A Denham Springs homeowner and the city have apparently settled their differences in the dispute over the homeowner's display of a hand extending its middle finger towards her neighbors.
The dust-up began when the woman set up lights during the holidays that resembled the obscene gesture. A police officer ordered her to take it down or face fines or other legal repercussions, until the ACLU got involved and helped the homeowner secure a federal court injunction allowing her to keep the display.
The Advocate of Baton Rouge reports the homeowner and the city reached a settlement in principal Friday in which the city will not take action against her for the display.
Had the issue gone to court, Loyola School of Law professor Dane Ciolino says the city would have had a tough time proving the display fit into the narrow limitations of the First Amendment.
"It's their burden to show that this speech is likely to inflict injury or that it's likely to lead to an immediate breach of the peace," Ciolino explained, "not just that people are offended."
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