The ACLU of Missouri sued the City of Wentzville on Thursday on behalf of a woman who says she was forcibly removed from a City Council meeting for criticizing an “In God We Trust” insignia on the council dais.
“The right to disagree with public officials without retribution is at the heart of a thriving democracy,” Tony Rothert, ACLU of Missouri Legal Director, said in a news release. “Just because a public official does not like what someone says about his decision it does not give him the right to intimidate someone or censor constitutionally protected speech.”
Sally Hunt, a Maryland Heights resident and activist, says Mayor Nick Guccione interrupted her during her allotted speaking time at a Feb. 14 council meeting and then had police officers forcibly remove her from the building, according to the lawsuit. The suit alleges the city violated her First Amendment rights because she opposed the “In God We Trust” sign.
The insignia was the source of a long, heated exchange at a later council meeting between a majority of attendees who supported the sign and several attendees who argued it violates separation of religion and state and alienates residents who don’t share the same beliefs. The city of St. Peters has the same sign in its City Hall, jail and recreation center.
The Wentzville motto has been on display in large letters on the council dais since November. Guccione has said the board approved the display and that it was paid for with private funds, as were decals with the motto that are on city police cars and at the police station.
He claims that Hunt went over her allotted time to speak at the February meeting and he removed her because he thought she was going to be disruptive. He has said the vast majority of Wentzville residents support the sign and that there are no plans to remove it.
Read the full story at the St. Louis-Post Dispatch
