In what the Minutemen call a total victory, a California judge grants them a preliminary injunction to have a sign replaced that the California Department of Transportation reassigned to another location.
To see the borders and coastal boundaries of the United States secured against the unlawful and unauthorized entry of all individuals, contraband, and foreign military. We will employ all means of civil protest, demonstration, and political lobbying to accomplish this goal.
As of now, they show the border watch total as, 30,671 Illegal Aliens Sighted; 326 Rescues; 13,710 Intruder Apprehensions from 26 Countries Confirmed by Border Patrol.
Background.
Video at YouTube here and below of news account.
The trouble started in November when the Minutemen applied and was granted an Adopt-A-Highway permit at the Border Patrol's San Clemente checkpoint from the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans).
Once granted a sign went up for the Minutemen and they were allowed a litter cleanup permit for that stretch of road.
The founder of the San Diego Minutemen, Jeff Schwilk, received a letter from Caltrans, welcoming them to the Adopt-A-Highway program and they received training and conducted their first cleanup of the stretch of road in January without a hitch.
When the Minutemen sign went up, the trouble began.
Enrique Morones who is a Mexican-American immediately declared that he would see to it the signs came down, saying there was “no way we were going to let these hate groups promote themselves on our freeways.”
He registered complaints with the Governors office, Caltrans, the California Latino Caucus and Latino legislators, demanding that the sign be removed and claiming it was a “huge security and safety risk to allow these signs and members of the SDMM to ‘work’ alongside our roads.”.
In January, after the Minutemen had conducted their first cleanup of the road, Schwilk received another letter.
Subsequently, Schwilk received a letter from Caltrans District Director Pedro Orso-Delgado stating, “The location of your existing AAH permit has raised questions regarding public safety due to the proximity of your assigned highway segment to a U.S. Border Patrol facility that is co-located with the CHP San Clemente Inspection facility.”
Orso-Delgado, who bought into Morones allegations that the group’s participation at the assigned location posed significant risk of disruption to the operation of the state highway, as well as public safety concerns for both the traveling public and participants in the AAH Program, told Schwilk the SDMM’s AAH permit “is hereby modified and the related courtesy sign will be moved,” and stated there was another “more suitable location” along State Route 52 near Santee for assignment to the SDMM under the program.
In February the San Diego Minutemen, with the help of their attorney, former North County Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian, initiated a lawsuit against Caltrans on the basis of free speech, with Kaloogian saying, "I think that they have made a bad decision, which violated our clients' equal rights."
In the meantime, four months after the suit was filed in court, Caltrans suspended the Adopt-A-Highway program, putting permit applications on hold while they reviewed the guidelines for the program.
Schwilk commented at that time, saying, "They are discriminating against a group of American citizens because they don't like our political message of 'Secure the borders.' "
Preliminary Injunction To Restore The Sign.
While the lawsuit was still pending, in May, the San Diego Minutemen organization filed for a preliminary injunction to have the Minutemen signs reposted until a judgment in the lawsuit was made.
On Friday, June 27, 2008, Judge William Q. Hayes, granted the Minutemen their preliminary injunction against Caltran saying that there was not enough evidence supplied by Caltrans to support their claim that the signs posed a safety risk, with Kaloogian later calling those claims "bogus".
Will Kempton, the Director of Caltrans issued a prepared statement saying that Caltrans was considering it options, including appealing the decision and also stating, "It's regrettable the court did not agree with our concerns for the safety implications. We are reviewing the judge's decision and determining next steps.”
The judge gave Caltrans 30 days to restore the sign.
I will end this with a question that writer, Logan Jenkins, asks in an article he writes for SignOn San Diego.com, "How many taxpayer dollars will be blown as Caltrans, an agency commissioned to build and maintain roads, struggles to determine who, and who is not, good enough to pick up trash on the shoulders of the highway?"
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