Sign
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
ACLU Of Indiana
1031 E. Washington St.
Indianapolis IN 46202-3952
To whom it may concern:
My name is Tom Metzger and I live at 1134 S. Ferguson Road, Warsaw, IN 46580. I was born here in Warsaw, but spent 40 years in California. I moved back here about nine years ago. After I settled in I starting writing letters to the local newspaper, which is the Times-Union. I wrote a large number of letters during that period, up until just two or three months ago. I never had any problem.
All of a sudden without warning the newspaper quit printing my letters, and even though I have questioned the editor several times he’s not given me a specific reason why he won’t print my letters. So I purchased a 4-by-8 restaurant-type portable sign with changeable letters and placed it near my house. It is a lit sign as I said with changeable letters, and it’s been used for at least six months with no problems.
I was advised a few weeks ago by the local planning commission of Kosciusko County that I was in violation of their sign ordinance.
Last week I appeared before the commission and made the argument that the sign was totally for free speech had nothing to do with commerce or selling anything.
Once a week I change the message. I paid a $75 fee to apply for a variance and advised all the neighbors by certified mail that if they had a question or complaint about it to contact the planning commission. I appeared before the planning commission and argued my point that this was not any kind of commercial endeavor, it was not a church, or anything else that the sign ordinance applies to. However, the planning commission ruled against my variance to keep the sign there 52 weeks a year. Actually, many people like the sign and tell me they do because I put things on the sign that the local Republican paper will not touch. That’s where I think the trouble came from the Republican party.
Now I have less than 30 days to appeal the case to the Supreme Court. I’m on Social Security and don’t have much extra money for legal expenses. But I think this is a very important constitutional case that’s being thrown under the bus by local ordinances. I live on a country road three miles from town and the houses here are blocks apart. I don’t think I would get a positive result by hiring a local attorney, so I’m appealing to you for possible legal assistance because I don’t plan to take the sign away – there’s too many important issues like war in the Middle East and all the other things that are happening not to get the word out there somehow.
When the local news media has a lock on important political issues that need to be discussed, it’s extremely bad for the political body. Perhaps I angered the Republican leaders when I said that George Bush Jr. and Richard Cheney should be arrested and handcuffed and transported to the Hague world court. Maybe that was what broke the camels back. Thank you.
Tom Metzger
Warsaw
Editor’s Note: The editor recalls refusing to print one of Metzger’s letters because it was deemed to be racist and ran afoul of the “good taste” provision in our Letters Policy.[[In-content Ad]]
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ACLU Of Indiana
1031 E. Washington St.
Indianapolis IN 46202-3952
To whom it may concern:
My name is Tom Metzger and I live at 1134 S. Ferguson Road, Warsaw, IN 46580. I was born here in Warsaw, but spent 40 years in California. I moved back here about nine years ago. After I settled in I starting writing letters to the local newspaper, which is the Times-Union. I wrote a large number of letters during that period, up until just two or three months ago. I never had any problem.
All of a sudden without warning the newspaper quit printing my letters, and even though I have questioned the editor several times he’s not given me a specific reason why he won’t print my letters. So I purchased a 4-by-8 restaurant-type portable sign with changeable letters and placed it near my house. It is a lit sign as I said with changeable letters, and it’s been used for at least six months with no problems.
I was advised a few weeks ago by the local planning commission of Kosciusko County that I was in violation of their sign ordinance.
Last week I appeared before the commission and made the argument that the sign was totally for free speech had nothing to do with commerce or selling anything.
Once a week I change the message. I paid a $75 fee to apply for a variance and advised all the neighbors by certified mail that if they had a question or complaint about it to contact the planning commission. I appeared before the planning commission and argued my point that this was not any kind of commercial endeavor, it was not a church, or anything else that the sign ordinance applies to. However, the planning commission ruled against my variance to keep the sign there 52 weeks a year. Actually, many people like the sign and tell me they do because I put things on the sign that the local Republican paper will not touch. That’s where I think the trouble came from the Republican party.
Now I have less than 30 days to appeal the case to the Supreme Court. I’m on Social Security and don’t have much extra money for legal expenses. But I think this is a very important constitutional case that’s being thrown under the bus by local ordinances. I live on a country road three miles from town and the houses here are blocks apart. I don’t think I would get a positive result by hiring a local attorney, so I’m appealing to you for possible legal assistance because I don’t plan to take the sign away – there’s too many important issues like war in the Middle East and all the other things that are happening not to get the word out there somehow.
When the local news media has a lock on important political issues that need to be discussed, it’s extremely bad for the political body. Perhaps I angered the Republican leaders when I said that George Bush Jr. and Richard Cheney should be arrested and handcuffed and transported to the Hague world court. Maybe that was what broke the camels back. Thank you.
Tom Metzger
Warsaw
Editor’s Note: The editor recalls refusing to print one of Metzger’s letters because it was deemed to be racist and ran afoul of the “good taste” provision in our Letters Policy.[[In-content Ad]]
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