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.
Thanks for the ping. You and your husband are my kind of people! Mr Stoltzfus too.
The matter is a very simple First Amendment case. Mr. Stoltzfus is exercising free speech in the face of government, Mr. Polite, attempting to use the power of government to stifle Mr. Stoltzfus.
You could not find a more clear cut case, to be used as an example, when trying to explain the freedom of speech right affirmed by the First Amendment.
You might also not find, an easier example with which to demonstrate, that liberals commonly do not have any understanding of our Constitution.
For them, it is all about case law, the anti-democratic-republican, arbitrary, and capricious acts of their collective of "activist judges," with which they mean to abort original conception and substitute some continuum of "decisions" that echo whatever may be the socialists' pleasures, forcing law to adhere to their rule, instead of their adhering to the rule of law.
If I could have been there with your family, today, I would have liked to leave behind, a Cross of Lorraine, with Mr. Stoltzfus, which symbolizes not only Christianity, yet also resistance to government tyranny.
Back to the top. Lets follow this.
Im dumbfounded that this idiot holds public office. Why??!!
Its high time we put an end to this nonsense once and for all and rebuild from the damage that has been done to our country.
FReepers have more class then you have shown so far. You might want to think carefully about if this is the correct forum for you.
City Council Members/Committee Assignments
MEMBERS COMMITTEE
President, Dr. Stephen G. Diamantoni
Doctoni@aol.com
741 N. Franklin Street
Lancaster, PA 17602
(717) 393-9883 (Home)
(717) 290-3545 (Campus Office)
(717) 290-3546 (Campus Fax) Ex-Officio -- All Committees
Mr. Nelson M. Polite
politesr14@aol.com
540 North Street
Lancaster, PA 17602
(717) 392-4655
(717) 392-3434 (Fax) Personnel - (Chair)
Economic Development & Revitalization
Community Development & Planning
-SNIP-
Never mind that - what about his baked goods.
Great report thanks for the ping.
Thank you for the ping! I'm proud of you guys for so directly and personally showing your (our!) support for this good man. :-)
Another Lancaster resident here.
Please go easy on the rest of City Council; Nelson Polite doesn't speak for them on this issue.
David Stoltzfus is, needless to say, a very popular man right now.
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