Good news for distributor of Good News

Ed Thomas - OneNewsNow - 6/17/2008 9:55:00 AMvar addthis_pub = 'onenewsnow';

Daniel Burritt has been subject to possible criminal and civil legal action because of his display of a gospel message on a trailer located on his private property. But now he has received some good news on both fronts.

The New York Department of Transportation has been locking horns with Burritt since citing him for displaying a personal, religious message on a tractor trailer inside his property last year -- allegedly in violation of state highway laws that require permits for non-commercial messages.
 
Alliance Defense Fund legal counsel Matt Bowman says Burritt allowed ADF to file a suit on his behalf after a May 2008 letter from NYDOT set a deadline for him to remove the trailer or face forcible removal and legal action. At the same time, the town of Gouverneur filed criminal charges against him in a separate action.
 
But according to Bowman, Buritt got some good news last week. "The judge in the town criminal case dismissed those charges," says the attorney. "[And] in the separate federal civil lawsuit that Mr. Burritt actually instituted against the State of New York, the state has decided to allow the sign to remain until the judge gets to determine whether their state law is constitutional."
 
Bowman says he believes the law will be found unconstitutional because it favors commercial messages in a more lenient way than non-commercial messages protected under the First Amendment. Burritt's motion for preliminary injunction against the law is scheduled to be heard in September.