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First Amendment Rights My Ass!
By Matt Margolis | August 18, 2003
Westchester County has been ordered to pay damages of $2,500 to a twice-convicted pedophile. Why? Because they refused to allow him to perform his clown and balloon animals act for children at an Amusement Park.
Excuse Me? What the hell is that?
WHITE PLAINS — A federal judge ordered Westchester County yesterday to pay a twice-convicted pedophile $2,500 for violating his rights by past refusals to allow him to perform his clown act for children at Rye Playland Amusement Park.
But Judge John S. Martin approved the county’s park regulation crafted earlier this year that bars convicted pedophiles from obtaining performance permits if their acts are designed to “entice a child to congregate around” them. The ruling allows the county to bar Richard Hobbs from performing his clown act at the county-owned park.
Figure this one out. The county is now able to prevent this pervert from performing in front of children; but awards him $2,500 dollars at the same time? It’s liberal judges like this that Democrats like Hillary Clinton would like to see nominated and appointed. Unbelievable.
County officials hailed the ruling as a victory, though they said they were perplexed by the judge’s decision to award Hobbs the money.
Perplexed? How about dumbfounded and pissed?
He sued the county in 2000, charging that Westchester had violated his First Amendment rights by refusing to allow him to perform his clown and balloon animals act at the 279-acre park.
This is a serious problem - the First Amendment is being used gratuitously to defend harmful behavior and people. This is a perversion of the Constitution.
The county said Hobbs’ panhandling act would compete with the county’s for-profit operation in the only government-owned amusement park in the country. The county also cited Hobbs’ criminal past as another factor in refusing him the right to perform.
No shit. You think?
Hobbs pleaded guilty in 1978 to second-degree sexual abuse after New Rochelle police charged him with luring an 11-year-old boy into his office and fondling him. Four years later, a Pennsylvania judge sentenced Hobbs to nine months in jail for molesting a 14-year-old boy while driving him to church, where Hobbs performed his clown show for children.
And now he’s getting $2,500 dollars for being denied the right to perform for children… does this make sense? Can liberals understand what’s wrong with their ideology when pedophiles are receiving damages because a group of people don’t want him to perform in front of their children? Is this sending the right message? Is this how we’re supposed to protect our children?
In December, Martin handed down a decision that the county had a right to ban Hobbs from performing in the park’s money-making venues, like the amusement rides, but not from the public areas, like the boardwalk.
Was he ordered to inform his audience of his status of a sex offender? His “profession” puts him in the presence of children for crying out loud!
In March, Spano issued an executive order that banned pedophiles from performing acts designed for children’s amusement.
At hearings in April to determine public and private areas of the park, Hobbs’ lawyers challenged Spano’s executive order.
Since when does a pedophiles right to perform for children have more bearing than a parent’s right to protect his or her child?
In yesterday’s 25-page decision, Martin said the county’s past wrongful efforts to keep Hobbs from performing at the park cost Hobbs $2,500 in income. But, he said, the provision against pedophile performance contained in the new order is allowable.
Past wrongful efforts? Give me a break. This worthless judge ought to have his head examined for making such a ridiculous ruling. I didn’t realize protecting children was a “wrongful effort.”
“It is unquestionable that the county would wish to protect children from exposure to potential harm by preventing convicted pedophiles from performing acts that would entice children to congregate around them in county parks,” Martin wrote.
Great. So why did you give the guy $2,500! This is insane. The left have taken over the courts which care more about the rights of criminals than protection of the people. The Left have made our legal system soft on crime, at the expense of law-abiding citizens. How are the children protected from pedophile perverts when a dumbass liberal judge awards damages to a two time convicted pedophile because he was “wronged” for being denied the right to perform for children?
First Amendment rights my ass!
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August 19th, 2003 at 1:15 am
We can only hope that with this publicity, nobody will hire the sick fuck.
August 19th, 2003 at 2:01 am
I sware to fucking God there is way too much bullshit in this country. Prime example shown here.
August 19th, 2003 at 8:35 am
Is there a reward for murder in Westchester??? $10,000 perhaps???? hey….?
August 19th, 2003 at 11:33 pm
This doesn’t really surprise me…at least now people know who he is, so let him perform, as long as he doesn’t make the children perform for him. We’ll get him in good time.
August 20th, 2003 at 9:08 pm
I heard about this sick pervert on the Sean Hannity show. Now, I don’t think he should be allowed to do his act. Once a person has done such horrible acts as he has, their rights are secondary to the rights of everyone else to be protected from him.
November 8th, 2003 at 11:44 pm
As any reasonably intelligent adult should know, the First Amendment gives everybody the right to free speech. So is there any problem with keeping that free speech clean and inoffensive to others?