PLF Fights For Homeowners’ Free-Speech Rights In Florida
PLF’s Harold Johnson speaks with PLF Principal Attorney J. David Breemer and his client Edward Goodwin about how the County of Walton in Florida is denying Goodwin’s right to free-speech by banning beach-signs on his property.
To safeguard their privacy, personal security, and property rights, they put up two small “Private Property” signs, and a third small sign that says, “If the County Wants My Private Beach for Public Use, It Must Pay Me For It — US Constitution.”
They need to state publicly and prominently that their beach property is private, because the county will not enforce trespassing laws unless the owners mark out their property lines. The sign ban effectively prohibits the Goodwins from exercising their First Amendment right to convey an essential message — i.e., to tell the public, and the county itself, that their property is private.
