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The city of Dallas got poured out of court again yesterday in its decades long extra-legal persecution of Kennedy assassination expert Robert Groden, making the 82nd time the city has lost against Groden in its own municipal courts, not counting a major slap-down suffered by the city in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier in the summer.
That’s something. In 82 at-bats, 82 strike-outs. In professional baseball you’d have to be the owner’s son to rack up a record like that
This is about a sign that says “Grassy Knoll.” To understand this story, you have to know that the words “grassy knoll” are forbidden in Dallas. No one is allowed to say them out loud, let alone put them on a sign.
Don’t believe me? Give me a minute. You will.
The unremitting determination of Dallas to throw the bat at Groden time after time, year after year, with the same result each time (“Yurrr OUT!”) is a remarkable testament to sheer institutional stubbornness and/or sheer institutional stupidity, take your pick.
Groden sells books, magazines and videos on weekends from a folding table on the grassy knoll (Oh, I said it!) in Dealey Plaza downtown, where President John F. Kennedy was murdered on Nov. 22, 1963. The city has engaged in a decades long war to make Groden go away, repeatedly ticketing and even jailing him.
Yesterday the city was kicked out of court for the same old reason: A municipal judge couldn’t find a municipal law that Groden had broken.
Here’s the thing. If you have strong feelings about the Kennedy assassination, Dealey Plaza or banners, please put them aside for one moment and consider this question: How much respect can the city of Dallas command for itself when it knowingly engages in a decades long persecution not based on law?
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At some point do we not have to conclude that Dallas does not respect the law? And then are we supposed to respect Dallas?
Even though Dealey Plaza is sometimes rated as the second most visited tourist attraction in the state,
Dallas, which is still ashamed of it, doesn’t put up signs to tell visors where stuff is there. So Groden does. When he’s there selling his wares, he erects a banner by his table that says “Grassy Knoll.” Otherwise, a newcomer would have no idea where it was.
Last April 22, a Friday, when a city code inspector and a cop showed up at Groden’s table, Groden was there with his assistant Marshal Evans. The code inspector and the cop ticketed Evans for erecting an illegal sign.
But — surprise, surprise! — the sign wasn’t illegal. Groden’s attorney Bradley Kizzia explained to me that the ordinance under which the code inspector ticketed Evans didn’t cover temporary banners. Hence, when the ticket finally arrived on the bench of a municipal judge this week, the judge kicked it out of court, saying he had no jurisdiction.
This is the Groden story over and over again. They have ticketed him for selling books and magazines without a license, even though the city ordinance says you don’t have to have a license to sell books and magazines.
They ticketed him once for selling in a park, even though Dealey Plaza isn’t a park. They ticketed him for not having a permit to do what he was doing, even though they don’t issue permits for what he was doing.
Every time — 82 times — the city gets to court and a judge tells them that he or she cannot try Groden for doing something that is not against the law. So they do it again.
What a waste of tax payer money and the courts time.
That’s something. In 82 at-bats, 82 strike-outs. In professional baseball you’d have to be the owner’s son to rack up a record like that
This is about a sign that says “Grassy Knoll.” To understand this story, you have to know that the words “grassy knoll” are forbidden in Dallas. No one is allowed to say them out loud, let alone put them on a sign.
Don’t believe me? Give me a minute. You will.
The unremitting determination of Dallas to throw the bat at Groden time after time, year after year, with the same result each time (“Yurrr OUT!”) is a remarkable testament to sheer institutional stubbornness and/or sheer institutional stupidity, take your pick.
Groden sells books, magazines and videos on weekends from a folding table on the grassy knoll (Oh, I said it!) in Dealey Plaza downtown, where President John F. Kennedy was murdered on Nov. 22, 1963. The city has engaged in a decades long war to make Groden go away, repeatedly ticketing and even jailing him.
Yesterday the city was kicked out of court for the same old reason: A municipal judge couldn’t find a municipal law that Groden had broken.
Here’s the thing. If you have strong feelings about the Kennedy assassination, Dealey Plaza or banners, please put them aside for one moment and consider this question: How much respect can the city of Dallas command for itself when it knowingly engages in a decades long persecution not based on law?
Related Stories
The City of Hate Is Now the City of Bullies
Robert Groden: The Plaza Man
Dutch Film Portrays Our Own Robert Groden as Obsessed, Not Crazy
At some point do we not have to conclude that Dallas does not respect the law? And then are we supposed to respect Dallas?
Even though Dealey Plaza is sometimes rated as the second most visited tourist attraction in the state,
Dallas, which is still ashamed of it, doesn’t put up signs to tell visors where stuff is there. So Groden does. When he’s there selling his wares, he erects a banner by his table that says “Grassy Knoll.” Otherwise, a newcomer would have no idea where it was.
Last April 22, a Friday, when a city code inspector and a cop showed up at Groden’s table, Groden was there with his assistant Marshal Evans. The code inspector and the cop ticketed Evans for erecting an illegal sign.
But — surprise, surprise! — the sign wasn’t illegal. Groden’s attorney Bradley Kizzia explained to me that the ordinance under which the code inspector ticketed Evans didn’t cover temporary banners. Hence, when the ticket finally arrived on the bench of a municipal judge this week, the judge kicked it out of court, saying he had no jurisdiction.
This is the Groden story over and over again. They have ticketed him for selling books and magazines without a license, even though the city ordinance says you don’t have to have a license to sell books and magazines.
They ticketed him once for selling in a park, even though Dealey Plaza isn’t a park. They ticketed him for not having a permit to do what he was doing, even though they don’t issue permits for what he was doing.
Every time — 82 times — the city gets to court and a judge tells them that he or she cannot try Groden for doing something that is not against the law. So they do it again.
What a waste of tax payer money and the courts time.
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