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Latest effort against X-rated litter faces legal woes
Source: Agencies |
September 10, 2012, Monday
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SOME tourists try to dissuade them by directing icy glares their way. Others stare, zombie-like, into the Las Vegas Strip's ubiquitous video screens in an effort to ignore the pushy handbill distributors.
But some tourists accept the pamphlets and glossy cards that advertise all-but-nude exotic dancers. Then, more often than not, they toss the material in the trash. Or if a trash can isn't nearby, onto the sidewalk - creating an endless X-rated litter problem that Las Vegas officials are trying to clean up.
A new ordinance requires handbillers to pick up litter in a 7.5-meter radius on the sidewalk. But there's a hitch: The law might run afoul of the US Constitution's First Amendment guaranteeing freedom of speech.
"If someone takes some material, regardless of what it is, and then walks down the street and decides to drop it, that's the person who is littering. That's the person that is responsible, not the person who gave it to them originally," said Allen Lichtenstein, general counsel for the Nevada American Civil Liberties Union.
Las Vegas police aren't enforcing the ordinance yet. The ACLU has been meeting with exotic dancer businesses and police to talk about how that will happen, as well as encourage handbillers to help keep the Strip clean. The group hasn't yet challenged the law in court.
Meanwhile, handbillers - they're also called "card-slappers" for the noise they make to get people's attention - are as in-your-face as ever.
Las Vegas tried directly to prohibit handbilling in 1997. The ACLU intervened in court and won. Later court rulings have established that sidewalks along the Strip are public thoroughfares where the First Amendment protects freedom of speech, Lichtenstein said.
To Lichtenstein, how police will enforce a law that requires handbillers to clean up their area no less than every 15 minutes is an obvious problem. "I'm not sure the police even understand what they're supposed to be enforcing," he said.
"Depending on what happen, we may be back in court again."
Police Capt Todd Fasulo said the law is straightforward and, as with any crime, enforcement is a matter of police priorities.
But some tourists accept the pamphlets and glossy cards that advertise all-but-nude exotic dancers. Then, more often than not, they toss the material in the trash. Or if a trash can isn't nearby, onto the sidewalk - creating an endless X-rated litter problem that Las Vegas officials are trying to clean up.
A new ordinance requires handbillers to pick up litter in a 7.5-meter radius on the sidewalk. But there's a hitch: The law might run afoul of the US Constitution's First Amendment guaranteeing freedom of speech.
"If someone takes some material, regardless of what it is, and then walks down the street and decides to drop it, that's the person who is littering. That's the person that is responsible, not the person who gave it to them originally," said Allen Lichtenstein, general counsel for the Nevada American Civil Liberties Union.
Las Vegas police aren't enforcing the ordinance yet. The ACLU has been meeting with exotic dancer businesses and police to talk about how that will happen, as well as encourage handbillers to help keep the Strip clean. The group hasn't yet challenged the law in court.
Meanwhile, handbillers - they're also called "card-slappers" for the noise they make to get people's attention - are as in-your-face as ever.
Las Vegas tried directly to prohibit handbilling in 1997. The ACLU intervened in court and won. Later court rulings have established that sidewalks along the Strip are public thoroughfares where the First Amendment protects freedom of speech, Lichtenstein said.
To Lichtenstein, how police will enforce a law that requires handbillers to clean up their area no less than every 15 minutes is an obvious problem. "I'm not sure the police even understand what they're supposed to be enforcing," he said.
"Depending on what happen, we may be back in court again."
Police Capt Todd Fasulo said the law is straightforward and, as with any crime, enforcement is a matter of police priorities.
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