Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

A hearing has been scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday on the ACLU's lawsuit accusing the town of West Warwick of discriminatory enforcement of an ordinance that limits the size of campaign signs.

The Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union will ask a judge in U.S. District Court, Providence, to issue a restraining order.

The ACLU said it filed the suit on behalf of Thomas K. Jones of West Warwick, who last month lost the District 27 House Republican primary to Ericka J. Atwell. The suit contends the ordinance violates Jones' freedom of speech protections and that town officials have applied it against him in a discriminatory way.

The Journal reported the disagreement concerns a number of four-by-eight-foot signs Jones put up that bore a message opposing the $150-million water park and resort planned for the West Warwick Business Park. Jones said he removed a number of signs from yards of supporters who said they received letters threatening them with fines for violating the sign ordinance.

Jones argued the letters resulted from the signs' content, not size. But town officials have denied that.

The letters said the ordinance allows for no more than one political sign being posted on a residential lot and that it can measure no larger than 8 square feet. A violation can lead to a $500 fine.

 Tags  West Warwick

Leave a comment

Please be civil. Vicious comments, personal attacks and profanity won't be published. Name and email are required; email address will not publish.

Name:

Email:

URL:  

Remember personal info?

Captcha:

Type the characters you see in the picture above.