Monday, December 31, 2012


Light display is protected speech

Just in time for the holidays, a Louisiana judge ruled on Thursday that a woman had a right to offer her neighbors an unusual seasons greeting by hanging Christmas lights on her house shaped like a middle finger.

Sarah Childs was in a dispute with some of her neighbors in Denham Springs, just east of Baton Rouge, so she decided to send a message with her decorations.

Neighbors complained and police threatened to arrest her, so she teamed up with the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana and sued the city.

Childs put up the lights on her roof last month. She has removed them twice since - once after a police officer told her she could be fined and again after another officer threatened to arrest her, her lawsuit said.

U.S. District Judge James Brady issued an order temporarily barring city officials from interfering with the display. The two-page order said the city's ‘continued efforts’ to prevent Childs from displaying her holiday lights will violate her rights to free speech and due process.

Denham Springs attorney Paeton Burkett said the city will comply with Brady's order, but she declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Source

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Even though most rational people assumed America couldn't possibily go down the drain any faster than it has been doing in the last four years, this story proves them wrong.

What is truly ironic is that while the American people demand their "freedoms", and in fact, demand more of them all the time, they are too weak, gullible, and stupid to realize "their" govt. is taking away more of their freedoms and liberties than they know. That's the consequence of giving incredibily weak and stupid people the power of the vote.

Bird of Paradise said...

But if she had displayed a cross or nativity she would have it removed by the leftists ACLU