Article submitted by James Master, The Pilot News Managing Editor
During the last meeting of the Argos Town Council, there was an Argos resident that brought up a request to address vulgarity on signs that are being displayed on private property.
“I called in a couple days back to complain about the vulgarity of flags and signage that’s hanging throughout the town. The clerk told me that you guys couldn’t really do anything because of freedom of speech, and she is right. Kind of. Because you’re government and government can’t necessarily dictate what citizens say. So, I’m coming in because I’m a citizen, not government, and voicing my opinions that this should be looked at a little better because vulgarity is not covered under First Amendment rights,” Resident Gary Schue said.
He told the council a court case he had read where an off-duty law enforcement officer was fishing and shouted vulgarities. A mother and son heard the vulgar language and sued the officer. “The Supreme Court said no, he can’t do that, that their rights were violated because of his swearing. And that vulgarity is not covered under First Amendment rights,” he said.
Schue went on to say that he didn’t think it was a “good look” for the town when visitors drive through the town.
Town Attorney Derek Jones responded that he appreciated Schue coming to the town council meeting and bringing up this matter. Jones said that he has children and when they drive by signs like the ones Schue is mentioning he said, “my first thought is, I hope they just don’t see the sign.”
Jones said that prior to that night’s meeting, he did some research into the matter and spoke to the Marshall County Plan Director.
“My research kind of indicates that vulgarity is something especially in political speech that can be permitted,” Jones said. He said that he would be interested in seeing that court case that Schue spoke of. He also said that there were several cases that went before the United States Supreme Court. “There’s not really a clear definitive bright line about what exactly is and is not permitted. That’s the one take away that I had from this.”
However, Jones did say that the town has addressed nuisance actions from time to time.
“The town does those from time to time. And that’s something that, basically, it’s offensive to your vision, your hearing, smell, that could be a nuisance action as well. And so, you have on one hand what we would call that nuisance action. On the other hand, you have what’s called is protection of free speech. And most of the things I’ve seen so far, free speech trumps the nuisance action,” said Jones.
Jones did explain what the town could do when it comes to sign regulation. The town can regulate the size and if they’re too close to the road. “But when it comes to content, in terms of what is it that the sign says, that’s where a lot of times it’s a town or a public citizen they run into trouble in terms of trying to prohibit or regulate that because it is, again, freedom of expression.”
The town council members said that they would drive by the signs Schue mentioned.
