Georgia high court strikes down ordinance barring delivery of free paper
The Associated Press
05.18.99
ATLANTA — A Sylvania, Ga., ordinance aimed at stopping a publisher from tossing free weekly newspapers onto yards and driveways is unconstitutional, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled yesterday.
The court said Sylvania's ordinance, which was designed to curtail littering from the weekly Penny-Savers that went unclaimed, was so broad that it banned everything from a political brochure to a Jehovah's Witness pamphlet to a neighborhood newsletter.
"The Sylvania ordinance bans a substantial amount of speech that residents may want to hear and that the city has not shown creates litter or destroys its beauty," Justice Norman Fletcher wrote for the court.
The court also said the Sylvania ordinance's suggestions that the publisher distribute the product by mail or by hand delivery were unreasonably expensive.
Justice George Carley dissented, saying the ordinance does not ban free speech but merely imposes reasonable restrictions on how it is delivered.
Sylvania, an east Georgia city of 2,900, enacted the ordinance in 1992 because of concerns about litter from the weekly shopper. Statesboro Publishing Co. continued to toss the paper onto more than 900 yards and driveways, but also conducted sweeps within three days of delivery to collect unclaimed copies.
When the publisher threatened to sue if the city enforced the ordinance, the city went to court and won a ruling from Superior Court that its ordinance was constitutional. The publisher appealed.