KENT: The Founding Fathers may be smiling on Kevin W. Egler after he took on City Hall and won for now his right to political free speech.

City prosecutors in Municipal Court on Thursday had a judge dismiss a minor-misdemeanor charge of advertising on public property against Egler, at least temporarily.

The 45-year-old city resident had been ticketed by Kent police on July 25 for putting up a sign near East Main and Willow streets. The sign declared: Impeach Bush.

''I did nothing wrong,'' Egler said quietly as he waited outside court before Thursday's hearing.

Egler, a substitute elementary school teacher who is married with two sons, ages 10 and 14, said he had the right to put up the sign under the First Amendment guarantee of free speech.

''I don't know how a sign that simply says, 'Impeach Bush,' can be anything but political expression,'' he said.

Kent city Prosecutor Jim Silver has a different view.

''He can put whatever signs he wants on his property. He can't put his signs on your property without your permission. The courts have said he can't violate your property rights to support his free speech right,'' he said.

Silver said he isn't sure who owns the property where Egler placed the sign, describing the intersection as a ''public right of way.''

Filing new charges

Municipal Judge John J. Plough ruled that the charge against Egler should be dismissed without prejudice, a legal term meaning the proceeding has ended temporarily, but the prosecution can file a new action on the same allegation.

Silver told the judge he is uncertain about when a new charge might be filed, but he said he would notify the court and Egler once a decision is made.

''No matter what charge they put up against me,'' Egler said afterward, ''I will still contend it's free speech.''

Backing him up in court was Columbus lawyer Robert J. Fitrakis, a political science professor at Columbus State Community College.

Fitrakis, a former investigative journalist and the author of 11 books on state and national politics, gained national prominence after calling attention to irregularities in Ohio in the 2004 presidential election. He later filed a challenge in the Ohio Supreme Court.

After the hearing, as supporters of Egler crowded the hallway outside court, Fitrakis called Egler's fight ''a public debate on the free speech issue.''

Protesting policies

Fitrakis said the type of charge filed against Egler is a ''time-honored tactic'' frequently used by the government to ''stifle free speech, to stifle speech that's out of the mainstream on the left and the right.''

''The people of Kent above all cities understand the need for peaceful processes in free speech and should not tolerate this,'' he said.

Fitrakis' comment was a reference to the events of May 4, 1970, when four Kent State University students were killed as Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire during a Vietnam War protest on campus.

Egler said he began his protest of Bush administration actions shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to protest policies that he said ''erode our freedoms.'' He cited the Patriot Act, various military commissions and increased government surveillance.

''They can read our mail, they can read our e-mail, they can listen in on phone conversations,'' Egler said. ''That is not the America I was taught about when I was in school.''

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Swanny Note: Mr Egler, you are not alone in your fight FOR the USA we were taught existed.