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love them grannies

Posted by pancho (Guest) - Saturday, December 8 2007, 23:50:50 (CET) from 12.199.144.42 - mail.shpl.org Non-Profit Organizations - Linux - Mozilla Website: Website title:

December 4th, 2007 1:55 am Raging Grannies honk off Ferndale Peace activists fight city over right to urge sympathetic drivers to toot horns By Jennifer Chambers / Detroit News FERNDALE, MI -- A close inspection of Nancy Goedert's picket sign shows she encourages passing drivers not to honk if they support peace. Yet the 74-year-old social activist and her fellow vigil keepers, their signs hoisted high above Woodward Avenue, drew a symphony of beeps and toots from dozens of enthusiastic motorists for more than an hour on a recent weeknight, thanks to the bigger, bolder letters that spell out "HONK FOR PEACE" and spread Goedert's true message. Despite Ferndale's controversial ban on honking in response to political protests, Goedert's smaller addendum -- "Ferndale cops say don't" -- allows Goedert to spread her anti-war message until a federal court decides whether honking car horns are a protected form of free speech. "We have a right to political expression. That's what honking is," said Goedert, a Ferndale retiree and member of the activist group Raging Grannies who was ticketed in June for holding a sign that asked motorists to honk. Ferndale city leaders and police say honking should be reserved for safety purposes. Whether honking is a protected freedom of expression under the First Amendment will be decided by a federal judge when the case of the "Honk for Peace" activists against the city of Ferndale has its day in U.S. District Court. The case is set to go before Judge Denise Page Hood on Dec. 12. The legal wrangling seeks to resolve two questions: Can demonstrators hold signs encouraging others to honk car horns in support of a political view, and can drivers honk back as a response? Michael Steinberg, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan attorney representing the activists and two passing motorists, says yes -- both acts are forms of protected speech and expression under the law. Honking a car horn is a historical form of expression, Steinberg said. "From the dawn of the automotive age, motorists have communicated to other drivers and to pedestrians by honking at political events," Steinberg said. "Union sympathizers honk their horns while passing picket lines. Wedding parties and sports fans honk their horns in celebration." Attorneys for Ferndale cite a city ordinance and state law that prohibit motorists from honking a car horn unless they are warning others of danger. City Attorney Daniel Christ said the city grew concerned about safety at the busy intersection during the weekly demonstrations. "The city's position is inciting a person to perform imminent lawless action is not protected speech," Christ said. The case centers on the actions of five individuals -- three protesters and two motorists -- who caught the attention of Ferndale police last summer. Peace activists Goedert, Victor Kittila and James Grimm have gathered at the corner of Woodward and Nine Mile on Monday evenings for about five years to protest U.S. foreign policy. The demonstrators held their vigils without incident for nearly four years until June 2006, when Ferndale police warned the protesters to stop displaying signs that asked motorist to honk. Christ said the warning was issued after an incident by an unrelated group of protesters who were stepping into lanes of oncoming traffic on Woodward during a demonstration for national health care. "That, in the police administration's view, really crystallized the issue of what had been happening at the intersection for a while, posing a public safety concern," Christ said. Dissatisfied with the city's policy, Kittila added "Ferndale Cops Say Don't" to his "Honk If You Want Bush Out" sign. After a demonstration July 3 with the sign, he was arrested and charged with disturbing the peace. Goedert, whose son is a former mayor in Ferndale, read about Kittila's arrest and said she was compelled to fight the city's policy. She made a sign that said "Honk for Peace" and appeared on the corner to protest. Her sign was taken away and she was ticketed for disturbing the peace. The city dismissed charges against both demonstrators, Christ said, after they agreed to not encourage motorists to honk their horns. Their signs were returned. Motorist Brian Price was ticketed while driving past the vigil. He paid the $145 fine and has stopped using his horn to support the protesters out of fear of being ticketed again, Steinberg said. After the police got involved, Goedert said other vigil holders told her they wanted to play nice with the city and hoped the city would be nice back. "If you give in to a bully, he will push your face deeper into the mud. And that was the wrong thing to do," said Goedert, who spent Monday night on the corner of Woodward and Nine Mile, amid the snow, rain and thunder of traffic to hold her protest signs. "When you honk, you are letting everyone know your view. It's a very political statement. You are expressing to the world that you agree with this," Goedert said. "And the top law of the land is the Constitution." --------------------- - BACK TO INDEX - REPLY - QUOTE - EDIT - DELETE -

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