file" !!!!!!!
Almost Curious
4:20 pm on Friday, October 19, 2012
That's crap! It doesn't have anything to do with the 1st Amendment. The law prohibits ANYONE from putting flyers on vehicles - it doesn't state that just "Kluckers" aren't allowed to put flyers on cars. How can that be a violation of free speech! If I were the city of Arnold, if just one flyer hit the ground, I'd ticket them for littering, each and every time!
Ramrod
9:17 am on Sunday, October 21, 2012
Quite right. Anyone discarding anything from in or on their vehicle should be cited for littering, be it educational reading material or not. Do your part to keep America clean. Don't litter.
Mr Wonderful
5:08 pm on Friday, October 19, 2012
So let me get this straight.... residents cannot put anything on their vehicles like "FOR SALE" but the damn KKK gets to infest everyone with their negative thinking by forcing their "flyers" on my vehicle.... well the city will be busy cleaning up a lot of paper... because every piece of this i get will hit the ground some place near the court house. And if I get a ticket for littering, which I wouldn't be if they just fell off the cars, the ticket could be "forwarded" to the KKK..... Is that about correct????
Sheri Gassaway
5:13 pm on Friday, October 19, 2012
The city's ordinance bans any kind of handbill - which would include flyers and other literature placed on unattended vehicles. I don't think it includes any signs you put on your vehicle.
Mr Wonderful
5:45 pm on Friday, October 19, 2012
Another reason why the official documents this wonderful, fantastic country is working under need to be totally updated.... I believe the founding fathers wrote these "rules" for reasons other than what they have been used for in the recent history. WAKE UP... Let's at least work our way to and through the 20th century.
Ramrod
9:17 am on Sunday, October 21, 2012
Is it 'wake up' then? The clever lawyer types for many decades now have used their fancy rhetoric to circumvent and emasculate our Constitution for their own selfish political agenda. God save us from their kind and your ilk whether you spoke with sincerity or from naivety. The Constitution is a practical document, drawn up by practical men facing practical problems. Those Framers applied to their task a thorough familiarity with history, a subtle understanding of human nature, and an evident respect for the English language. But their handiwork has persisted and endured, not just because of its theoretical coherence, or the elegant symmetry of the federal structure it created, or of its graceful prose, but because it has worked. Worked for millions of people of different origins, races and religions. We have an obligation we owe not only to ourselves and to our posterity, but to the Framers, who risked everything for freedom, and to the brave men and women who throughout our history have preserved the Constitution, often at the cost of their lives.
Bill Moritz
5:45 pm on Friday, October 19, 2012
AC, I wish it was that easy to do. Apparently several ordinances popped up in the mid-70s in the region and they were all substantially the same. City Attorney Sweeney explained that Cape Girardeau had a similar ordinance and chose to fight it against this organization of people with values that are probably not quite representative of most of us and lost. The ACLU actually notified Arnold that the KKK was coming here next and if their nonsense paper hanging was challenged they would fight it and based upon the CG case they would certainly win. Sweeney advised just not enforcing the ordinance until it can be tweaked to where it is enforceable and in my opinion we are being asked to place a clothespin on our noses until the stink blows over. Let's just do that. They were looking for publicity and by even giving them 15 minutes and having a councilman question that gives the KKK some added credence.
On a very bright note the entirely radical members of the Westboro Baptist Church just lost an appeal in the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals about their horrible protest practices at service member's funerals in the City of Manchester who challenged them. That was found not to violate the First Amendment. Let's see what can be done here with the other.
Quite frankly I am more interested in tightening the ordnance that allowed that knucklehead to drain his vehicle's motor oil and coolant on the ground at Arnold Park and only be charged with littering.
Michael Stephenson
11:27 am on Saturday, October 20, 2012
Why do we allow ANYONE to leave flyers on cars. I hate that! All it does is create litter when you pull it off and throw it on the ground.
tana bovaconti
8:29 am on Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Throwing the flyers on the ground does not prove your point. The city of Arnold does not clean up the trash. The buisnesses clean up there messes. I work in Arnold . We pick up or own trash. If we see someone putting flyers up we tell them to stop and ask them to leave. But we pick up our own trash. The city of Arnold won't know any thing about it. No point proved. Just more work for understaffed stores.
EmkoOne
12:10 pm on Wednesday, October 24, 2012
I don't think i could ever hate without reason. Even WITH reason, sometimes by the end of the day i forgive. I don't understand people. I live in Arnold and this is big concern to me. I have neighbors who are foreigners.
hoss
3:58 pm on Wednesday, October 24, 2012
The Kkk are a much of pigs; however even iur Constitution pigs do have rights. That us one of the marvels of our we even grant rights to "thought that we hate." Tradhing up ones community is not speech it is behavior and behavior csn be restricted.