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U.S. NEWS Wednesday 10 april 2019

Suit targets California's ban on

'Come on You Whites' plate

By CHRISTOPHER WEBER good taste and decency," of those things," Kotler said
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A soc- according to the court fil- in a news release. "When
cer fan says in a lawsuit that ing. the government starts to
the California Department The department's rejec- infringe on our rights, that's
of Motor Vehicles violated tion of the application vio- when the individual citizen
his First Amendment rights lated his right to freedom must speak up."
by rejecting a personalized of speech, said Kotler, a In its rejection letter to Kot-
license plate he said would lawyer and constitutional ler, the Department of Mo- The California Department of Motor Vehicles office in the Arleta
celebrate his favorite team, scholar at the University of tor Vehicles acknowledged neighborhood of Los Angeles is seen Tuesday, April 9, 2019.
but which the DMV deter- Southern California Annen- the difficulties in balancing Associated Press
mined might be deemed berg School for Communi- "an individual's constitution-
offensive. cation and Journalism. al right to free speech and are often split in cases ment censorship."
Jon Kotler applied for a The Department of Motor expression while protecting claiming censorship over Kotler is being represented
plate that would read Vehicles said Tuesday that the sensibilities of all seg- personalized plates. pro bono by the libertarian-
"COYW," an acronym of it does not comment on ments of our population." "It appears in this case leaning nonprofit Pacific Le-
the slogan "Come on You pending lawsuits. In a 1973 case, the Cali- that the government has gal Foundation. The group
Whites" used by supporters Kotler's suit asks the court to fornia Court of Appeals engaged in regrettable criticized the Department
of London-based Fulham declare the Department of upheld the Department of censorship of Mr. Kotler's of Motor Vehicles' "attempt
Football Club, according Motor Vehicles' criteria for Motor Vehicles' standard speech," said Hudson, who to make itself the speech
to the federal lawsuit filed personalized license plates of "good taste and decen- teaches at Tennessee's police" in a statement an-
in Los Angeles on Tuesday. unconstitutional. He also cy" in rejecting a plaintiff's Belmont University and is a nouncing the lawsuit.
Fulham players wear white wants the department to claim that his free speech fellow at the Freedom Fo- "You can call Jon a sports
jerseys. pay his court costs. was violated when the de- rum Institute. "To me courts fan or a First Amendment
In denying the proposed "You can't allow bureau- partment rejected his re- should be very sensitive to expert, but the DMV's mis-
plate, the DMV said the crats to make decisions that quested license plate, "EZ viewpoint discrimination guided efforts to regulate
abbreviation could "have are fundamental to what it LAY." and should err on the side license plates have mis-
racial overtones" and carry means to be an American, Constitutional scholar Da- of protecting the individ- branded Jon as a racist,"
"connotations offensive to and our free speech is one vid L. Hudson said courts ual's speech from govern- the foundation said.q

Flooding forces evacuations for 2nd day in Oregon

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — About homes completely sur- for the National Weather
500 people remained rounded by water. Service in Portland, told the
evacuated Tuesday from Firefighters rescued a newspaper that the service
their homes in Oregon af- 75-year-old man whose has no record of a flood
ter record-breaking rain pickup truck went off a event in the southern Willa-
that shut down roads and flooded stretch of road mette Valley this late in the
forced officials to close outside Eugene near Junc- rainy season.
schools in the hardest-hit tion City, KVAL-TV reported "The time of the year, just
communities. . in my mind, makes it his-
The evacuations followed More than 4.3 inches of rain torically significant that
moderate flooding Sunday has fallen in Eugene since we're having a flood like
night and Monday along Thursday, with a record- this a week into April," Bry-
the Coast Fork of the Wil- breaking 2.34 inches on ant said. "What we've had
lamette and Row rivers Sunday alone. That's the is more of a November
near Eugene, The Register- most precipitation there through February kind of
Guard reported . in a single calendar day weather event."
The Lane County Sheriff's in more than seven years, The U.S. Army Corps of En-
Office urged Eugene-area and it breaks the mark for gineers is releasing more
residents to stay off roads the wettest April day on re- water than usual from Wil-
and said it was working cord. lamette River reservoirs to
to help people in several Andy Bryant, hydrologist prevent overflow.q