The Voice That Would Not be Silenced

Samuel Shaw has become a household name in Bedford Indiana. Sam Shaw is a staple of free speech, and his hand painted red and white yard signs have caught the attention of many across this fruited plain. His lot lays in virtual disarray while a inverted American flag flies proudly on an old tattered garage door. Not much about the man Sam Shaw is known. People who know him say he is a pleasant man, friendly to the neighborhood kids and passer bys who stop to view his signs.

While not much is known about the man Sam Shaw, his political views are quite well known, posted on large white plywood signs in red lettering. While one would think the neighborhood would be in an uproar about such an eye sore neighbors just smile and say “Oh that is Sam’s place. We just sort of got used to him by now.” While most people would be on the offensive about such a thing friends and neighbors alike have gone out of their way to insure Mr. Shaw has and keeps his right to express his views. They have paid his fines and have stood up for him at public meetings.

Samuel Shaw has been labeled the obsessive sign maker by locals and the press alike who drive by regularly to check out the latest news from Sam’s front lawn. This local icon might soon be forced to pack his signs up and leave however, the city of Bedford has forced Sam to tear down his house because it did not meet public safety codes, and they have further decided that the lot needs to be cleared of any and all debris that might in their very loose terms harbor a health risk to local residents.

Local residents who have no real opinion on the ever present signs say they don’t really have a problem with the city’s decision, what they have a problem with it the method in which they used. Sam Shaw wasn’t in the words of locals hurting anyone, and what one does on his own property is his own business. “What the city of Bedford is doing goes against everything out forefathers fought to protect.” Said one neighbor who later informed me he didn’t really like the signs personally, but what he liked even less was the way the city thinks it can delegate authority and relegate free speech or the exercise thereof.

The city has thus far been unsuccessful in it’s attempts to silence the voice that would not be silenced. Sam Shaw is still updating and painting his signs, and does not plan to quit anytime soon.