Free-speech activist fined, but no jail time if he obeys law

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A man who believes the City of Port Townsend has restricted his free-speech displays on public sidewalks could face jail time if he gets into legal trouble within the next year.

Free-speech activist Erik Olson, aka Arhata Osho, appeared before Judge Jill Landes in Jefferson County District Court on April 13 to hear an imposition of sentence, and was given bench probation for 12 months.

Olson was charged in 2014 with three counts of violating City of Port Townsend ordinances limiting the size of free-speech activities.

Judge Landes said it is rare for her to give people concurrent sentences, as she had done for Osho, who had been cited three times in 2014 for his public display at Pope Marine Park in downtown PT. The Port Townsend resident received three concurrent sentences of 90 days in December 2014. Sentencing was deferred to allow Olson time to appeal. Olson's attempts to appeal the initial ruling have been rejected by both the Jefferson County Superior Court and the Washington Court of Appeals.

Judge Landes on April 13 issued Olson a 90-day suspended sentence and ordered him to pay $700 in fees.

Olson is on probation, which began April 13, 2016, and could face jail time if he violates laws within the next year, according to Judge Landes.

BACKGROUND

Olson regularly displays whiteboards covered with written opinions on social and political topics at Pope Marine Park, located across Water Street from City Hall.

Ordinances 3091 and 3092, passed on March 3, 2014, amended City Municipal Code, Chapter 9.46, right-of-way use rules including streets and sidewalks; and Chapter 11.01, park use rules. They effectively limit free-speech activities to an area 4 feet wide, 6 feet long and 5 feet high and placed a 20-foot "buffer" zone around the Salish Sea Circle sculpture in Pope Marine Park.

Later that month, Olson received a $100 citation and a misdemeanor criminal citation, plus another citation in June of that year, for violating municipal code 9.46.

In 2014, then city attorney John Watts told the Leader that the issue of free speech display interfering with public access arose just before the 2012 Wooden Boat Festival, a weekend that sees heavy pedestrian traffic at Pope Marine Park. Olson would not reduce the size of his display on that weekend, and it caused the city to pass an emergency ordinance in March 2014, Watts said.

The penalty for the criminal misdemeanor was up to $1,000 or up to 90 days in jail.

Olson's displays in March 2014 exceeded the new size restriction by 22 inches, in spite of verbal warnings about the new restrictions. One of his whiteboards was also leaning against public property (a park bench), and a dolly holding a American flag was encroaching on the intersection.