Taking on the Government FREEDOM OF SPEECH VIOLATION! Signs opposing Oak Ridge red light cameras confiscated
http://www.wbir.com/news/article/158060/2/Signs-opposing-Oak-Ridge-red-light-cameras-confiscated
Signs opposing Oak Ridge red light cameras confiscated
6:05 PM, Feb 21, 2011
An East Tennessee advocacy group says Oak Ridge is taking down their political signs, violating their freedom of speech. The city claims the sign placement violates city code.
"They are not for safety. They are for revenue only for Oak Ridge," Kay Williamson of the Tennessee Liberty Alliance said.
Williamson is so passionate about red light cameras that she's spent her own money to make signs and post them.
"It says kill traffic cameras and obey the Constitution," she said.
The signs keep disappearing.
So, this past weekend she made sure to place them next to other signs for real estate, yard sales, and cable service.
Then she kept watch with her camera phone.
"This is the actual officer getting out of his car taking down the signs," she said, pointing to a photo on her phone. "Oak Ridge Police came Saturday night at approximately 12:00 midnight and removed our signs only, and did not remove any of the yard signs."
Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson denied selective enforcement of Oak Ridge's strict sign ordinance.
"Once it's in the city's rights of way, it is fair game and will be removed," Watson said.
Oak Ridge City Council Member Anne Garcia Garland said red-light cameras are "an ongoing, divisive issue" in the community and she appreciates citizens like Williamson bringing forward complaints.
She said only the City Council as a whole had the power to launch an investigation into allegations of improper sign removal.
The owner of Anderson's Hilltop Market said he's given permission for those anti-red light camera signs to be posted on his private property, and he's personally seen city code enforcement pull up those signs.
"Our folks know exactly where the rights of way are," Watson explained. "Every political campaign that comes around we sit down with political candidates and say you have to be so far from the curb and so far from the road, so we know there that signage should be or should not be."
Confiscated signs end up in an area called "sign jail." On Monday, there was quite a variety of signs in the fenced-in area.
However, Tennessee Liberty Alliance is considering filing a discrimination lawsuit. "They came around town and only removed the kill the red light camera signs," Williamson said.
According to Community Development Director Kathryn Baldwin, the Oak Ridge sign ordinance does allow for certain exceptions. Those include campaign signs during elections and directional signs for auctions and open houses on weekends.
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