LUKE SKRABLE: Shown in one of his earlier efforts to petition City Hall over grievances.

An update on the battle by Luke Skrable, a Southwest Little Rock civic gadfly, to have his voice heard in city government.

To summarize: Skrable has been banned from City Hall for more than three years as a result of a terroristic threatening charge successfully filed against him by City Manager Bruce Moore over an e-mail sent by Skrable after he wasn’t allowed to speak at a City Board meeting. A federal judge ruled recently that the city’s ban of Skrable from all city property was unconstitutional and instructed it to tailor something narrower to deal with Skrable.

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Since then, City Attorney Tom Carpenter has drafted a series of modified bans that allowed Skrable to be on city property, except downtown, and said if he behaved for three more months (through early November), he’d be allowed to enter City Hall. But it says the ban can be extended should Skrable do anything violent or violate city “policy.”

Skrable’s lawyer has quit his case and the judge dismissed it before Skrable knew this. But he’s filed a petition on his own for the judge to consider whether the city is acting unconstitutionally in extending his ban through November.  Her office has accepted the filing as a status report in the case. The city has also informed Magistrate Beth Deere of its evolving probationary proposal for Skrable.

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Skrable attended a “Chat With the Chief” session last week in Southwest Little Rock. He stood outside and distributed a handout related to his unhappiness about police response to discharge of firearms in his neighborhood. City Manager Moore was at the meeting.  Said Skrable:

I did not go inside and participate but I greeted citizens and the door and handout my handout in a lawful manner as this was the first day I was allowed back on city owned property without fear of being arrested for trespassing. 

It’s past time for the city to man up and let Luke Skrable attend City Board meetings. Perhaps the federal court will support the First Amendment if the city will not.

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