Former City Worker Sues City of Tampa for Firing Him Over Confederate License Plate

AP ^ | 03/12/2003

[Phlap]

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - A former city worker who was fired for refusing to remove a Confederate flag license plate from his truck is suing the city of Tampa.

In a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday, Larry A. Carpenter, 47, said his First Amendment right to free speech was violated when he was fired over the dispute.

Carpenter was ordered in January 2002 to remove the license plate or park his truck off city property. He refused to do either, was cited for insubordination and was fired from his job as a traffic maintenance specialist in the Public Works Department.

Carpenter's attorney, J. Benton Stewart II, said his client, a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, is proud of his heritage and merely wants the city to develop a written policy that is uniformly applied.

Stewart said other city workers who drive vehicles with bumper stickers bearing political slogans and offensive statements are allowed to park on city property.

Messages left with City Attorney Jim Palermo were not immediately returned. Carpenter declined to comment on the lawsuit Wednesday.

[RogueIsland]

I see it as a property issue and if your employer or his customers are offended by sights seen on company property it could cost business.

So if the City of Tampa has a resident who is offended by a particular race, the City should be able to ban people of that race from City property so the City won't lose business? Okay. I get it.

[JebBush2008]

So Public Employees have more Rights than Private Sector Employees?

[JebBush2008]

Admit it, one group and one group alone is the only acceptable whipping boy in this PC age: Southerners proud of their Confederate heritage.

And if I have one employee with Pro War Propaganda in his office and another employee with Anti-War Propaganda in his office I should have the right to fire both?

[Sloth]

Applying the Golden Rule, I would hope that if I was stupid enough to be deeply offended by a Confederate flag sticker on some moron's truck, that my concerns would be at least studiously ignored, or better yet ridiculed. Thus, I will do unto others as I would have them do unto me.

[sport]

Two different things:

He owns his truck.

She did not own the computer.

She was paid by the company to do a job; not send anti war memos.

Now if she was at her home and on her own computer....

I believe that this is over your head,but, when a company or organization pays someone to do a job-- they expect that someone to do what they are paid to do.
She s not being paid to send anti-war messages.

[JebBush2008]

He owns his truck.

Yes, but the Truck is parked on the employers property.

And if I got fired for sending my liberal sister a list of reasons why we SHOULD go to War with Iraq and did so on a company computer you would support my liberal boss for firing me?

[Sloth]

While I am sure some of them are morons, others are probably either uneducated or simply unable to walk a mile in another guy's shoes.

Some are, and some are none of the above.

But if I am unable to dismiss a sticker I disagree with & go on about my business, then I am arguably more evil than the person who displayed it.

[hoosierskypilot]

whether the feelings they experience on seeing the Confederate flag

First of all, the south fought on the basis of states rights. Even modern southerners still contend that to be the case. The flag may represent something that, historically, is not the case.

But, even so. What about black symbols that have come to be construed as racist? I resent the holiday honoring Martin Luther King because, at the present time, I see whites discriminated against. How would they feel if we originated a "Miss White America?" "White Entertainer of the Year Awards?" "American White Man College Fund?"

So now that they have so many racist events, slogans, and funds (BTW, affirmative action is racism that needs to be abolished), I perceive Martin Luther King Day as racist.

Let the whiners whine as long as they want about the confederate flag, but until they start playing fair, I don't care.

And I'll tell you something else. With the massive influx of immigrants into America, we're going to see black racists (note: not all blacks are racists; I refer only to "black racists") exposed for what they really are. The only way black racism has been able to steal so much govt. money, etc., is because of the guilt trip blacks have been able to lay on whites.

But whites are becoming a minority, and Hispanics really could care less about whining blacks. Because Hispanics don't have to reach back 200 years to find oppression. They are fleeing from it in the here and now.

Blacks have a lot more to worry about than a relic of a flag. They're about to lose the ground they've gained over the past 40 years.

[eyespysomething]

So if the American flag license tag on the front of my van upsets someone, I should have to take it off, because I am parked in my employers parking lot?

[reelfoot]

So, Tampa would (perhaps already has) dismissed Hispanics, Blacks, Asians, etc. who display ethnic-pride insignia? You deny a double standard? What world are you living in?

[sport]

Absolutely.

He is paying to to a job.

Send your sister information on your own time.

[Sloth]

Okay, let's pick a symbol more objectively offensive than the 'Stars & Bars' -- somebody mentioned the Swastika earlier.

Now, I would agree with you that displaying something like a Swastika is needlessly offensive to people, and that while I have a right to do it, I should refrain from exercising that right.

However, if I see that some other person has displayed a Swastika on his privately owned vehicle, then I have every right to feel bad about it and/or tell him that he's an evil person, etc., but I think the more mature response is to, again, refrain from exercising that right & instead go on with my life and let him do whatever floats his boat. His car will get keyed by somebody else, anyhow.

There is a third option -- one evidently employed in this situation with the Rebel license plate. It is the fascist option -- "I don't like how someone else lives his life so I will put a stop to it." They use governmental force to back up their personal preferences. At least the person with a Swastika is presenting their view in a passive, take-it-or-leave it approach. The person who seeks to ban that display is ironically more Nazi-like than the Swastika enthusiast.