The Fayetteville City Council’s attempt to amend its ordinance governing protests and demonstrations was tabled at the council’s Jan. 5 work session, and council members plan to talk about it some more next month.
The city’s legal team drafted the proposed changes after Mayor Mitch Colvin and other council members heard from downtown business owners and patrons who say a militant group, the Black Hebrew Israelites, has shouted insults at people dining or walking outside. Restaurant owner Keith Bowen has said the men scream “crazy things like ‘women are whores,’ ‘whites are devils.’”
Initial discussions at Monday’s meeting suggest getting to an ordinance that protects free speech rights and also the rights for people who wish to dine in peace may not be so easy.
Fayetteville police attorney: ‘It applies to all viewpoints’
City Attorney Lachelle H. Pulliam told the council that under constitutional law, regulating speech is “essentially abridging on people’s personal freedoms.”…