A first amendment lawsuit against Blackshear Police Chief Chris Wright and the City of Blackshear has been resolved.
At their June meeting, the city council unanimously passed an amendment to the Parades and Demonstrations Ordinance to comply with details of an agreement to have the lawsuit dropped.
In May, the city council had adjourned into an approximately 10 minute closed session to discuss the item under the litigation exemption. The council approved the settlement and scheduled the second reading of the amended ordinance for this month.
All this began over a year ago when U.S. Army veteran and retired truck driver Jeffrey Gray of St. Augustine, FL, came to Blackshear in January, 2022.
Gray held up a sign in support of homeless veterans in front of Blackshear City Hall on Taylor Street.
Blackshear Police Chief Chris Wright said he was contacted about a man blocking the entrance to city hall, a point which Gray denied.
Gray claims he was on public property on the sidewalk in front of City Hall and declined to leave.
Surveillance footage obtained from City Hall revealed that Gray was, at one point, standing in front of the doors to City Hall.
Wright informed Gray that according to city ordinance, he would need to get approval from the Blackshear City Council to hold a demonstration in front of city hall.
Gray was issued a citation for violating the city ordinance. The citation would later be dismissed as part of an agreement between the City of Blackshear and Gray’s attorneys.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) filed a suit in federal court on behalf of Jeffrey Gray. In the agreement, the city agreed to end the ordinance on permitting for first amendment related demonstrations and the police department will stop enforcing the ordinance. Further, the city agreed to donate $1,791 to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. In exchange, FIRE said it would drop the lawsuit.
FIRE originally requested $1,779, saying the amount was in honor of the year the First Amendment was first ratified. Others observed the ratification actually took place in 1791 and decided to include more money to support veterans.
Gray frequently visits communities to conduct “first amendment audits”, exercising his first amendment rights by holding up signs and silently demonstrating on various causes. He records his interactions with public officials and features them on his YouTube channel.
The First Amendment Clinic at the University of Georgia School of Law filed on behalf of out of state parties Gray and FIRE.
Blackshear City Attorney Adam Ferrell and Travis Hall of the Macon law firm Chambless, Higdon, Richardson, Katz and Griggs represented Wright and the city.
