Let the Honking Resume! Court's ruling means that free speech can blare in Burnsville, MN

OK, everyone, it's legal again! So grab or make your "Honk 4 Peace" sign---there are 62,900 images of them available online to copy from!
Then get a couple friends and go out to your favorite street corner.

It's time. It's past time. We are in the 9th year of these damnable wars, with thousands of dead and wounded Americans and probably somewhere close to a million foreign civilians who've been killed. Our national debt ceiling has just been raised to over $14 trillion, over twice what it
was when George Bush took office, with 53 cents of every tax dollar now going to pay for the military and the wars.

If people would just speak out, it might be possible for we citizens to inspire our elected representatives to develop a little backbone to say no to their spineless funding of the continuing wasteful, futile wars.

Remember silence is complicity! We won't be disturbing the peace, we'll be disturbing the war!
PS: Thank goodness for the ACLU fighting for our rights to hold the peace signs!
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http://www.aclu-mn.org/home/news/acluandfreedomofspeechprev.htm

ACLU and Freedom of Speech Prevail in Burnsville

For Immediate Release
May 10, 2010

ACLU and Freedom of Speech Prevail in Burnsville

Saint Paul, Minn- The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota achieved victory in their Honk for Peace case against the City of Burnsville on behalf of their client Robert Palmer. Palmer was charged with a misdemeanor violation of Minnesota's illegal honking statute in 2009, when he was cited after honking his horn 52 times in support of an anti-war protest at a busy intersection during rush hour in front of Congressman John Kline's office in downtown Burnsville. Following a lengthy evidentiary hearing conducted on April 28, 2010, Dakota County District Court Judge Rex D. Stacey issued an order filed on May 7, 2010, dismissing the charges against Palmer as violating a Consent Decree filed last year in another illegal honking case.

In 2009 the ACLU-MN settled a similar case against the City of Burnsville when it issued a ticket to Barbara Gilliand for honking in support of the anti-war protestors. As part of the settlement agreement the City of Burnsville agreed to dismiss the citation against Gilliand and issue no further citations to motorists who honk their horns to express their constitutionally protected free speech rights, except when necessary to preserve public safety.

In his decision dismissing Palmer's charges as a violation of that Consent Decree, Judge Stacey concluded that there was no evidence that Palmer's honking compromised public safety.

ACLU-MN volunteer attorney Howard Bass is pleased with the decision and says "Judge Stacey's ruling confirms that the First Amendment is alive and well in Burnsville." Palmer and Gilliand were both represented by volunteer attorney Howard Bass of the Bass Law Firm in Burnsville.


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http://www.startribune.com/local/south/93477914.html?elr=KArksi8cyaiUHK:uUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU
By JON TEVLIN, Star Tribune

Last update: May 11, 2010 - 7:44 PM

It turns out there is free speech after all, even
in Burnsville.

And you can honk for that, as long as you
don't endanger the public safety.

A few weeks ago I wrote about an ad hoc
peace group that has been meeting for
several years to protest the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Occasionally, drivers who agree
with them have honked in support.

Burnsville police say that about two years
ago they got some complaints from people w
ho live nearby. Peace was noisy, they said.
Peace was irritating.

So the cops began to monitor the group,
taking photographs and videos. They cited a
woman under existing honking ordinances,
but when the American Civil Liberties Union
of Minnesota took up the case as a free-
speech issue, the city made a deal: Go ahead
and honk and we won't issue a citation
unless you are jeopardizing the public safety.

So along comes Bob Palmer: peacenik,
iconoclast, retiree, ebullient horn honker.
Palmer laid on the horn somewhere in the
neighborhood of 52 times one day at rush
hour. Officials were not amused, and ticketed
him.

The case went to Judge Rex Stacey in Dakota
County District Court on April 28. The city
argued that Palmer made the busy
intersection of Nicollet Avenue and Burnsville
Parkway more hazardous.

Howard Bass, an attorney for Palmer from
the ACLU of Minnesota, argued that the city
broke its agreement with the group. He also
argued that the ticketing was discriminatory
because the city had never cited anyone for
honking before, there was no probable cause
and honking was protected by the U.S.
Constitution.

Judge Stacey, in a brief memo, noted that the
city did not offer a shred of evidence that the
public safety was in danger, thus the city
violated its own consent decree not to ticket
honkers. End of argument. He didn't have to
consider any of the other issues, so he
didn't.

Coleen Rowley, a former FBI agent who has
taught civil liberties law to officers and
agents, is one of the peace protesters.

"This is really, really good," said Rowley. "We
are all excited. There are other cases like this
around the country, so I hope this will have a
wider purpose."

Bass said that the complaints came largely
from one police officer, now retired.

That former officer wrote to me a couple of
weeks ago and said several of his neighbors
had complained, and that he then brought
those complaints to the city.

But Bass said the officer was also the one to
first issue tickets to honkers. "He had a dog
in the fight," said Bass.

"We're happy the First Amendment is
validated," said Bass. "Judge Stacey
concluded that 52 honks didn't endanger
public safety. You can't scream 'Fire!' in a
crowded theater, but you can honk until your
heart's content to express political opinion.
We hope follow the judge's
order and stop harassing people who are
exercising their rights."

Rowley has a more long-term dream:

"We hope the wars will be over soon and we
won't have to stand on the corner much
longer."

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The intersection in Burnsville that the weekly peace vigil has been conducted on (Burnsville Parkway and Nicollet) is undergoing repairs and will be closed all summer so we have to move the vigil temporarily. At this point, we're not sure where to move it to but probably we'll stay in the vicinity.

can't believe they are working on that corner.. doesn't even seem that old.