Littleton – A group of Littleton residents was expecting a constitutional showdown, risking jail for the right to wear anti-Wal-Mart T-shirts to a zoning board meeting tonight.
But Mayor Jim Taylor said it’s not going to happen.
“We’ll change the requirement, and nobody will be arrested,” Taylor said Sunday, “unless they’re being disruptive and intimidating others.”
The residents want to block a new 24-hour Wal-Mart Supercenter proposed for South Santa Fe Drive, arguing it would bring more traffic, noise and lights to the area.
Town managers had imposed a rule forbidding T-shirts and signs before a zoning hearing on the issue last week, and a handful of Wal-Mart opponents were told by police to remove or cover their T-shirts, or to leave.
The city manager’s office imposed the rule because police were concerned about a large, angry mob at the hearing, assistant town attorney Brad Bailey said.
The crowd that night exceeded 200. No one was arrested by the half-dozen police officers who enforced the ban.
The meeting was called to a halt after four hours and continues tonight at 7 at the Littleton City Center.
Wal-Mart opponents – longtime residents, parents and grandparents – wore their T-shirts outside the building Sunday and promised they would be back tonight.
“It gives us the opportunity to voice our opinions without saying a word,” Tony Marquez said.
Resident Jeff Kimes said that without the T-shirts, officials might assume a larger number of town residents supported the proposed store.
Gloria Shone, a volunteer with the town library, museum and other civic causes, said that what she described as an attempt to muzzle her and other Wal-Mart opponents “is not something the city should be proud of.”
Before Mayor Taylor announced the rule change, Denver civil rights attorney David Lane told opponents at city hall Sunday that he would represent them at no charge if they were arrested, both in municipal court and in a federal lawsuit over the violation of their constitutional rights.
He was confident he would win.
“I’ll give you 21 points and Littleton,” he said, referring to the odds in the sports-wagering vernacular.
Staff writer Joey Bunch can be reached at 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com.
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