Ferndale War Protestors Win Right To Honk.

[Msterbeau]

http://www.hometownlife.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...361/1037/NEWS20

Feel free to honk for peace in Ferndale.

A federal judge ruled Thursday that Ferndale police officers violated the First Amendment when they ticketed anti-war protestors and the motorists who honked in support of them in June 2006.

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"I'm just relieved," said Victor Kittila. "I've lost a lot of faith in the courts. This has restored a little bit of it."

Kittila was arrested after one of the weekly anti-war vigils held each Monday afternoon on the corner of Woodward and Planavon, near Nine Mile. After police warned protestors not to hold up signs that urged motorists to honk for peace, Kittila brandished a sign stating, "Ferndale Police say don't honk for peace."

He was arrested after tussling with police, while fellow protestor and Ferndale resident Nancy Goedert was cited for a civil infraction. At least two motorists were ticketed for honking their approval of the protests as well.

The ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of Kittila, Goedert and others claiming the city acted unconstitutionally.

ACLU attorney Michael Steinberg said Ferndale is the first city in the country to penalize honking as a form of expression. "We believe now, with this decision, it will be the last."

Judge Denise Page Hood decided there wasn't compelling evidence to support the city's stance that honking for reasons other than to alert other drivers is a noise and safety concern.

For the five years the Monday night vigils have been conducted, she said, "thousands of expressive honks have come forth and not a single accident has occurred as a result.

"For the city of Ferndale to say a honk is just a honk and cannot convey a message is disingenuous," Hood continued. "If a honk is unable to convey a message, how do they discern which honks are worthy of a civil infraction?"

Ferndale City Attorney Dan Christ said the city hasn't ticketed anyone for honking since the lawsuit was filed. "The city's not going to do anything that's inconsistent with the court's ruling."

Goedert, meanwhile, said the anti-war vigils will continue at Woodward and Planavon.

"Definitely the honk signs will be up on Monday," she said.

[CandyQuackenbush]

I'm so glad that those little tree hugging hippies can have their little signs up and around. They want to bitch about "they are taking away our first Amendment."

I'll let you in on alittle secret, it doesn't work, and all it makes me do is want to hit you with my jeep. The only reason you even have your damn freedom is because of people like Odims, KBK, myself, our past fallen brothers and sisters got off the couch, and did something.

If anyone has the right to voice their opinion are the ones that can't speak, the ones with issues with society from PTSD, the ones that lost limbs, the ones that can't see, or hear. Only they have suffered or gave the ultimate sacrifice, and they deserved their voice to be heard over all others. They have seen what war is, and what it can do.

We can't hear your little hybrids honking for peace, we only hear the IED's and small arms fire that is the reality of our life.

[creatureofthenyte]

I say rent some fire trucks with bigger horns and out honk those whackos!

[saechalyn]

Global change through noise pollution. A proud day for America

[Head Wreck]

i want the right to protest about my personal space being encroached bu thr frothy student masses that tout such arguments without any real life basis.

i want to protest this with a pair of paddy bashers (northern Ireland type British army gloves with a lead lined knuckle)

[Fierce Critter]

Candy, I love you and I so appreciate what people like you and Odim's do by serving our country. I would never in an second badmouth you, your actions, what you do when your president - no matter who he is - deems it necessary.

What people are protesting is you and other military personnel being made to fight a war that many, many, many people doubt has genuinely appropriate motives behind it.

I am not personally making a stand either way, because I don't feel like I have adequate knowledge of ALL the facts to be able to sit here and make a decision either way. My gut tells me there are probably better ways of handling the situation in the middle east, but I'll be damned if I can tell you what those ways would be.

So I might honk in support of people protesting this "war." But I'd also honk in support of the troops fighting it.

There has been a growing number of people doing this on the corner of Fort Street & Oak in Wyandotte/Southgate. Interestingly, a LOT of them are well above 60 years old.

[TygerLili]

Honking?!? What an effective way to bring world peace.

[Destroit]

Monday afternoons...?

Hmmmm *ponders*

I'm SO going to be down there on Monday...with my fog horn...a foot away from where they're standing...yet I will have earplugs.

I'll just stand there and continuously sound it (may need quite a few cans) in their direction to protest their protest.

Protesting hippy protests is one of my top three favorite past times...

I know...I r teh evil (and I support Candy, Odims, and KBK alongside other badasses who have come and gone in the past and saved our freedom/country with pure All-American Badassery plus guns )

[Msterbeau]

Just to clarify. The honking is done by passing motorists who support (or oppose) the war protesters, not people who bring their cars there specifically to honk for protesting the war. (OK... maybe a few do that, I dunno really)

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

Hey Chernobyl... http://www.protestwarrior.com/

[ttogreh]

Ugh... a horn is a traffic safety device. It is loud, jarring, and deliberately so. I can see the argument for using a horn in a manner that was not intended, and I certainly support any public demonstration, be it for the assholes of Fred Phelps or for a Veterans of Foreign Wars parade, if only to truly expose what a person is when they engage in such a thing.

Still, it's supposed to be used as a traffic safety device. You can't run into a crowded theater and scream "fire"...

[sass_in_the_pants]

Doesn't anyone have anything REAL to bitch about anymore?

[Destroit]

Hey Chernobyl... http://www.protestwarrior.com/

I've actually been there a few times before awhile back.