SOUTHWEST FESTIVAL PART 2

This story has provoked such a response from readers, and Ray Crider himself through a Republican intermediary, that a second part was necessary. I spoke with Mr. Crider today for his version of events and they went pretty much as I expected.

Ray states that yes he did confront Thieneman and explained to him that he needed to purchase a booth in order to qualify passing out literature and that he was in no way trying to stop Thieneman and his group. He was only interested in them abiding by the rules of the festival.

He cited a couple of examples of others in noncompliance such as Katie King who did not have a booth and when asked to purchase one to be legal she said she would get the money and be right back.

Of course she never came back. Funny you would think she could afford the $150, or I'm sorry, her daddy Metro Council President Jim King could.

Another example of fairness was asking Anne Northup to quit putting stickers on everyone who walked in if they did not ask for them. The reason is that this was offensive to the patrons. I agree. Anne should not force herself on those there for non political reasons.

One example of altering the rules was to allow Norman Pepper to come in early and set up his hay wagon he uses to sit on properties around town. Though technically not allowed Pepper was told to put a skirt around it so the wheels would not show and not to get on top of it like a podium. In effect it was designed to make Pepper's wagon look like a sign which would be acceptable within the rules.

According to Ray, Chris Thieneman had never applied in advance for a booth nor did he offer to purchase one at the time. Ray says there were 10 booths available for rent and he would have gladly taken the money on behalf of the festival.

According to Chris Thieneman, and witnesses, he did offer and Ray refused saying if he did purchase a booth he still would not be allowed to walk around the event he would have to stay within the booth. This in itself would contradict the rules since political candidates and other booth holders were allowed to walk through the crowd.

Here is the WAVE3 story from last night: http://www.wave3.com/global/video/popup/pop_playerLaunch.asp?vt1=v&clipFormat=flv&clipId1=3018461&at1=News&h1=Group .

According to the rules cited to me by Mr. Crider all political candidates must purchase a booth in order to pass out material or literature. Fair enough.

In this situation, however, Chris Thieneman is not a political candidate and since the event was partly financed with our Metro tax dollars, as approved by the Metro Council June 12, 2008 (NDF060508SCFPC - $5,000 TOTAL FROM THE 12TH, 13TH & 14TH DISTRICT NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT FUNDS TO SOUTHWEST COMMUNITY FESTIVAL & PARADE COMMITTEE, INC. FOR PROGRAM EXPENSES), it can and should be labeled a public event on our publicly owned property and therefore Thieneman was within his rights.

The sponsorship lists of the Festival also lists as Gold sponsors Rick Blackwell, Bob "rubberstamp" Henderson, and Doug Hawkins. Our tax money approved, as it is for generally all festivals so no complaints here, was used in part for the festival to happen. Does this make a compelling case for a violation of 1st amendment rights?

In my opinion it does. Thieneman has a valid case to pursue for violation of his rights based on public funds being used that would in essence consider the festival a public financed event and therefore outside of just the festival own rules. Public tax dollar funding on public owned property is a strong signal that yes Thieneman had a right.

While I do not doubt the sincerity of Ray Crider, or Chris Thieneman, I do believe that there is a gray area here that needs addressed and I believe Chris Thieneman has a case. In most cases there are 3 sides to every story: yours, mine, and the truth.

Regardless there are questions to be asked here and answered in relation to rights.

One thing I would however ask is this. Do not go overboard getting accountability at the expense of these festivals across the City. The festivals are a good thing for our areas and a great way to interact with each other.

Let's just make sure we treat all fairly and equally regardless of whether we agree with the messenger or the methods.