Porter County Prosecutor Gary Germann wants to quiet honked-off drivers given citations for honking their horns during a string of protests against President Donald Trump’s policies.
Germann said the prosecutor’s office would file a motion to defer the prosecution of citations issued for excessive noise to these drivers.
“We’re going to continue conversations with the Porter County Prosecutor’s Office on how to best ensure a safe environment for all during any future protests,” Valparaiso Police Department Commander of Support Services Joe Hall said Wednesday. “Our primary focus has been, and will continue to be, ensuring a safe and peaceful environment for all residents and visitors.”
During the Labor Day protest, Valparaiso police issued four citations for honking horns. Since then, 25 more citations have been issued, Germann said in a news release.
“From my review of the citations and conversations with the Valparaiso Police Department, I am satisfied that the citations issued were apolitical and done with the sole purpose of promoting a peaceful and safe gathering as permitted and encouraged by the First Amendment,” Germann said. “No distinction was made between who was for and who was against.”
“At the same time, I do not want to pursue a punitive remedy, but rather one that is educational, fair and one that promotes community harmony in hopes we all respect the rights of our neighbors to disagree with us,” he said.
Since April, downtown Valparaiso has experienced more than 20 of these demonstrations, Germann said. Safety is an obvious concern. “There has been at least one motor vehicle crash in which distracted driving was a major factor,” he said. That was in April.
Honking either in support or opposition to the group’s message has led to complaints and safety concerns, Hall said.
“In September, we began seeing escalating tensions between protestors and counter-protestors in the downtown area,” Hall said. “Both protesters and counter-protesters were using megaphones and noise-amplification devices, which also resulted in complaints from the downtown community.”
Also in September, Valparaiso police arrested an individual for battering two people during a candlelight vigil, Hall said. That vigil was for slain conservative Charlie Kirk.
“The complaints we received led to a meeting between law enforcement, elected officials and protest-group organizers on how to best proceed forward with everyone’s safety in mind,” he said. “We attempted to implement the prearranged plan with protest organizers for the Oct. 18 protest; however, the group elected to pursue a different path.”
Two people were arrested for physically fighting with each other in the downtown area at the Oct. 18 protest, Hall said. One driver, stopped for improper horn use, was arrested when police found he was under 21 and had open containers of alcohol while driving erratically toward the protest.
Deb McLeod, of Valparaiso, is one of the organizers of these protests. Safety is one of her concerns, too.
During the Oct. 18 “No Kings” protest that drew thousands of protesters to downtown Valparaiso, “I was in constant contact with the city and the police,” she said. “My personal belief is they were very, very concerned it was going to explode.”
Organizers have urged protesters to stay off the streets so they don’t interrupt vehicular traffic. After police started issuing tickets for honking, that, too, became an issue to address.
“We have told people, please don’t encourage them to honk. We didn’t want them to get tickets,” she said.
Earlier in the year, some protesters carried signs that urged people to honk in support of their cause, something people have done for decades for various causes. Bumper stickers urging people to do so are common.
“I know most of them would rather we didn’t have these protests,” McLeod said, but she doesn’t believe the tickets were meant to discourage protests.
McLeod thanked the police for their presence during the protests. “I think they were hyper alert. There’s nothing wrong with being on hyper alert.”
“I’m very, very happy that Gary Germann has decided not to prosecute those tickets,” she said. “We didn’t know it was going to be an issue until September when they ticketed people during the Labor Day protest.”
“If you were just driving by, you had no way of knowing people were going to be upset by honking,” McLeod said.
The protesters are pausing but not ending their demonstrations. Details of the next one are still being worked out, to coincide with protests being organized nationally. During the Oct. 18 “No Kings” protest, an estimated 3,000 showed up in Valparaiso and 100,000 in Chicago, and an estimated 7 million across the country.
“We’re not going to quit protesting,” even though the next one is likely weeks away, McLeod said.
“We’re working on letter-writing campaigns, postcard-writing campaigns,” she said. “Watching our democracy fall the way it’s been falling is shocking.”
“There’s no stopping what he’s doing,” McLeod said of Trump. She can only imagine the outrage if Biden, Obama, Clinton or even Bush had demolished the East Wing of the White House.
As the federal government continues, McLeod’s team is encouraging people to donate money, gift cards or nonperishable food to local food pantries.
Unlike the lengthy shutdown during Trump’s first term, reserves aren’t being used to continue paying SNAP funds for feeding the poor this time.
“It’s elderly people, it’s widows, it’s the working poor,” she said. “There are people who won’t eat so their kids can eat.”
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.