Brian Heyer of Greenville Wisconsin writes:

This Youtube shows the interaction by Green Bay* police officers kicking two Ron Paul sign holders off a pedestrian sidewalk along a city street that overpasses a freeway and threatening that ambiguous catch-all of police-thuggery “Disorderly Conduct” and $250 fine.

* There is some controversy over just which police dept. these guys are from.

Keep in mind the sign they are holding is made with rip-proof Tyvek, and securely fastened to 2×2 lumber. It is entirely safe. It’s also interesting to note that the state of Wisconsin extorts 12% of the profits from billboards, and the state doesn’t seem to mind those ‘distractions.’ Note also the personal legal advice the police officer generously and expertly provides on reducing the sign holders’ potential tort liabilities.

Earlier this week the Wisconsin DOT visited the heroic sign holders to express Hope for America. No, just kidding. They handed the intrepid liberty-loving volunteers a copy of the regs and told them they couldn’t ‘erect’ a sign near the highway. Of course the DOT is absolutely right. Except for the fact that “erect” means “construct” and no one was constructing a sign over the highway. They are holding their personal property on a designated pedestrian right-of-way and expressing their political preference.

Furthering the conspiracy to violate civil rights and chill political speech, the WI-DOT came back the next day and made it obvious they were videotaping the two sign holders. (Looks like there’s room to cut in the DOT’s labor and video camera budget.) A month prior Green Bay police also hustled them off the pedestrian walkway, which was the start of this pattern of abuse. I can’t wait to see what else is on that DOT videotape.

Given that this current fact set of a peaceful sign holder being harassed by police directly parallels another local case a few years ago (Winnebago County Case Number 2004TR008265) in which ‘law’ enforcement got a refresher lesson on citizens’ rights, you would think they would learn the leave peaceable people alone start looking into local unsolved murders. On the other hand, perhaps all that revenue in writing tickets and collecting fines just to see what sticks makes the occasional civil rights violation lawsuit bearable for state and local taxpayers.

Good luck to the peaceful sign-holders in Wisconsin.