Protesters may get charged for free speech

[peanutbrittle]

Protesters may get charged for free speech

Lee considering making protesters pay for march’s costs; ACLU says it’ll step in if organizers get bill

By Julio Ochoa (Contact)

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Lee County commissioners are expected today to discuss whether to make organizers of last week's protest march pay for additional costs the county incurred, but they may be wasting their time.

The county has no legal standing to charge organizers anything based on rulings from similar court battles, said Howard Simon, executive director of the Florida chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

"Governments don't tax the exercise of constitutional freedoms, that's why we have municipal budgets and publicly funded police departments," Simon said. "People don't pay to exercise their First Amendment rights, that is contradictory to how the Constitution works."

More than 75,000 people marched on downtown Fort Myers to protest proposed immigration reform measures in Congress — the largest public rally in Lee County history.

more...

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2006/apr/18/county_considering_charging_protest_organizers_cos/?local_news

[Media_Lies_Daily]

1. Good grief. Want to charge us for the air we breathe, too??

[wordpix2]

2. they're already charging for water

[AnneD]

11. What....

you haven't gotten your bill yet?

[Bassic]

7. I think that if they could come up with some bullshit reason to do it

They would not hesitate to do it.

[Cronus Protagonist]

12. Well, they WANT to, but they haven't figured it out yet....

How would they stop you stealing it?

Educate A Freeper - Flaunt Your Opinions!
http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13

[paparush]

3. Does this mean that "Free Speach Zones" are no longer free (as in beer)?

[Kolesar]

4. &bush comes to Ohio and sticks local gov'ts with the bill...

...for extra police, traffic control, whatever...

[Bassic]

8. Hell, the U.S. Embassy in Canada had the city of Ottawa

modify the street in front of it to eliminate the possibility of a car coming at it at high speed. Of course, the City of Ottawa had to take care of the bill, the U.S. didn't pay one friggin dime.

[formercia]

5. I thought there was already case law on this issue

you can't be charged to offset the cost.

[mcscajun]

6. Law? They don't need no stinking Law!

They ARE the law, and don't you forget it! :sarcasm:

Damn these bastards and their ill-gotten spawn to Hell!

[gratuitous]

9. Do they bill Chimpy for all the costs of his little campaign visits?

If not, Lee County might consider having a nice big cup of shut the fuck up.

Although, to be fair, if it's the largest public rally these dinks have ever had, it probably discombobulated the County commissioners to see so many people who disagree with the Republican leadership of this country, so their knee-jerk reaction may be more understandable.

[zbdent]

10. Can we charge the "free speakers" who decided to bring their version

of "free speech" to the Miami-Dade County vote counts?

[zann725]

13. Arrests near Crawford last weekend...Fees for Free Speech?

What next...Tanks?

A 'special' on "Tinneman Square" recently reminded me how much I'd forgotten about protest repression...and how much wasn't covered by our MSM. It was chilling to see how quickly (over a period of just a few days) thousands of every-day people (elderly, children, average every-day Men) protestors were repeatedly beaten back, shot, run over by tanks, and mass-terrorized into PERMANENT submission by repressive gov't. Kent State (on much smaller scale) "curbed" student protests greatly in 70's.

How can ACLU possibly keep up with, protect every such violation of Freedom of Speech?