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‘Highway blogging’ legality debated Joel Burgess ASHEVILLE — An increasingly popular type of political demonstration in Asheville has raised new questions about where the right to free speech ends and police power to protect motorists’ safety begins. In growing numbers, demonstrators are using bridges over interstates and aiming messages at high volumes of traffic below. This new type of soapbox, sometimes called “highway blogging,” has prompted varied police reaction — directing demonstrators to move, arresting them or leaving them alone.
(Article continues below) Backers of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, the largest group of demonstrators, say they are protected by the First Amendment. “Public right of ways are an extension of the town square,” said local Paul organizer Bernard Carman. “If you can’t stand in the public right of way with a sign, then where can you stand?” It depends on whether you are affecting traffic, city officials say. City attorneys are analyzing a state law they believe would make the demonstrations illegal over all North Carolina interstates, no matter the circumstances. Police response to demonstrators Edgerton said he has stood on bridges with a confederate flag in a Confederate soldier’s uniform for 12 years. He has used practically every bridge in and around Asheville, he said, though his favorite is Brevard Road over Interstates 240 and 26 in West Asheville. “That’s my office,” he said. Edgerton said he has always been treated “very decently” by police and never told to move. Police could not confirm that Edgerton has never been sent off a bridge. Last year, demonstrator Jonas Phillips got a different reaction. Phillips was on Haywood Road over Interstates 240 and 26 in West Asheville propping up an “Impeach Bush, Cheney” sign when he was arrested Aug. 15. Police said he was violating a city code against blocking public sidewalks. His attorney, Bill Auman, said Phillips was doing “nothing illegal,” only exercising a fundamental right of expression. Paul supporters said they were left alone when they stuck to one bridge, Flint Street over I-240 downtown. Police would come by and sometimes get out and talk to them but would not ask them to leave, they said. But when they expanded their weekly demonstrations in November to Brevard Road, Haywood Road and other bridges, officers told them to leave, sometimes citing city code or state law, said Paul supporter Tim Peck. “We feel that we are just being harassed by certain officers when they really don’t understand the law themselves,” Peck said.
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