Mullica reintroduces rules on public gatherings

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The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey told The Press of Atlantic City in May the ordinance would be "clearly unconstitutional" if it included public protest, campaigns, vigils or rallies.

The First Amendment states, "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech ... or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

As a result of similar criticism, the township's solicitors drafted an addendum that would exclude gatherings of political discourse, debate or other similar expressive activity from the ordinance.

There will still be two restrictions on these activities, however.

Any people or organized group that wants to campaign, protest, rally or hold a vigil at the waste transfer station are prohibited from doing so at the entrance of the facility and must wear a brightly colored safety vest when doing so.

Mayor Janet Forman said this was put into place at the recommendation of a loss-control report that a safety engineer for the township's joint-insurance fund, or JIF, recently filed with the township.

"I'm going against my better judgment allowing this activity to go on there at all, but I'm willing to compromise," said Committeewoman Kathy Chasey, adding she felt any gathering at the transfer station created an unsafe environment. "Our professionals said they don't think this should be going on there at all."

The township's Democrats have criticized the Republican majority for pushing through the ordinance as an attempt to hinder opposing political campaigns. Area politicians regularly politick at the heavily trafficked waste transfer station.

Democratic Committeemen Bernard Graebener and Michael St. Amour attempted to table the ordinance until a JIF representative could explain where the information in the loss-control report came from.

"This still violates free speech, and I feel that this report is completely unsubstantiated," Graebener said. "I would like to know how he got this information."

But the Township Committee still voted, 3 to 2, to move forward with the ordinance even though Graebener and St. Amour had a number of concerns and Committeeman William Kennedy had not read the report prior to the vote.

"If all it is is keeping it at the exit and wearing an orange vest, I don't have to read it," Kennedy said. "It's a matter of safety."

When the Township Committee was questioned on how the ordinance would be applied to private gatherings, such as birthday parties, the answer given was - "common sense."

"If you're out there having a birthday party, I'm not going to go out there to see if you have a permit," Forman said. "This is a way of protecting our taxpayers if an accident occurs."

St. Amour said this reeked of selective enforcement and showed the true intention of the ordinance.

"I really have a problem with this falling under the guise of 'safety.' It is the worst misuse of the term 'safety' that I have ever seen," said St. Amour, adding there has never been a documented safety issue at the transfer station caused by gatherings there. "To me the obvious fact here is this was only designed to stop campaigning at the transfer facility. And had the specter of free political speech not been raised, this would've precluded people the right to disseminate political speech at the dump."

E-mail Robert Spahr:RSpahr@pressofac.com

What's next

The "Parades and Public Assemblies" ordinance is expected to be heard on first reading at the Township Committee's Aug. 11 meeting at 7 p.m.