Posted on 12/07/2004 10:07:49 AM PST by Phantom Lord
Flap erupts over photos of Bush at market stand
Democrat City Councilman Nelson Polite says the photos are inappropriate in a public place.
Others rally behind standholder.
LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - David Stoltzfus says there’s only one reason he would take down the photos of President George W. Bush that he has displayed at his Central Market baked-goods stand.
Bush would have had to have lost the recent election. Instead, he beat Democratic challenger John Kerry to win a second term.
“If it were Kerry that won, he’d be up there,’’ says Stoltzfus, who operates the Upper Crust stand.
Doesn’t matter, says City Councilman Nelson Polite. “It should come down. This is a public market.”
Besides, says the Democrat, “Bush didn’t win here (in Lancaster City). It is like rubbing salt on a wound.”
Polite approached Stoltzfus on Nov. 12 and ask him to remove the pictures. The standholder has refused to do so, prompting Polite to say he will ask City Council to change the law so that all political items would be banned in public places.
Today, Stoltzfus pointed proudly to a photo of a smiling Bush, framed in green, that hangs above his stand.
The photo, attached to the stand portico with four brass screws, has hung there for nearly two years, since Stoltzfus and his wife, Nina, opened the market stand in March 2003.
They sell cakes, cookies and other baked items.
They also have a signed 8-by-10-inch photo of the president and first lady Laura Bush sitting on a shelf below, “right next to the pictures of my grandkids,’’ says Stoltzfus.
“I’m just trying to sell a few cakes and give honor to the president,’’ he says.
But Polite, a Democrat, says the photos should go.
When he approached Stoltzfus three weeks ago, he said the photo offended him and city Democrats.
Polite says he had received complaints from constituents who thought the photos were inappropriate, especially after the presidential election.
The market is public property and displaying political paraphernalia, no matter what the intent, says Polite, is inappropriate and divisive.
Stoltzfus is a Republican, but that hardly matters, he says. He displays the photo to honor the office, not the man.
Polite says political items do not belong in Central Market and if Stoltzfus refuses to take down the photos, he’ll take the matter before City Council to get the city law changed to ban all political items in public places.
“There should be rules,’’ says Polite.
Even if Kerry had won, he’d be asking Stoltzfus to take the photos down, says Polite.
A string of supporters, including Republican Mayor Charlie Smithgall and former Republican Mayor Art Morris, have made their way to the Upper Crust to offer their support to Stoltzfus.
“We have no regulations against it,” says Smithgall. “He is the president of the United States. If he wants to put a picture of (Democratic) Gov. Rendell up, that’s fine by me.”
Smithgall said Stoltzfus asked for a picture of him to hang up.
“I said, ‘Yeah, right.’”
Some of Stoltzfus’ fellow standholders are considering putting up photos of Bush in solidarity with Stoltzfus.
Kim Moyer, at the Lancaster Juice Company, says Polite was “out of line.”
“(Stoltzfus) has every right to put the pictures up. We pays rent here. Anyway, we’re in America.”
Market Master Ernie Thomas said there are no rules about hanging political items at market stands.
Even if there was, says Thomas, “That is our president, whether it is a Democrat or a Republican.”
Jim Zink, the owner of the Herb Shop stand, says he is a Democrat. But he’ll hang a photo of Bush to support Stoltzfus’ right to hang his.
“He has every right to hang it,’’ Zink says of Stoltzfus. He says it doesn’t offend him as a Democrat to see Bush.
Polite says political items do not belong in Central Market and if Stoltzfus refuses to take down the photos, he’ll take the matter before City Council to get the city law changed to ban all political items in public places.
“There should be rules,’’ says Polite.
And when re-election time comes I am sure Polite will not put up any campaign material or signs in public places. After all, "there should be rules."
Of course, as politicians have done since the beginning of time, he will have the law written to exempt politicans campaign material.
GET OVER IT AND GET A LIFE - BUSH WON!
"City Councilman Nelson Polite"
Unfortunate last name for such a jerk.
Obviously Polite is another strong supporter of 1st amendment rights. We ought to FReep his a$$.
Should someone remind Mr. Polite (there's irony for you) that President Bush IS his President, whether he carried the county or not? Where are civics classes when we need them? I don't recall "a right to not be offended" in the Constitution anywhere.
He obviously missed the clear separation of state and state.
“There should be rules,’’ says Polite.
There should be rules against being such an ass in public. The poor guy is offended? Maybe he will grow up some day.
LIAR
Yes, Bush won - and America has said NO to same-sex marriage.
This sounds like a Freedom of Speech issue. This country needs an organization with lawyers that will help people protect their constitutional rights. You know, like the ACLU pretends to be, but without the leftist agenda.
I usually make the trip out to Lancaster every couple of months ...love the area......and this gentleman will be getting all my business from now on..
There's no polite way to say this...this guy is an a$$hole, plain and simple. I'd give the stupid S.O.B. something to be offended about were I Mr. Stoltzfus!
The brain reels. The primary reason for the first amendment is to protect POLITICAL speech. If there is anything to belongs in the public square it's a political statement.
And the democrats call us the fascists!?! This is nothink but pure stifling of political speech. Disgusting and good example of how democrats love all free speech except when it comes from an opponent. I'm sure Hitler and Stalin felt the same way.
God forbid portraits of the leader of all public institutions be displayed on public property.
Got to call BS on this one ... Polite sounds like quite a clymer
The photos are not 'political', they are 'civil'.
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