A judge makes a common-sense ruling in a case that should never have been brought:
A judge found a Martinsville man not guilty of littering after he left a copy of a Ku Klux Klan newspaper at a local business.
Thomas Buhls left a copy of "The Crusader" at Steve's Appliances in Martinsville. Owner Mary Waltz said she didn't want the newspaper in her store, so she called police."I think it's trash. That newspaper aims hatred to people who are my friends, and to me, hatred is trash," Waltz said.
Judge Mark Peden ruled after a 40-minute bench trial that although Buhls' actions may unnerve the people within his community, he still has the right to distribute the incendiary material, RTV6's Rick Hightower reported.
Morgan County Prosecutor Steve Sonnega believed he had a strong case and tried to classify the newspaper as refuse.
"Obviously, the judge disagreed that a newspaper isn't considered trash because the littering statute only deals with refuse. I guess there's no recourse for this case or in the future other than for the business owner to throw the items away, which is what she did," Sonnega said.
This story says a copy of the newspaper was left at the business, but a couple of other versions I've seen say copies of the paper were left there, so it's not clear whether this was just a guy who left his newspaper behind or he was someone actually trying to distribute them from there. If the latter were the case, I suppose the business owner would have a valid argument about being forced to distribute something he disagreed with. But all he had to do was throw the offending material away, which even the prosecutor admits is what happened.
Which brings up the glaringly obvious question: Material objected to, material tossed, exactly what was the problem? Regardless of the intent of the KKK guy, in no case should someone try to call a newspaper refuse and the act of leaving it somewhere littering; the newspaper may be garbage, but it ain't trash, is what I'm sayin'. That's such a blatant offense to the 1st Amendment that it's hard to even get upset with the prosecutor. It's best just to shake our heads at such silly harassment, go "tsk, tsk, tsk," then move along.
