http://latimes.com/news/local/la-000007507jan30.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dcalifornia
[Kudos to these two women]
Flag Policy Voided
Freeways: Caltrans must either allow all signs or remove everything posted, judge
rules.
By HUGO MARTIN, TIMES STAFF WRITER
A federal judge in San Jose ordered Caltrans on Tuesday to adopt a
consistent policy for removing signs and banners from freeway
property, even if it means taking down the hundreds of American flags
hung in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The preliminary injunction stems from a lawsuit filed by two
Scotts
Valley women who charge that the state Department of
Transportation
has a policy of removing banners with politically unpopular
messages
while allowing flags to fly on overpasses and bridges.
"Government cannot pick and choose among the viewpoints that can
be expressed," said Nathan Benjamin, an attorney for Cassandra
Brown and Amy Courtney. In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Ronald
M. Whyte said Caltrans cannot allow the public to hang flags
alongside freeways while barring all other displays on bridges and
overpasses.
In response, Caltrans must either remove all banners, flags and
signs
from freeway property or draft a policy that permits all such
displays,
without regard to the content.
Caltrans spokesman Dennis Trujillo said Caltrans will abide by the
ruling and remove all banners and flags. He said it is still
undecided
whether the state will continue to fight the lawsuit or simply
adopt new
rules.
A court date for the suit has not been set.
The case began in November when Brown and Courtney hung a banner
on a freeway overpass in
the Northern California community of Scotts Valley. The freeway
overpass was already adorned
with a large American flag and a banner that read "SCNY" (Santa
Cruz Loves New York) when
the women decided to add their 7-by-5-foot banner, which read:
"At What Cost?"
