Letter writer: Lawsuit over Trump rally doesn’t stand a chance

Graphic by Lori Deaton

Carl Mumpower, John Boyle (Asheville Citizen-Times columnist)  and company really should read the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Boyle’s recent [column] in the A C-T on protests at the Trump rally made it very clear that he and Mumpower are on the same page about it.

Once again, Mumpower announces he wants to get a lawyer and sue the city of Asheville — this time over the Asheville Police Department’s handling of the recent Trump rally. Why does the Asheville Citizen-Times write a story about Mumpower every time he gets five people at a “press conference” and says he is going to find a lawyer and sue? He only does this to get attention and look like a big shot in the newspaper, and every time, the Asheville Citizen-Times falls for it.

Mumpower mentions the Asheville swearing law in the A C-T story, and I am quite sure that the Asheville swearing law (when did they pass it — in the ‘20s?) is unconstitutional. Anyway: Mumpower, anyone can sue in federal court and go pro se, so why don’t you do it yourself? I am not that smart, but I sued the city twice pro se in New York City (where the city has an army of attorneys on the payroll) and won both times on First Amendment issues.

No attorney qualified to practice in federal court in North Carolina is going to touch this, Carl, because it is a loser, and an attorney could be slapped with big fines and court costs for filing a frivolous lawsuit in federal court, so do it yourself. The federal court clerks in Asheville will be happy to sell you a guide on how to do it and file the papers for you.

Here’s a thought, since John Boyle seems to agree with you on swearing and the First Amendment, why not team up and sue the city together? (Note to readers: I submitted this letter to Mountain Xpress because there is no way the Asheville Citizen-Times would publish it.)

— John Penley
Asheville

Editor’s note: A Sept. 23 article in the Citizen-Times reported that a state law barring profanity “on a public road or highway” was found to be unconstitutional in 2011.

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5 thoughts on “Letter writer: Lawsuit over Trump rally doesn’t stand a chance

  1. Val

    Mummy’s always been at odds with APD; several years ago MountainX had an article entitled ‘Mumpower gets hard on drugs’…
    The article went on to explain how mumpower would go into the projects within Asheville at 3am to buy crack and then go to the police station (with crack in hand) complaining to chief Hogan that he was able to buy crack and how the police are doing anything to stop The crack epidemic …

    This guy’s a real CASE!

    • boatrocker

      I don’t know what measurements crack is sold in (a rock? a nugget? a hunk?), but I’d be curious if a whole rock bought late at night was still a whole rock when turned into the APD.

      You may laugh, but quit that lest I invoke the name of Medford and numerous missing drugs from a certain evidence room as an example.

    • NFB

      Then was the time he interfered in a police stakeout. You know, anything to get attention.

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