Sign advising motorists to 'just say no' to vehicle searches gets thumbs up
The Associated Press
10.23.98
ABILENE, Texas — An Austin judge has decided a Colorado City attorney can temporarily continue to post a controversial highway billboard, telling passers-by to "just say no" to police vehicle searches...
Pat Barber claims the Texas Department of Transportation is not allowing him to post the sign on I-20 near Colorado City.
Last week, Judge Suzanne Covington of Austin granted Barber's application for a temporary injunction and set the trial for April 26, 1999. The sign can remain at least until then.
Texas Department of Transportation officials declined to comment on the case.
In her order, the judge noted that Barber will likely win his case because of "his claim that the statute as written and as enforced is an unconstitutional infringement of his rights of free speech under the Texas and United States Constitutions."
Barber said he erected the sign "in response to the unprecedented numbers of interstate travelers being pressured into searches of their vehicles by state police officers."
The sign includes a phone number for a recorded, two-minute public service message about citizens' constitutional rights against unreasonable searches.
Four days after the 8-by-16-foot billboard went up in June, the Abilene division of the transportation department sent Barber a letter demanding removal of the sign. It also threatened civil and criminal penalties for violation of the Texas Highway Beautification Act, Barber said.
Barber said numerous commercial signs are not in compliance with the statute cited by the state agency, so he eventually filed suit in state district court in Travis County.
