City pays up after harassing photographer

Anyone with an interest in the beauty of roads, bridges, dams, and power lines should perk up when they read this story.

In 2005, an art professor was stopped by police in Snohomish, Washington, for photographing power lines for an art exhibit. She was stopped despite the fact that the power lines are visible in plain sight and there are no laws against photographing publicly visible structures like this.

Cops handcuffed and frisked her and placed her in their patrol car for 25 minutes.

Now, after she sued the city, the city has settled with her over this incident to the tune of $8,000.

This follows a similar case in nearby Seattle. In 2004 (when American fascism was at its peak), an individual was arrested for photographing a set of canal locks. The city paid the same sum - $8,000 - to settle this claim.

These cases are of interest to me, because of my own innocent photography of roads and structures. And these cases are of interest to anyone else who gives a damn about our constitutional liberties.

In free societies, we don't arrest folks for photographing structures anyone can find in plain sight. Anyone who'd use terrorism to excuse the arrest is guilty of letting terrorists win.

(Source: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/406968_aclu08.html)