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.
If Kerry had won, he would STILL be asking Stolzfus to take the photos of Bush down . . .
. . . you just have to understand how their twisted brains work . . . free speech means you're free to agree with what I say.
You're right; anybody who supports free speech EVEN if they disagree with it, should be supported as well.
what part of "His central market stand" don't you get? Don't like his pic and political beliefs, buy somewherre else...good grief.
I think I'm getting President Bush decals made to fit on the sides of my Jeep just to piss liberals off...oh, wait, I can't do that, can I? B/C I'd be driving on public property...
Note DU'ers dissing the troops who choose loyalty over desertion: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x90501
Ridiculous. If portraits of the President aren't welcome in public places then a whole lot of Post Offices are going to have to take a whole lot of pictures down. Not to mention military installations, IRS and FBI offices, etc, etc...if Polite feels so strongly about the issue he is welcome to reach into his wallet and send me ALL the pictures of presidents he can find. Moron.
Removing all pictures? That's what he says - ANYTHING in a public place. What about the public airwaves - will they have to fuzz-out Bush's face when he gives a televised speech?
And I'll miss laughing at all of the poor sad souls when I can't read their anti-Bush bumperstickers anymore (Lick Bush in '04, Bush - 4 more wars, etc.).
Looks like a textbook case of a liberal pest with PEST.
rest easy.. at least the polite wont be getting his phone number posted here. so all is well and we are on our way to freedom!
You hit the nail on the head.
George and Laura Bush, hi-res
Raw link: http://www.usofficepristina.rpo.at/images6/ph2b.jpg
Except that Polite's blatantly false statement is predicated on the stand owner's previous statement that IF Kerry had won, he'd have photos of President Kerry hanging up at his stand. If that one is true then Polite's is false.
He was 'OFFENDED' at a photo of the president???
This guy needs some of that therapy from Florida, good God!?!
Does the city of Lancaster have a recall clause in their articles of incorporation? If so, they should exercise it at once.
>He obviously missed the clear separation of state and >state.
LMAO!!!
Hmmmm? Bush didn't win in those counties ..?? Well then .. I suppose none of the BLUE STATES should be required to show the picture of the President either .. right ..??
WOW! Such logic excapes me. The President is the President, regardless of whether or not most of the stupid people of my state didn't vote for him. However, I believe President Bush's picture is the one shown in every government office across America.
Just damn!
C.S. Lewis said that writing Screwtape gave him "spiritual cramp". Now I know what he feels like . . . .
>Just for fun to see how the Rat's react, add a picture of >Christ right next to George's.
Oh I'd have to do that just to watch!! LMAO!!
Everyone who does business with Polite should refuse to accept presidential pictures from his wallet!
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