Bellevue, Ne hears complaints about 'truth truck' (huge aborted fetus pix free speech or "obscene")

[Omaha Steve]

Published Tuesday April 28, 2009
Bellevue hears complaints about 'truth truck'
BY JOHN FERAK
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

One by one, the Bellevue City Council heard Monday night from about a dozen Nob Hill residents disgusted by the "truth truck" and its graphic photos of aborted fetuses.

About 25 neighborhood residents packed the chambers at City Hall to implore officials to put an end to their visual nightmare. They want the city to adopt an ordinance aimed at prohibiting the truck from driving repeatedly through the neighborhood of a woman who works at an abortion clinic.

Eric Smith told the council about the horrific images and psychological trauma that the "monster truck" has brought to his two sons, ages 9 and 4.

"My oldest son was walking his dog when he came upon photos of mutilated fetuses . . .," Smith told the council. "At 9 years old, he was obviously unprepared to see images of bloody corpses within the safety of his own neighborhood."

Now, several of the kids are afraid to play outside, some parents told the city. Some children have had nightmares about "the scary truck," as one parent called it. Others get frightened anytime they hear a UPS truck rumble.

"This isn't about pro-life or pro-choice beliefs," said resident Michelle Routt. "It's about what type of activities can be allowed in residential areas . . . I urge you to draft and pass an ordinance banning any protesting activities from residential areas."

FULL story at link.

[Dogmudgeon]

1. Thank GOD they weren't pictures of BARE TITTY!

Otherwise, the children would have been traumatized for life.

The local Republican Party would have been calling for the Nebraska National Guard.

And can you imagine if they were pix of tush -- or bush?

Oh, the humanity!

--d!

[geckosfeet]

4. I know. You would think that showing a breastfeeding woman is terrorism.

IYAM, I think this graphic display of mutilation is a form of terror. At some point the courts will need to decide where the line between free speech and terror should be drawn.

[Why Syzygy]

2. Terrorism.

Terrorists always justify themselves, don't they.

[drm604]

3. They're traumatizing these children.

They only care about them before they're born. They have no problem with traumatizing them afterwards.

[Warren Stupidity]

5. Can we find a giant picture of an asshole?

Right next to that truck? With the words: GOP?

[MADem]

6. They need to write the ordinance in a way that includes any graphic image.

Anything that can't air during the cartoon hour oughta be off limits in residential neighborhoods. That'll handle it.

[sinkingfeeling]

7. Where's the link?

[rebecca_herman]

9. think I found it

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10620656

[ProgressiveProfessor]

8. This is going to be hard to shut down legally, and I am not sure it should be

Picketing away from work and the use of stark and offensive imagery were common over the Vietnam War. While I vehemently support a woman's right to choose, limiting demonstrations like this is a slippery slope. What if the pictures were of war dead? Would we be so quick to denounce it?

[Control-Z]

10. The images displayed

on these giant trucks are FAKE, doctored, exaggerated. They are lies. (Not that I would likely be comfortable with even honest images being used where children are present.) There are places where I expect to see graphic images. My neighborhood is not one of them.

The first time I was confronted with images like these was on college campus - placards as tall as I - and without warning. It was so shocking to me I couldn't turn and get away fast enough. Even as an informed adult, I felt assaulted and traumatized. I can only imagine how a child would react to seeing something so horrific from their own front porch.

'What if the pictures were of war dead? Would we be so quick to denounce it?'

In a residential area with children present? Yes.

I certainly have no desire to limit our freedoms, but I view these images as worse than most porn, which is illegal to display and parade publicly. I don't know what the legal answer is, but I do know the moral one.