Whether you’re familiar with this case or not, please compare the following quote from today’s Albuquerque Journal (2/19/05) with the next quote from the Clovis News (2/15/05).
ABQjournal: Clovis Man’s Devilish Decals Raising Hellfire By Jeff Jones, Journal Staff Writer
The case started back in December, when a police officer was dispatched to the Clovis restaurant where Young works as a waiter to check into the “inappropriate display of sexual material.”
The officer found Young’s Ford Focus, took a look at the cartoon stickers on each side of the car and wrote Young a citation, according to the police report.
The report does not specify who made the complaint that brought the officer to the restaurant.
[VERSUS]
Battle brewing over devilish stickers By Mike Linn: CNJ news editor
Chandler said the case came to light after the young son of Clovis police Detective Kirk Roberts saw the stickers. Roberts saw his son staring at the images during a family outing to an area restaurant, where Young works as a waiter, Chandler said.
Young said he would have removed the stickers if Roberts hadn?t threatened to charge him with a felony. He said Roberts told him to remove the stickers, and came back to the restaurant two weeks later. When they weren?t removed, police issued the citation to Young, who said Roberts is the first person to approach him with concerns over the stickers.
?The only reason I?m getting charged with this is because some overzealous, church-going detective got offended by it, and got even more offended by it by the fact that I didn?t take it off after he threatened me,? Young said.
Roberts sees things differently.
?He apparently believes we?re violating his First Amendment rights … that right ends at my nose,? said Roberts, who said he?s heard some complaints about the stickers.
Notice how the story has ‘evolved.’ The original story strikes me as an abuse of power — where a cop sees something he doesn’t like and threatens a citizen. That’s completely missing in the latest version.
I don’t want cops deciding where my First Amendment rights end. That’s for courts (increasingly stacked with conservatives). And I don’t want the media cleaning up the story to hide an abuse of power. mjh
