THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 14, 1995 TAG: 9504140452
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
House Republicans who signed the ``Contract With America'' led a list of people spotlighted Thursday for their efforts to limit free speech.
The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression gave the Republicans the ``Jefferson Muzzle'' for proposing a ban on using savings from welfare reform for abortion counseling or services.
``The center's concern is with the contract's potential infringement of the free speech rights of trained health care professionals, and the right of women and men to receive information to which they have a constitutional right,'' the center said.
The privately funded center uses the anniversary of Jefferson's birthday to hand out the annual awards. Other winners this year were the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for investigating community groups and a federal judge for convicting a lawyer who gave media interviews about mobster John Gotti.
Robert M. O'Neil, the center's director, said 1994 produced ``a bumper crop of nominees.''
``For every one that appears,'' O'Neil said, ``we probably could have included four or five others that make the point equally well.''
The award winners were selected by a board of trustees that includes U.S. Sen. Nancy Landon Kassebaum, R-Kan., and syndicated columnist James J. Kilpatrick.
This year's Muzzles also went to:
HUD, for conducting investigations - including the seizure of membership lists - of certain community organizations that opposed planned public housing projects.
U.S. District Judge Thomas C. Platt of New York, for convicting Gotti defense attorney Bruce Cutler of giving unauthorized media interviews during his client's trial. Platt sentenced Cutler to three months of house arrest and 600 hours of community service, ordered him to pay a $5,000 fine and suspended him from practicing law in federal court for six months.
Assistant School Superintendent Virgil Mills of Bradenton, Fla., for canceling a planned high school class visit to see ``Schindler's List'' because he received a complaint about a sex scene in the film.
The Town Council of Raritan, N.J., for outlawing ``rude or indecent behavior'' on town streets and the use of ``insulting remarks or comments to others.'' The penalty for violation of the town ordinance carried a maximum fine of $500 or up to 90 days in jail.
Continental Companies and Victor Farkas, owners of two south Florida hotel chains, for blocking the reception of newscasts from Miami's Fox television station because of its coverage of local crimes. by CNB