Constitutional Rights

THE UNITED States of America is the greatest country in the world, and we take pride in our liberties. The Constitution promises certain rights that can't be taken away. Freedom of speech is a part of our great declaration. Terrell Owens, an American and one hell of a wide receiver, has the same rights as every red-blooded American. Terrell Owens is very outspoken. You could even say arrogant. But if being arrogant was against the law, many of us would be suspended indefinitely from life.

Mark Fiorino, who sued the city last month after he was arrested for legally carrying his Glock on Frankford Avenue in 2011, will receive $25,000 after accepting an offer of judgment in his favor from the city Thursday. He and his lawyers said they accepted the offer instead of going to trial because they're satisfied with the steps the city and police department have taken to better train officers about open-carry laws. In the city, it is legal to openly carry a firearm as long as you have a permit to carry.

IAM disgusted with the color-coding of the incarcerated, especially the bright orange worn at the county level. It is the equivalent of a guilty plea, especially when the accused is coerced into wearing the orange in court. It makes him stand out like a hunter in the woods. It is a vaudeville mockery of his constitutional rights. Gerald Lee Stull Houtzdale (Pa.) State Prison

McGreevey shows his courage Gov. McGreevey showed the world yesterday what a gutsy, courageous man he is. He displayed his character by revealing something that is intensely private. What a shame for him and other gay Americans that we live in a country that judges others so harshly based purely on sexual orientation. How sad that for most of his 47 years he has had to pretend and live a lie. Perhaps someday soon all Americans will truly be able to enjoy their constitutional rights.

The question of prayer at school functions, a topic debated in Washington Township for nearly 18 months, was resolved last night when the Board of Education passed a policy under which invocations at school functions must not offend any group. The policy, approved by a 7-2 vote, states that any person giving an invocation at a school function "must be sensitive to the multi-ethnic, cultural and religious differences of the audience. " At the same time, the constitutional rights of the person giving an invocation must be respected, the policy says.

In Los Angeles, Police Chief Daryl Gates is still being roundly criticized, in the wake of the videotaped Rodney King beating, for leading a police force steeped in racism and brutality. People now recall that he suggested shooting casual drug users and boasted that "the hammer will fall" on criminals. And more recently, in Chicago, Police Superintendent LeRoy Martin has suggested even more directly that the way to fight crime is to reassess the value of our constitutional rights.

Do you really think that President Reagan knows what "we the people" means? He did not consult Congress when he sold arms to Iran. He did not consult Congress when he used the sale money to fund the contras. At the very moment that "we the people" were writing to our senators and representatives against contra aid, "we the people" were being denied our constitutional rights. I believe these actions should be investigated, and those who have broken the law brought to justice.

A fathers' rights activist who staged a two-week hunger strike in the Burlington County Jail last month to call attention to what he contends is the denial of civil rights to separated and divorced fathers was back in the prison this week, but only overnight. Raymond Auger, 55, of Mount Laurel, spent Wednesday night in the jail for not complying with a court order in a child-support case. He was released yesterday after Superior Court Judge John A. Sweeney determined that Auger, a short, intense Quebec native with a penchant for quoting case law, had provided his two teenagers with health insurance and paid $1,155 of his former wife's legal fees.

Abortion rights proponents are delighted with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to allow militant anti-abortion protesters to be held liable for triple damages and legal fees for their intimidatory tactics outside Northeast Women's Center in Philadelphia. Such harassment is outrageous and inexcusable - and should be stopped. Then why are we so uncomfortable with the decision? Because it's another example of the use of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)

FOR THE SECOND time this year, a group of accused Occupy Philly protesters walked out of court free and clear after a Philadelphia judge on Thursday dismissed all charges against them. "I feel like this is a good day for the First Amendment and for the right of people to speak out against economic injustice," Dustin Slaughter, 32, said after leaving the courtroom the Criminal Justice Center. The freelance journalist and photographer was one of 30 defendants on trial on charges of obstruction of a highway, failure to disperse and conspiracy stemming from a Nov. 30 protest sparked when police forced the Occupiers from their 56-day encampment outside City Hall on Dilworth Plaza.

MARK FIORINO, who sued the city last month after being arrested for legally carrying his Glock on Frankford Avenue in 2011, will receive $25,000 after accepting an offer of judgment in his favor from the city yesterday. He and his attorneys said they accepted the offer instead of going to trial because they're satisfied with the steps the city and Police Department have taken to better train officers about open-carry laws. In the city, it is legal to openly carry a firearm as long as you have a permit to carry.

The New Jersey Supreme Court invalidated Assemblywoman-elect Gabriela Mosquera's November election on Thursday in a 4-3 decision that upheld the state's one-year residency requirement for legislative candidates. But it said Democratic officials could appoint Mosquera to the Fourth District seat, which has been vacant while the court considered the legal questions surrounding the election. Enough time has passed that "Mosquera would meet eligibility requirements for appointment as interim successor, if she were selected," according to the ruling.

THE CITY must cough up $50,000 to state lawmaker and Sheriff-elect Jewell Williams for injuries he received during an unlawful arrest and detention in March 2009 during a car stop in his North Philadelphia neighborhood, a federal jury said yesterday. The former Temple University police officer is to assume the $118,000-a-year sheriff's job next month, which, ironically, involves the transport of prisoners, among other duties. Williams sued his soon-to-be employer in 2010, saying that officers applied "excessively tight handcuffs," causing him to sustain permanent and painful injuries to his hands during the arrest.

Sept. 17 is one of the most important dates in America's story. On this day in 1787, the U.S. Constitution was signed. I never cease to marvel at the foresight, motivation, and resilience required to conceive and implement America's foundation. Yet I also wonder if the framers would be turning in their graves if they knew the state of voter turnout and civic engagement in Philadelphia and other cities around the nation. Two hundred years ago, they spent countless hours drafting the wording to convey that all authority originates with the people: "We the People . . . do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

WASHINGTON - The curious case of the poisoned Pennsylvania paramour reached the nation's highest court Tuesday, as the justices parsed dry legal issues of federalism and an individual's right to challenge the constitutionality of a law. Carol Anne Bond v. United States , Docket No. 09-1227, is not typical Supreme Court fare. It involves a love triangle, chemical weapons, postal inspectors, an international treaty, and the 10th Amendment. Depending upon its outcome, however, the case could have ramifications beyond its tabloid facts.

An injunction sought by the family of a Haddonfield High School student challenging an off-campus drug-and-alcohol policy was rejected yesterday by a state administrative law judge. John Futey's decision will now be considered by the state commissioner of education, who may approve, reject, or modify it. A lawsuit by an unnamed family claimed the "24/7" policy - under which students face suspension from sports and other activities if caught drinking or using drugs - violated the constitutional rights of those accused.

Philadelphia's jails are so overcrowded and dangerous that they violate the constitutional rights of inmates, a federal judge ruled yesterday. In a scathing 76-page ruling, U.S. District Judge R. Barclay Surrick ordered the city to immediately provide prisoners with clean cells, toilets, showers, beds and medical attention, as well as to dramatically reduce the time that suspects are kept in police lockups. City jails will again be put under court monitoring - as they have been for most of the last 35 years.