![Google](http://www.google.com/images/poweredby_transparent/poweredby_FFFFFF.gif)
City sets preacher's speech rights on stranger's 'comfort' level
Bob Unruh - WND
A court brief filed in a dispute over a city crackdown on a street preacher's activities contends the policy should be abandoned immediately because it's not constitutional to base an individual's First Amendment speech rights on someone else's "comfort."
"The City of Winchester's noise ordinance goes far beyond the scope of permissible regulation for a traditional public forum," said a brief in support of a request for summary judgment in the case between Winchester, Va., and Michael Marcavage of the Repent America Christian ministry.
Marcavage regularly preaches the message of the Bible at street festivals and other occasions across the country.
Find out what's going on here and now, in "Shut Up, America!: The End of Free Speech"
Last year, he was at the Apple Blossom Festival in Winchester. After checking with the police department ahead of time, he used a public address system to carry his message to listeners.
However, he was ordered to shut it down, and in the resulting legal challenge, attorneys for the Rutherford Institute and others now have asked the judge to simply decide the case in Marcavage's favor.
"The ordinance constitutes an outright prohibition of certain verbal expression without any reference to objective characteristics of that expression, such as volume, and it does so through the use of vague terms and unascertainable standards," said the brief, compiled by Rita M. Dunaway.
Aug. 6, 2011