Vacuous Editorial, Unadorned by Legal Research, Mocks Free Speech Rights: JAMES SUTTON's Latest Misguided Editorial: "Free speech and a sign of the times"

Editorial: Free speech and a sign of the times
Posted: August 6, 2015 - 10:27pm

Sometimes a bad idea (sic) sneaks up on you when you’re trying to do something right.
St. Johns County Commissioners were reminded Tuesday that no good deed (sic) goes unpunished (sic) when it opened a dialogue on free speech to the public.
The issue is this: The county, with all good intentions (sic), tried to set aside a special zone at its park adjacent to the Beach Pier solely for citizens exercising their right to free speech.
The county has an ordinance for its public places that attempts to manage, more clearly that (sic) to regulate, individuals or groups seeking to congregate, pass out literature, have petitions signed or protest march for that matter.
The impetus Isic) of the special zone was probably (sic) simple safety. Yes, the entire park is public property and, by definition, open to free speech issues. But does the public good take a licking (sic) when a card table (sic) is set up in the middle (sic) of the parking lot (sic), impeding (sic) cars and imperiling those “speechifying?” To take it a step further, would we want to have a group of protesters gathered in the middle of a public soccer field during match play? Should groups have the inalienable right to form human chains on a public boat ramp? It’s a slippery slope — always.
The best advice (sic) we could give the county on navigating the minefield (sic) of First Amendment rights, would be to talk to the city. It is well-practiced in threading that legal needle, and appears to be heading back there again, following the filing of another lawsuit by street artists/performers(sic)/pitchmen(sic)/retailers(sic).
Where the county effort went haywire is when it erected a sign prominently displaying the words “Designated Free Speech Zone: Park Ordinance 2005-114.”
Ouch.
Staff probably should have seen it coming. Tea party-ers, and assorted livid libertarians (sic) correctly backed the county up against the bathroom wall that forms the rear perimeter of the speech zone. You can’t, they complained, herd folks exercising protected rights into a holding pen of sorts for Jeffersonian citizenry.
The county countered that it is not a place where folks have to go to protest, it’s a place reserved for that purpose. And that was very likely the original intent. No government wants to poke the mama bear of free speech intentionally.
It could have gotten out of control, but give credit to St. Johns County Commissioners. They heard the public outcry, saw the writing on the wall and, instead of talking a losing issue to death, voted posthaste to remove the sign, but keep the ordinance — which has the necessary wiggle room to work — in place.
It was a quick and honest ending to an issue that was bound to bite back.