Local music store refused to remove sign carrying Santa and owner is charged.City may see merchant jailed and fined.Merchant will refuse to pay fines,elects imprisonment instead to protect free speech
February 14, 2007 (Press Release) --
SANTA MAY CAUSE MERCHANT TO BE IMPRISONED.
DETAILS:
The week of December 19th, 2006, Marras Music LLC., my small music store in Livonia, Mi., a surburb of Detroit, decided to hire a young man to dress as Santa Clause, and walk the public street with a sale sign. As countless other businesses, churches, schools, and pizza parlor use their 1st amendment right to display signs held by employees, I decided to join in and see if I could boost traffic into my store.
The city inspector came by and ordered my Santa off the street. I stopped him and refused to stop the public display of Santa while I explained why, that I was asserting my right to free speech. The outcome is that I was ticketed, appeared in district court Feb. 2nd, 2007 for arraignment, and then pleading not guilty being ordered to pretrial March 13th, 2007. I was notified I could go to jail for 90 days for this is a misdemeanor.
As a Vietnam Era vet and a proponent of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights, I have to reject this use of sign ordinances to quell my rights. As a small merchant in a city that the New York Times wrote about in December 2006, as a derailed city on a downward spiral, I had hoped that the City of Livonia would appreciate all reasonable efforts to bring more commerce into the city, especially as in my case I would hire one of the thousands of workers furloughed by the auto industry, if I could just make a modest increase in business.
As it now stands, as I feel I can’t let an unreasonable sign ordinance trump my free speech rights,
I am releasing this story to solicit help from the media in the form of news reports on this case, and possibly in any other way a reader could offer. A Yahoo group, “LivoniaMerchantsForum” has been created as a center for this activity. The Detroit News is scheduled to publish a large story with color photos on Friday, Feb. 16th in their Wayne Zone Metro edition. The reporter is Christine Ferretti. Please publish my story, I am not selling anything, I’m just trying to keep my rights.
For further info including court summons. Etc. call Joseph Marras Sr, at 248 888 8500, or email
marraspiano@yahoo.com
thank you for your time
Joseph Marras Sr
DETAILS:
The week of December 19th, 2006, Marras Music LLC., my small music store in Livonia, Mi., a surburb of Detroit, decided to hire a young man to dress as Santa Clause, and walk the public street with a sale sign. As countless other businesses, churches, schools, and pizza parlor use their 1st amendment right to display signs held by employees, I decided to join in and see if I could boost traffic into my store.
The city inspector came by and ordered my Santa off the street. I stopped him and refused to stop the public display of Santa while I explained why, that I was asserting my right to free speech. The outcome is that I was ticketed, appeared in district court Feb. 2nd, 2007 for arraignment, and then pleading not guilty being ordered to pretrial March 13th, 2007. I was notified I could go to jail for 90 days for this is a misdemeanor.
As a Vietnam Era vet and a proponent of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights, I have to reject this use of sign ordinances to quell my rights. As a small merchant in a city that the New York Times wrote about in December 2006, as a derailed city on a downward spiral, I had hoped that the City of Livonia would appreciate all reasonable efforts to bring more commerce into the city, especially as in my case I would hire one of the thousands of workers furloughed by the auto industry, if I could just make a modest increase in business.
As it now stands, as I feel I can’t let an unreasonable sign ordinance trump my free speech rights,
I am releasing this story to solicit help from the media in the form of news reports on this case, and possibly in any other way a reader could offer. A Yahoo group, “LivoniaMerchantsForum” has been created as a center for this activity. The Detroit News is scheduled to publish a large story with color photos on Friday, Feb. 16th in their Wayne Zone Metro edition. The reporter is Christine Ferretti. Please publish my story, I am not selling anything, I’m just trying to keep my rights.
For further info including court summons. Etc. call Joseph Marras Sr, at 248 888 8500, or email
marraspiano@yahoo.com
thank you for your time
Joseph Marras Sr
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