ACLU sues Cary over man's protest sign

David Bowden, who for months has taunted the town of Cary with a controversial protest sign on the front of his house, is now suing the town.

He says the town violated his First Amendment rights when it asked him to tone down or remove the sign, which includes the phrase “Screwed by the town of Cary” in large, bright-orange letters.

“The town is trying to silence core political speech that is directed at the town itself,” Mark R. Sigmon, a lawyer for Bowden, wrote in a lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

Bowden had the sign painted on the front of his 305 SW Maynard Road home in July, after his house was damaged by runoff that he blames on town road construction.

Cary officials gave Bowden until Thursday to remove the sign or bring it into compliance with the town’s strict appearance ordinances. Otherwise, it would impose fines, which start at $100 and escalate to $500 per day. To comply with town sign rules, he would have to reduce its size or changing its color, according to a zoning violation notice issued by the town.

“The citizens of Cary value the right to free speech, and they count on their government to preserve that right,” Ryan Blackburn, a Cary zoning compliance officer, wrote in the Nov. 12 notice to Bowden. “Cary citizens also value an attractive, safe community, and they count on their government to preserve and protect these values as well.”

The lawsuit, filed on Bowden’s behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina Legal Foundation, asks a judge to block the town from fining Bowden. It calls the town’s sign ordinance unconstitutional.

“In order to save itself from embarrassment, the town is attempting to silence Mr. Bowden from engaging in core political speech directed at the very governmental authorities who are seeking to suppress that speech,” Sigmon, an ACLU-NCLF attorney, said in a statement. “Enforcement of the town’s sign ordinance under these circumstances is a clear violation of the First Amendment.”

Susan Moran, a Cary spokeswoman, could not comment on the lawsuit because she had not read it late Thursday. “We’re disappointed in their choosing to take this action,” she added. “And we look forward to the court’s review of our community’s standards.”

Bowden says he won’t change or remove the sign until the town buys his house and gives him an additional $80,000 for “aggravation.”

The town said it offered to install a trench drain and new drainage pipe to re-route water away from Bowden’s home. Bowden declined the offer. Bowden also declined third-party mediation, according to a town statement.

Cary officials, who could begin fining Bowden on Friday, said they stepped up enforcement efforts after a stream of complaints from residents.

The town initially notified Bowden of a zoning violation when the sign went up in July. But officials didn’t initiate fines as they tried to mediate the dispute.

“I tried to negotiate with the town in a gentlemanly way, and it didn’t get me anywhere,” Bowden said in a statement. “I decided that the only way that I was going to get any attention was to put up a sign. Now the town is trying to violate my civil rights by telling me that I can’t speak to power.”

“We’ve made a very strong effort to help him understand how he can express any sentiment about any topic in a way that’s consistent with being a Cary citizen,” Moran, the town’s spokeswoman, said last week. “... We are not asking him to change what he’s saying, we’re just asking him to change the size and color.”

Staff writer Jordan Cooke contributed to this report.

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