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Driver Ticketed for Anti-Bush Sticker


Steff

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http://www.11alive.com/help/search/search_...x?storyid=77880

 

 

Reported By: Marc Pickard

Last Modified: 3/28/2006 12:38:10 PM

 

 

Americans have a knack for expressing opinions with bumper stickers, from pride for the military, to pride for a student, to pride for a university, to pride for a favorite baseball team.

 

Denise Grier says she was not feeling pride when, last June, she affixed a sentiment (“I'm Tired of All the Bush--”) to her right rear bumper.

 

“With the performance of Bush, I feel like, you know, he's not done what he was elected to do. I don't feel like he's telling us the truth, and those are my personal feelings," Grier said.

 

Until this past June, it was the only bumper sticker Grier had on her car. On March 10, she was pulled over by a DeKalb police officer.

 

“He said, ‘do you know why I stopped you?’ And I said, ‘no I have no idea.’ And he said, ‘you have a lewd decal on your car.’ And I said, ‘I do?’ My first thought was one of my children had put something obscene or filthy on my car,” said Grier.

 

The officer said the offending bumper sticker violated a law against lewd, obscene and vulgar vehicle decals.

 

The American Civil Liberties Union points to action by the Georgia Supreme Court 15 years ago that overturned that law.

 

“A law, such as lewd bumper stickers is unenforceable. What’s lewd to one person is not lewd to another. And it allows officers to end up citing people just because they don’t like the views expressed,” said Gerry Webster of the Georgia ACLU.

 

Despite the furor, Grier says she would do it all over again.

 

“Each of us has a right to free speech", she said. "And if I don't speak out for it, who will?"

 

Grier says she's not an activist, just a nurse who happens to have a court date in April over a controversial political bumper sticker.

 

 

That cop would be out of tickets in 10 minutes in the city.

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QUOTE(Steff @ Mar 30, 2006 -> 10:04 AM)
http://www.11alive.com/help/search/search_...x?storyid=77880

Reported By: Marc Pickard

Last Modified: 3/28/2006 12:38:10 PM

Americans have a knack for expressing opinions with bumper stickers, from pride for the military, to pride for a student, to pride for a university, to pride for a favorite baseball team.

 

Denise Grier says she was not feeling pride when, last June, she affixed a sentiment (“I'm Tired of All the Bush--”) to her right rear bumper.

 

“With the performance of Bush, I feel like, you know, he's not done what he was elected to do. I don't feel like he's telling us the truth, and those are my personal feelings," Grier said.

 

Until this past June, it was the only bumper sticker Grier had on her car. On March 10, she was pulled over by a DeKalb police officer.

 

“He said, ‘do you know why I stopped you?’ And I said, ‘no I have no idea.’ And he said, ‘you have a lewd decal on your car.’ And I said, ‘I do?’ My first thought was one of my children had put something obscene or filthy on my car,” said Grier.

 

The officer said the offending bumper sticker violated a law against lewd, obscene and vulgar vehicle decals.

 

The American Civil Liberties Union points to action by the Georgia Supreme Court 15 years ago that overturned that law.

 

“A law, such as lewd bumper stickers is unenforceable. What’s lewd to one person is not lewd to another. And it allows officers to end up citing people just because they don’t like the views expressed,” said Gerry Webster of the Georgia ACLU.

 

Despite the furor, Grier says she would do it all over again.

 

“Each of us has a right to free speech", she said. "And if I don't speak out for it, who will?"

 

Grier says she's not an activist, just a nurse who happens to have a court date in April over a controversial political bumper sticker.

That cop would be out of tickets in 10 minutes in the city.

 

That is ridiculous. Nothing lewd about that at all. I think most people have had enough of the Bush.

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Putting curse words on your car is free speech? I don't like any of them: 1-800-EAT-s***, etc. I think it's stupid and should not be allowed. Now if she wanted a "Don't blame me. I voted for Kerry" sticker - fine.

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This might get this sent to the Filibuster, but...

 

If someone had a bumpersticker that said "Barack is full of ****" or "Hiliary is a ****head", would the cop have pulled them over? If the cop let one car go by with the 1-800-EAT-**** sticker, he should let everything go.

 

EDIT: Oops, it's Dekalb, Georgia, not Illinois. I'm guessing there wouldn't be a lot of call for anti-Obama bumperstickers in the ATL.

Edited by Mplssoxfan
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QUOTE(Mplssoxfan @ Mar 30, 2006 -> 09:30 AM)
This might get this sent to the Filibuster, but...

 

If someone had a bumpersticker that said "Barack is full of ****" or "Hiliary is a ****head", would the cop have pulled them over?  If the cop let one car go by with the 1-800-EAT-**** sticker, he should let everything go.

 

EDIT: Oops, it's Dekalb, Georgia, not Illinois.  I'm guessing there wouldn't be a lot of call for anti-Obama bumperstickers in the ATL.

I would hope he would. I have a problem with the language not the "political" message - though it does show her educational level somewhat.

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Surprise of the day -- I agree with those who say there is a problem with the profanity aspect of the bumper sticker in question, if not the message. Even before I had kids, I always cringed at profanity written/said in public places.

 

Man, I hope my kids don't find this board while surfing around! :o :D

 

And we'll never know if the cop would have pulled her over for a non expliive-laden equivalent of the same sentiment – "I voted for Gore/Kerry," "Bushwhacked Again," etc.

 

My favorite borderline obscene anti-Bush bumper stickers were the "Lick Bush in (insert year here)". They were veiled enough that kids didn't see any obscenity I think.

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QUOTE(Controlled Chaos @ Mar 30, 2006 -> 10:11 AM)
Yeah to me the whole title of the article is wrong.  She wasn't ticketed because of an anti-Bush sticker she was ticketed cause it said _ _s***.

 

I just heard a conversation this morning about how we are becoming de-sensitized to certain "bad" words. There are a number of words that you hear regularly on the radio or TV that they would never dream of using 20 years ago...

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QUOTE(Iwritecode @ Mar 30, 2006 -> 10:21 AM)
I just heard a conversation this morning about how we are becoming de-sensitized to certain "bad" words. There are a number of words that you hear regularly on the radio or TV that they would never dream of using 20 years ago...

 

I quit letting my daughter watch the Simpsons when she started running around the house screaming, "Damn! Damn! Damn!" like Homer. It was funny, but not good at all.

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On a somewhat different tangent, is writing someone a ticket for a lewd bumpersticker productive use of a cop's time? In the last two weeks, there's been a murder two blocks from my house and a friend of mine was robbed/mugged two blocks from where I work, both of which are unusual for my neighborhood, granted. If I heard of a police officer pulling over someone for a bumpersticker, I'd be livid.

 

I assume that there are actual crimes being committed in DeKalb County GA. Maybe not.

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QUOTE(WCSox @ Mar 30, 2006 -> 11:05 AM)
Not all of us live by Howard Stern's standards of decency.

 

 

 

This is waaaaaaaaaaaay below Stern standards. At the very least the slang for penis or vagina would have to be in there to even come close. ;)

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QUOTE(Mplssoxfan @ Mar 30, 2006 -> 12:33 PM)
On a somewhat different tangent, is writing someone a ticket for a lewd bumpersticker productive use of a cop's time?  In the last two weeks, there's been a murder two blocks from my house and a friend of mine was robbed/mugged two blocks from where I work, both of which are unusual for my neighborhood, granted.  If I heard of a police officer pulling over someone for a bumpersticker, I'd be livid.

 

I assume that there are actual crimes being committed in DeKalb County GA.  Maybe not.

For real. Glad to see taxpayer money put to good use.

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QUOTE(MEANS @ Mar 30, 2006 -> 12:22 PM)
oooooh a bad word, big deal. why one word is deem "bad" over another never made sense to me.

 

I'm always amazed. My kids know pretty much all the words and what they mean. They also know that they aren't allowed to use them. ;)

 

They're going to see/hear them their whole lives no matter how much you try to shelter them. It's just a matter of teaching them that they are only for adults.

Edited by Iwritecode
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