Signs of G.O.Panic

Ronald Kienhuis wanted to incite his Great Neck neighbors and passersby when he placed a sign in his front lawn about a week ago.

"BUSH MUST GO!" proclaimed the sign...

First, one neighbor told Kienhuis that someone complained about his sign to the Village of Great Neck. A code inspector showed up. Shortly after, a "notice of violation" arrived from the village ordering him to take the sign down - although the village backed out of its warning yesterday.

Someone also left Kienhuis an anonymous letter asking him to put the sign away. Finally, the sign disappeared over the Fourth of July weekend.

Kienhuis got some cardboard and a marker and made another sign. It's on his lawn again.

The "notice of violation," signed by village Inspector Joseph D. Kelly, told Kienhuis' parents, who own the property and live nearby, that the house "is in violation" while ordering them "TO REMEDY THE SITUATION NOTED IMMEDIATELY," or risk a summons.

...a suited man who identified himself as a village employee showed up at Kienhuis' home late yesterday to deliver a cancellation of the warning. The same letter Kienhuis had previously gotten from the village was now stamped in large letters "ISSUED IN ERROR."

Kienhuis had called the Nassau chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union in Mineola, which was ready to fight for his First Amendment rights.

"This is absolutely basic free speech. There is nothing more basic," said Barbara Bernstein, the chapter's director. "The only thing that's restricted in public speech is libel, obscenity, threats and fraud, but pure political expression is carved in stone in our history."

Perhaps Ms. Bernstein could drop a note to the Charleston, WV, PD...