Macomb Observer

$100,000 WASTED IN WARREN

Government waste of taxpayer dollars hit a new low today in Warren.

At a time when dollars are few, and precious, it's disturbing that Warren Mayor Jim Fouts has cost taxpayers like me and you $100,000 because he wanted to censor a crackpot atheist from setting up a table and chair so he could talk to passersby at city hall --- something the applicant, Douglass Marshall, could have done for free anyway in the name of First Amendment free speech.

The ACLU Fund of Michigan gets $100,000 from Warren taxpayers, federal Magistrate Judge Michael L. Hluchaniuk said in a ruling today, because Mayor Fouts refused to let Mr. Marshall have a permit to set up an area to visit with people about atheism in the city hall atrium.

According to a Feb. 26 report by Norb Franz in the Macomb Daily, Mayor Fouts thought letting the atheist talk to residents from his table and chair would disturb Warren residents. So Mayor Fouts censored Mr. Marshall.

The problem is, the same atheist from the Freedom From Religion Foundation can talk freely to anyone. Before today's ruling, Mr. Marshall just couldn't sit down to do it. Now he can. And Warren is $100,000 poorer for it. Those are an expensive table and chairs.

Mayor Fouts's zeal to illegally silence Mr. Marshall is censorship that has squandered Warren taxpayers's money. The lost lawsuit demanded by Mayor Fouts is an example of an out-of-touch career politician in office for 35 years whose bloated sense of self-importance has hurt everyday people in their wallets.

Mr. Fouts was a fine councilman. But as mayor, he costs us money.

The madness must stop, Mr. Mayor. The city of Warren is not your personal toy.

HAWKE FRACASSA
Candidate for mayor
Warren
[email protected]