Kent, Ohio Man to Fight $125 Ticket

For Posting An "Impeach Bush" Sign

By Joshua B. Good

Monday, August 6, 2007

 

An Ohio substitute teacher faces a $125 fine for telling his neighbors President George W. Bush should be impeached.

            Kent, Ohio, Police Officer Jerry Schlosser wrote Kevin Egler, 46, a ticket because Egler posted an “Impeach Bush” sign at a small public garden on Wednesday, July 25, 2007. The citation accuses Egler of violating the city’s ban against “advertising on public property.”

            But Egler says the ticket violates his First Amendment right to free speech.

Egler plans to fight the ticket at trial in the Portage County Municipal Court Thursday, Aug. 16, 2007. City of Kent Law Director Jim Silver was unavailable for comment Monday, Aug. 6, 2007.

Egler said he posted the sign at the flower garden at the intersection of Main Street, Willow Street and Haymaker Parkway. After planting the wire-frame sign in the ground and getting into his car, Egler was pulled over by Schlosser.

“He did try to get me to admit it was litter. I would not do that. I told him it was my First Amendment right. I don’t think he liked that,” Egler said in an interview with www.bannedmagazine.com on Monday, August 6, 2007.

Schlosser took Egler’s information and returned two days later at 6 a.m. with a ticket, Egler said.

Egler sees the case as one of selective enforcement. He said Schlosser suggested Egler post the sign on his own property.

“As a taxpapyer of this city this is my property,” Egler said he told Schlosser.

Egler said he and a small group of like-minded anti-Bush activists have posted about 450 signs in central Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. He has been in touch with the Freeway Blogger in California, who also posts “Impeach Bush” signs (read previous Freeway Blogger story here). Egler has also taken to calling himself a blogger, though he has no web site. His blog space is any public property within easy driving distance.

“I won’t put the signs on private property without permission,” Egler said.

Egler was motivated to post his signs because of a long list of what he sees as the criminal actions by the Bush Administration.

“The Downing Street Memo, that showed everything leading up to war was a lie. The torture. The outing of CIA agents. The infringing on our rights by listening to our phone conversations, reading our mail. These are abuses against our country that just can’t continue,” Egler said.

July’s citation wasn’t the first time Egler was ticketed for his protest signs. On the night of November 6, 2006 – eve of the election – he was putting up a “The War Is a Lie” sign on a freeway overpass in Columbus, Ohio, when a police officer arrived. Egler said he abandoned the sign before it was affixed to the bridge and the wind blew it. It was litter, Egler agreed and he paid the $100 ticket, he said.

But this time around he has a gung-ho Free Speech attorney on his side. Egler’s attorney, Bob Fitrakis, of Columbus, is also a blogger – the Internet type, not the freeway type (his blog is here). Fitrakis is a professor at Columbus State Community College and teaches political science. He’s also active in free-press issues, edits a news web site (freepress.org) and is no stranger to Don Quixote-type battles. He was the Green Party candidate for Ohio governor in 2006, but lost.

"I doubt if that was a “Support Your Local FOP” sign there would have been a ticket," Fitrakis said during a telephone interview from his Columbus office. "The officer would have been helping him push it into the ground."

Fitrakis claims the ticket is an example of selective enforcement. He also said it isn't the correct charge, since the sign was not advertising. Fitrakis said it could also be argued that "Impeach Bush" is a petition to the government, which is protected under one of the clauses of the First Amendment.

"All of this is motivated more by the police officers political views more than the threat to public safety of the people of Kent," Fitrakis said.

He acknowledged that sign clutter can block the views of drivers, especially during an election.

"How many times have they arrested and charged mainstream politicians?" Fitrakis questioned. "I’d be curious to look at that data."

 

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