Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Newsvine
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
TechnoratiJudge Rules In Favor of First Amendment, 'Honk For Peace' Activists
DETROIT -- A U.S. district judge ruled Thursday that the city of Ferndale violated the First Amendment right to free speech when it punished anti-war protesters on Woodward and drivers who honked to support them.
District Judge Denise Page Hood, who read her opinion from her Detroit bench, said the city failed to show the honking was excessive or posed a safety hazard. Most importantly, the honks' "message of peace" -- just as that of the protesters -- is protected by the U.S. Constitution.
"For Ferndale to now claim that a honk is simply a honk is disingenuous," she said.
Nancy Goedert, a 74-year-old Ferndale resident and member of the activist group Raging Grannies, was delighted with the ruling and said she would return to Woodward and Nine Mile, where an anti-war vigil has been held every Monday since 2002. She was ticketed in June for holding a sign that read "HONK FOR PEACE."
"This time we won't have to put the little line on top that says, 'Ferndale cops say don't,'" she said.
The ruling is significant because Ferndale is the first city in Michigan to prosecute car honking in support of a demonstration, said Michael Steinberg, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, which filed the lawsuit against the city in April on behalf of five protesters and motorists.
"We believe that with this opinion, it will be the last," he said. "Honking is a time-honored means of political expression in Michigan."
After the ACLU intervened, the city dropped the charges.
In the summer of 2006, Ferndale began ticketing or arresting protesters for disturbing the peace. City police also ticketed a honking motorist, saying a city ordinance and state law limits motorists to honking only to warn others of danger.
City Attorney Dan Christ said Ferndale will await the judge's written opinion, expected within days, before deciding what to do next. In the meantime, city authorities will not interfere with the protests, he said.
"Certainly the city is not going to do anything against the court's ruling," Christ said.
Another court date will be scheduled, when the judge could award the plaintiffs nominal damages and attorney fees.
You can reach Catherine Jun at cjun@detnews.com.
© 2008 The Detroit News
13 Comments so far
Show AllTHank you, Beekeeper. George W. Bush has no problem with us wasting our time fighting for the right to honk, just as he's glad we "protest" by standing with signs during a small, convenient time each week, at a convenient location that we all drove to. Once we drive there, we hold signs reading things like, "No Blood for Oil." Bush is delighted that we do this instead of protesting in the manner of movements that have actually worked, like the bus boycotts of the civil rights movement, or Ghandi's use of boycotting British textiles, and having Indians relearn spinning and weaving. We peaceniks are just as symbolic and ineffective as conservative "patriotism", and we stay failed courses just like Bush does.
Bad for the city of Ferndale, but bravo for Denise Page Hood!
And what does honking accomplish?
Once again, well-intentioned parties are engaging in theatre rather than action. If you want to stop the war machine, you need to figure out what role you play in that machine and stop doing that. For example, stop using petroleum, stop paying taxes, stop falling for this two-party pablum, stop believing in electoral politics to stop the problems of the world.
We've earned the right to honk our cars. What an insignificant accomplishment.
Are the constables and city attorney of Ferndale suffering from irony deficiency in charging peace advocates with "disturbing" the peace, or are public officials at that level already using Orwell's Newspeak Dictionary?
Well, the police department of my area is still living in the 1950s when political protest was comparable to treason. Not only the police department, but the citizens also, by way of the local elite-interests newspaper. You want to live in the 1950s? Move to the mountains of Western Maryland.
musicmarc February 1st, 2008 5:28 pm
"I wonder if there are tickets given out for someones "honking" car alarm going off because of a temperature change, or a motorcycle driving by, or someone accidentally bumping it?"
Good point musicmarc.
Of course, none of the above would ever be construed as a safety hazard because it would interfere with a "corporation's right" to earn profits. Our corporate-bought government would never bite the hand that feeds it.
We've had cops in California question members of our protest group about encouraging vehicles to honk for peace in reaction to our signs. After a couple of tries, those cops gave up on talking to us about it.
People honk anyway - whether or not we have a honk for peace sign.
The authorities did install surveillance cameras at the busy intersection where we've held regular weekly protests for years, though. Probably just a coincidence.
Jan Steinman, You nailed it! Absolutely!
zooey2013, I would say it was.
Wouldn't that be a honking alert to a danger... WAR
I wonder if there are tickets given out for someones "honking" car alarm going off because of a temperature change, or a motorcycle driving by, or someone accidentally bumping it? Or, as with many cars (like the Detroit made 2008 Ford Mustang I just test drove)when the car door is locked or unlocked by remote control, the car emits the sound of a horn honking.
If that were the case, the police would be so busy ticketing at least 50% of the population for such violations, that they would have time for nothing else.
Guess that must be a different kind of honking rule.
"City police also ticketed a honking motorist, saying a city ordinance and state law limits motorists to honking only to warn others of danger."
I'd say honking to support ending an intractable war is arguably "warning others of danger."
The ruling is a victory for the grass-root groups against this immoral war. What is so suprising is that Ferndale, an otherwise very progressive city would choose to enforce an obscure noise law. Woodward is a very busy 8 lane divided highway, which has thousands of vehicles traveling on it, including the 'Woodward Dream Cruse', Perhaps the Ferndale police Dept. is still living in the 1950's where a protest against the government is comparable to treason. Maybe this will help change the Police Department's attitude.
Police state anyone?