Bellefonte to pay $10K to settle federal lawsuit with flag-burning political activist
Bellefonte agreed to pay $10,000 to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit brought by a political activist who accused the borough of violating the First Amendment’s free speech clause.
The borough’s settlement with Gene Stilp was a “financial decision made by o(u)r insurance company,” Manager Ralph Stewart wrote in an email Tuesday.
Chief Judge Matthew W. Brann of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania approved the settlement earlier this month. Stilp’s attorney declined comment Tuesday.
“They ma(d)e a business decision based on the cost of fighting or settling,” Stewart wrote. “If costs were not a factor and we could fight on principle alone, we would have never settled.”
The payout was the only term of the agreement, Stewart wrote. The settlement would be paid by the borough’s insurance provider, minus any deductible.
The borough ordinance that governs open fires — which Stilp alleged was unconstitutional — will remain unchanged, Stewart wrote.
Stilp’s lawsuit stemmed from his attempted September 2020 flag burning in front of the Centre County Courthouse in protest of former President Donald Trump.
Three of the four were Trump campaign flags sewn together with either a Nazi flag, a flag of the former Soviet Union or a Confederate flag. The fourth was a combination of all of the flags.
He placed one of the flags in a steel trash can, lighted a match and started to burn the flag. It was extinguished immediately by a Centre County sheriff deputy.
The ordinance, Stilp alleged, fails to make clear whether a fire used for political demonstration is allowed. The “unconstitutionally vague” ordinance was enforced in an “arbitrary and discriminatory manner,” Stilp’s attorney wrote.
The borough denied the allegations.
Bellefonte is not the only municipality that Stilp has sued over the years. Others include Lebanon, Wellsboro, Harrisburg, Middleburg and Mifflinburg, as well as York County and the state. The settlements netted at least tens of thousands of dollars.
Among Stilp’s most recent demonstrations was a burning of a Trump flag at the State College Municipal Building on Election Day.