ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, June 2, 1996 TAG: 9606030090
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL STAFF WRITER
Libertarian congressional candidate Jay P. Rutledge III may campaign at Roanoke's Festival in the Park, an appellate court judge ruled Saturday, as long as he doesn't distribute political literature on festival grounds.
Judge H. Emory Widener Jr. of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Abingdon that Roanoke Festival in the Park Inc. may bar Rutledge from handing out literature on festival grounds because its "first-come, first-served" rule is similar to one the Supreme Court held to be valid in a case involving the Minnesota state fair. The Roanoke festival's rule says literature may be distributed only from booths, which are rented on a first-come, first-served basis.
U.S. District Judge James C. Turk, who Thursday granted Rutledge a temporary injunction against the festival, had ruled that the candidate's right to distribute literature should not be interfered with should he enter festival grounds. The festival appealed the ruling Friday.
Rutledge had been denied booth space because there was none left by the time he called, Wendi Schultz, executive director of the festival, said Thursday. He then set up a booth across the street, in a space he rented from a commercial parking lot. Last Saturday, Rutledge said, he was asked to leave by a festival organizer as he gathered signatures on a sidewalk outside the park.
The next day, Rutledge was told by a police officer who was working for the festival while off duty that he was not violating any city ordinance by standing on the sidewalk. Shortly after that, however, he said the same officer returned with a festival organizer and told him he had to leave.
Mark Loftis, the festival's attorney, said Widener stayed the only part of the injunction that mattered to the festival.
"Our prohibition is, we don't want anybody - whether it's political or religious or whatever - to pass out literature," he said. Besides not wanting festival-goers to be overwhelmed with handouts, the festival had been concerned about a potential litter problem. "I'm just glad we were able to get it done so quickly."
The festival has held that it is a private entity, and that only the state can be charged with inhibiting free speech.
Rutledge, who is trying to gather 2,000 signatures to get his name on the ballot for the 6th District congressional seat held by Republican Bob Goodlatte of Roanoke, said he will continue to solicit signatures and hand out literature from his booth across the street from the festival through tonight, when his lease on the space expires. But he will not campaign in Elmwood Park.
"It is awkward to be unable to give people something printed to take with them," he said. Plus, he said, he wants to avoid confrontation.
"I don't want to risk it."
LENGTH: Medium: 56 linesby CNB