Man Arrested Outside Calif. DMV for Reading His Bible Out Loud

pcgeek11

Lifer
Jun 12, 2005
21,724
4,746
136
The war on religion continues. I saw this on the news tonight and I just don't get it. He was on public land, the DMV was closed.

This is just BS IMO.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/man-arrested-outside-calif-dmv-for-reading-his-bible-out-loud/

“The charge of ‘impeding an open business’ was enacted in large part to protect businesses against protestors who block the doors of an open business,” the release says. “At the time of the arrest of these men, the DMV was closed, and they were standing at least fifty feet away from the entrance.”

How is this against the law and they allow the OWS ass hats to run loose tearing up cities and public property.
 

Theb

Diamond Member
Feb 28, 2006
3,533
9
76
Good. Very good. The DMV is already a grating experience and anyone who goes out of their way to make it worse should be brutally arrested.
 

RocksteadyDotNet

Diamond Member
Jul 29, 2008
3,152
1
0
If you're going to read a fictional book out loud, you might as well read an interesting one that people might enjoy.
 

CrackRabbit

Lifer
Mar 30, 2001
16,642
62
91
Sounds like they were trying to start a confrontation or get arrested to bring up a lawsuit. :rolleyes:
 

pcgeek11

Lifer
Jun 12, 2005
21,724
4,746
136
Sounds like they were trying to start a confrontation or get arrested to bring up a lawsuit. :rolleyes:

Why do you say that? Is it against the law to read out loud in public? I don't think it is. He was 50 feet from a closed business ( DMV ). He wasn't harming anyone or infringing on anyone's rights.
 

DominionSeraph

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2009
8,386
32
91
How is this against the law and they allow the OWS ass hats to run loose tearing up cities and public property.

Why don't you do your own fucking work and LEARN THIS SHIT ON YOUR OWN?
You call yourself a "geek" yet you continually show absofuckinglutely no interest in understanding the mechanics of ANYTHING.

Jesus Fucking Christ. Grow the fuck up.


No insults or personal attacks.

Administrator Idontcare
 
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BoomerD

No Lifer
Feb 26, 2006
64,517
12,878
136
While the DMV was closed, it's not like it was after hours and no one was there. Many of the DMV offices develop quite a line in the morning before they open. (I've seen a couple of hundred people waiting in line here, and we're a relatively small city.

I don't personally give a shit if the religious ass-hats want to preach, just don't do it to a "captive audience." (yes, the people had the option to leave and give up their place in line, but they were there to do business with the DMV...they SHOULDN'T have to make the choice whether to listen to the preaching...or leave.

We have a religious ass-hat here who insists on going into public places and bellowing out his beliefs...The city has tried a few things to control his behavior...

http://www.modbee.com/2012/03/24/2127086/jardine-new-color-same-limits.html

The paint had barely dried on Modesto's free speech zone before it got a new coat. Thursday morning, a yellow box with the words "Designated Free Speech Area" stenciled on all four sides marked the sidewalk. By Thursday night, it was solid green.

In my Thursday column, I wrote about how the city recently created a free speech area on a sidewalk at the transportation center downtown. The city did this because Kevin Borden, whose ultraloud fire-and-brimstone preaching annoyed visitors at Brenden Theatres in Tenth Street Place a couple of years ago, found a new altar next to the ticket booth at the bus depot.

According to the city, he bellowed so loudly over the street noise and idling buses that folks trying to buy bus tokens or get information couldn't converse effectively with the attendant inside the booth. So, the city established the zone on the county transit side of the station, distancing Borden from the crowds that use the city buses.

Keep in mind that in 2009, Borden sued the city in federal court for abridging his free speech rights and won. He got a $1 settlement and the city had to pay his lawyers $35,000.

Borden began orating at the transportation center last year.

"This was, in effect, to protect Mr. Borden's right to free speech," Modesto City Attorney Susana Alcala Wood said.

They did this, of course, by restricting where he can speak, which she said the city has the constitutional authority to do. Wood said the city also maintains a free speech zone during the farmers markets on 16th Street that run twice each week from April into December.

The zone at the transportation center also addresses safety issues, she said. After all, the station can be a busy place, with people and buses coming and going every which way.

"We had to provide him an area," she said. "He couldn't be run off of the transportation facility. Still, conducting the business of the transportation center is paramount."

Indeed, the city decided to protect perhaps the only person at the station who stood in one place and wasn't trying to go somewhere.

Clearly, the thought of dictating where in public someone can voice an opinion doesn't sit well with Councilman Dave Geer, whose district includes the bus depot.

Nor does the perception that city officials created a restricted area as payback to control a guy who beat them in court.

"I can't stop any perceptions," Wood said. "This is something that would apply to anyone. It is perfect? No. We aim for the best we can."

So who uses the free speech area at the bus depot?

One person, I'm told, steps inside this imaginary room to change clothes. Superman at least used a phone booth with a door, walls and everything.

Another uses it as a dance floor when the mood strikes.

Yes, the freedom to flit is alive and well at the downtown depot.

Free speech? At the bus station in Modesto, they insist you make your speeches in a painted box on the sidewalk. It used to be yellow. Now it's green.

No matter how you color it, it's wrong.

Fkm1y.St.11.jpg


d1FlM.St.11.jpg


I disagree with the columnist. The city has the responsibility to protect the citizenry from obnoxious ass-hats who insist on preaching their bullshit at the top of their lungs and essentially, forcing others to listen. If you're waiting for a public bus, should you have to make the choice to (a) endure the loud-mouth preaching so you can catch your bus to get where ever you're going on time, or (b) leave and try again later, hoping he's gotten tired and left?

Myself, if the guy wants to spew his garbage at the top of his voice, they SHOULD have set him up with a "Free Speech Zone" at the local garbage dump...let him scream at the seagulls.
 

monovillage

Diamond Member
Jul 3, 2008
8,444
1
0
Good idea, this spring we can pile all those obnoxious #occupy protesters in that tiny square and ignore them.
 

pcgeek11

Lifer
Jun 12, 2005
21,724
4,746
136
Why don't you do your own fucking work and LEARN THIS SHIT ON YOUR OWN?
You call yourself a "geek" yet you continually show absofuckinglutely no interest in understanding the mechanics of ANYTHING.

Jesus Fucking Christ. Grow the fuck up.

Sit on a root. Or play with your imaginary ponies.


No insults or personal attacks.

Administrator Idontcare
 
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dmcowen674

No Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
54,889
47
91
www.alienbabeltech.com
Man Arrested Outside Calif. DMV for Reading His Bible Out Loud

The war on religion continues. I saw this on the news tonight and I just don't get it. He was on public land, the DMV was closed.

This is just BS IMO.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/man-arrested-outside-calif-dmv-for-reading-his-bible-out-loud/

“The charge of ‘impeding an open business’ was enacted in large part to protect businesses against protestors who block the doors of an open business,” the release says. “At the time of the arrest of these men, the DMV was closed, and they were standing at least fifty feet away from the entrance.”

How is this against the law and they allow the OWS ass hats to run loose tearing up cities and public property.

I'll tell you what.

How bout you and all churches give up the tax exempt status.

Apparently you don't need it anyway since not using the church and have to use the sidewalk in front of the DMV.
 

pcgeek11

Lifer
Jun 12, 2005
21,724
4,746
136
I'll tell you what.

How bout you and all churches give up the tax exempt status.

Apparently you don't need it anyway since not using the church and have to use the sidewalk in front of the DMV.

I don't have a tax exempt status.

I also don't attend church or belong to one.

I do feel that everyone should have the freedom to speak.
 

umbrella39

Lifer
Jun 11, 2004
13,816
1,126
126
The war on stupidity continues.

FTFY and thanks for the year old 'story' and if he was an Arab reading a Quran they'd have hauled his ass off, too, however I think this thread would have some far, far different replies from the usual suspects...

Fuck anyone pulling that on a captive audience. In line outside the DMV before they open is not your chance to preach ANY agenda of yours to people who can't leave. Correct move and get off the cross OP :rolleyes:

The fact that you would side with this guy and act buttsore about it speaks volumes.

EDIT: OWS? Missed that the first time. Wow, volumes indeed... Fuck OWS, too, OK, better now? They have nothing to do with this.
 
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zsdersw

Lifer
Oct 29, 2003
10,505
2
0
The war on religion continues. I saw this on the news tonight and I just don't get it. He was on public land, the DMV was closed.

This is just BS IMO.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/man-arrested-outside-calif-dmv-for-reading-his-bible-out-loud/

“The charge of ‘impeding an open business’ was enacted in large part to protect businesses against protestors who block the doors of an open business,” the release says. “At the time of the arrest of these men, the DMV was closed, and they were standing at least fifty feet away from the entrance.”

How is this against the law and they allow the OWS ass hats to run loose tearing up cities and public property.

He shouldn't have been arrested because reading the bible aloud is no crime, but to claim this is an example of some sort of "war on religion" is absurd. It's a stupid and wrong decision by law enforcement... nothing more, nothing less.
 

umbrella39

Lifer
Jun 11, 2004
13,816
1,126
126
It doesn't matter what he was reading.

Oh boy... I get to play the martyr now!!!!


The fact that Fox is running the year old story and titling it:

"Taking Liberties: Arrested for reading the Bible?" should tell you a lot about this piece. He could have been reading Green Eggs and Ham and the result would have been the same though they might have hauled him off to a psych ward instead. All it takes is one person to complain I'm Catholic and I go to church if I want to hear scripture, God help you if you come annoy me while I'm stuck in line outside the DMV waiting for it to open.

I wonder if Fox news would be digging up a year old story if this has been a brown skinned Muslim getting arrested for reading the Quran?

edit: arresting is harsh and not sure that's the best punishment but what do you do, drive 3 towns away and drop him off on the side of the road...
 
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IBMer

Golden Member
Jul 7, 2000
1,137
0
76
Captive Audience doctrine to free speech has been around FOREVER and is always upheld by the higher courts.
 

PokerGuy

Lifer
Jul 2, 2005
13,650
201
101
Hopefully he sues the city (again) and wins (again). They previously pulled that stuff with him, he sued and won.

Look, the guy is a nut, but he is no less entitled to talk/preach in a public place than anyone else. Freedom of speech is not limited to only certain kind of speech or popular speech.
 

Mursilis

Diamond Member
Mar 11, 2001
7,756
11
81
Captive Audience doctrine to free speech has been around FOREVER and is always upheld by the higher courts.

But it's also a pretty narrow doctrine, and it's not certain it would be applied in these facts.
 

Orignal Earl

Diamond Member
Oct 27, 2005
8,059
55
86
I don't have a tax exempt status.

I also don't attend church or belong to one.

I do feel that everyone should have the freedom to speak.

This is your chance to make a stand
You probably live in a nice neighborhood
Offer to let him use a little piece of your front lawn
 

Ninjahedge

Diamond Member
Mar 2, 2005
4,149
1
91
Why don't you do your own fucking work and LEARN THIS SHIT ON YOUR OWN?
You call yourself a "geek" yet you continually show absofuckinglutely no interest in understanding the mechanics of ANYTHING.

Jesus Fucking Christ. Grow the fuck up.

I sense....anger.
 

Ninjahedge

Diamond Member
Mar 2, 2005
4,149
1
91
It doesn't matter what he was reading.


"Taking Liberties: Arrested for reading the Bible?" should tell you a lot about this piece. He could have been reading Green Eggs and Ham and the result would have been the same though they might have hauled him off to a psych ward instead.

He could have been reading the DMV Manual instead.....


Then they would have just killed him.