Recordpub.com - Sign in Kent gets man a day in court Issued a $125 ticket for advertising 'Impeach' Bush on public property

By Dave O'Brien

Record-Courier staff writer

For doing what he believes is expressing his First Amendment right to free speech, Kevin Egler has a trial date in Portage County Municipal Court in Kent.

The South Lincoln Street resident was issued a $125 ticket July 25 by Kent police officer Jerry Schlosser for "advertising on public property," according to court records.

His advertisement? A sign reading "Impeach," urging the impeachment of President Bush placed in a small public garden at the intersection of Main and Willow streets and Haymaker Parkway.

Egler, 45, said he has placed more than 450 anti-Bush signs in the Kent area.

Kent city ordinance 503.02 states "No person shall stick, post or attach any advertisement, poster, sign, handbill or placard of any kind or description upon any telegraph, telephone, railway or electric light pole within the city, nor upon any public building, voting booth, flagging, curbstone, walk, step stone or sidewalk, or write, print or impress or in any manner attach any notice or advertisement of any kind upon any public building, voting booth, flagging, curbstone, step, stone or sidewalk" that is the property of the city.

However, Egler said he believes the message on the sign he posted is at issue, not the act itself. He said he can show dozens of other examples of advertising on public property in the city, including U.S. Army recruitment posters, "for sale" signs and other handbills tacked to public property that have not attracted the same attention.

If he can't place them in Kent, Egler said he will move his operations to the Akron area.

Egler, who is not affiliated with any local anti-war groups, hosted a small gathering Tuesday with Chicago activist and poet Mario Penalver, who has undertaken an 800-mile walk from Chicago to Washington D.C. to protest the Iraq War and inspire dialogues on peace.

Joining Penalver are Denver-based activists Brother Raymond Schwab and Brother Elliott Nesch of Beit Shalom Ministries, an evangelical Christian ministry dedicated to protesting the war, who left Denver March 1 on their own mission to Washington D.C.

All three men attended Egler's hearing Wednesday, picketing outside the Kent courthouse with signs saying "Honk for peace" and "Impeach Bush."

The three activists said they are disturbed by what they believe is a political motive behind the ticket.

"We need to be more vigilant in times of war to protect our liberties," Schwab said.

"We can't let fear compromise our Constitution," Penalver said.

Judge John Plough set a pretrial for Aug. 9 and a trial for Aug. 16.

21.	Posted by flybuddy1 August 3, 2007
	Just because other people display advertisements illegally doesn't give Mr. Egler the right to display his signs illegally. If someone commits a murder that doesn't give you the right to also. As for President Bush getting hundreds of thousands of our military killed, I believe it has been somewhere around 3000. Franklin Roosevelt sent our troops to war over 2403 deaths at Pearl Harbor compared to the over 3000 deaths at the World Trade Center. Roosevelt got us into WWII where there were 407,300 American military casualities http://en.wikipedia.org. Considerably more than the lives lost by our troops in Iraq. JFK increased troops in VietNam from 500 to 16,000 and large numbers were deployed by LBJ beginning in 1965. Just this week Barack Obama proposed pulling the troops out of Iraq and sending them into Pakistan. It would seem that the only wars to defend our country that some consider justifiable are ones that Democrat presidents get us involved in. This isn't a football game where it's the Democrats against the Republicans. This is the United States against the terrorists and our enemies. Remember divide and conquer. Whose side are you on? The Muslims have vowed to defeat us if it takes 10, 15, or 20 years. Don't be an ostrich and stick your head in the sand and pretend that everything is OK. This is about our survival as a nation.

17.	Posted by steelerfan08 August 2, 2007
	It's funny how everyone blames Bush and Cheney for this whole mess. As I said they all voted for it. Then changed their minds later. If you impeach one you must impeach them all. Also as far as voting for Hillary...give me one reason, please. She is smart however she is a chameleon. Listen to her speeches. Not just the sound bites that they show on TV. I want to know why the new congress and senate is doing nothing but ******** about this administration and wanting them to look bad instead of trying to do something for us? If they want to impeach then impeach! Guess what no balls! They are lying to the people more than bush and cheney. Have you listened to Nancy Pelosi or Barbara Boxer or Diane Feinstien in the past 3 months? Are they creating a smokescreen to get their special interest bills voted in? You bet. Have you watched CSPAN lately and then looked up the language of the bills they are trying to approve? Check it out. We need a 3rd party.