OFF THE RECORD: Reader board is a sign of our free spirit
Published 2:00 pm Wednesday, March 6, 2002
If there’s one key ingredient to being an American that becomes more important to me as the years unravel, it’s the First Amendment. To refresh your fifth-period high school civics class that you dozed through, here it is one more time:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” (The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution).
We all need a reminder now and then.
As a journalist for the past 14 years, you can bet I appreciate the First Amendment. Several years ago, a colleague passed along a sentiment from a not-so-pleased reader about my weekly column in The South Whidbey Record. The gist of the comment was, “How can she WRITE that stuff?”
Well, thanks to the First Amendment, I can — and I’ll continue to do so.
I’m sure that Ken O’Mhuan is also aware of the First Amendment. If you don’t know Mr. O’Mhuan (pronounced Ovuan), he’s the guy in the eye of a current Letters to the Editor storm. He’s the Freeland lawyer with the reader board that hugs the corner of Highway 525 and Scott Road. He’s the bright attorney embroiled in Signgate 2002, instigated by folks who think that O’Mhuan shouldn’t be sharing his sentiments with riders on the road.
What next, a South Whidbey Reader Board Review Board?
O’Mhuan has yet to respond to his critics, and I respect his silence. I’m also assuming that it’s intentional.
After all, what’s he going to say to the naysayers of his roadside attraction? “I’m a lawyer and I know my rights!” or “It’s my reader board, and I’ll write what I want to!”
All of this takes me to The Freedom Forum (www.freedomforum.org), based in Arlington, Va. The nonpartisan foundation is dedicated to “free press, free speech and free spirit for all people.” Established in 1991 under the direction of USA Today founder Allen H. Neuharth, it’s the successor to a foundation started in 1935 by newspaper publisher Frank E. Gannett (it’s not affiliated with Gannett Co., and its work is supported by income from an endowment of diversified assets). The Freedom Forum also funds two independent affiliates, the Newseum and the First Amendment Center.
The Web site has a wealth of news, analysis and other information regarding the First Amendment. A recent Associated Press news story posted on the Web site relayed the results of a new nationwide survey by the First Amendment Center. According to the center, nearly 40 percent of Americans believe free speech should be curtailed in times of national crisis. The results were released at this month’s four-day run of the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colo. honoring ABC’s “Politically Incorrect” Bill Maher, “All in the Family” creator Norman Lear, comedians Tommy and Dick Smothers, Dick Gregory and “South Park” creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker.
Not exactly folks who have curtailed their speech over the years — and survey or not, they aren’t apt to put a lid on their no-holds-barred brands of humor. Good for them.
So Mr. O’Mhuan, keep recycling those letters on your reader board — and readers, keep those letters coming! That’s what the First Amendment is all about.
In the meantime, here are some suggestions for Freeland’s infamous brown reader board, courtesy of “The Waggish Writer.”
“If you smile when no one else is around, you
really mean it.” Andy Rooney
“Half of my life is an act of revision.”
John Irving
“All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling.” Oscar Wilde
“Run a moist pen through everything and start afresh.” Charles Dickens
“Success is a rare paint; hides all the ugliness.” Sir John Suckling
“I always saw better when my eyes were closed.” Tom Waits
“Drawing on my fine command of language, I said nothing.” Robert Benchley
“Time wounds all heels.” Anon
“How do I know what I think until I see what I say?” E.M. Forster
“What fresh hell is this?” Dorothy Parker
“Success and failure are equally disastrous.” Tennessee Williams
“Life is half spent before we know what it is.” George Herbert
“I put a piece of paper under my pillow, and when I could not sleep I wrote in the dark.”
Henry Thoreau
“I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” Douglas Adams
Sue Frause can be reached by e-mail at skfrause@whidbey.com.
