Saturday, October 1, 2016

"I had no idea what a bunch of nuts they were,"

An interesting result came up when I "googled" "Killington cartoons", which may or may not be relevant to the current ostracism of local cartoons from our local newspaper. 


This is an excerpt from the book "Drawn to Extremes: The Use and Abuse of Editorial Cartoons" By Chris Lamb published in 2004.


""a lawsuit can have a chilling effect on free expression, especially for a smaller newspaper or one that belongs to a chain that puts profits above journalism."
Freelance cartoonist Tim Newcombe drew a cartoon for the Barre-Montpelier (Vt.) Time Argus that poked fun at the Killington, Vermont, ski resort for wanting to change the state laws so that it could make snow using sewer waste. Newcombe said he marked the ski resort in the cartoon "Killington" because not all resorts in the area wanted to do it. Killington's official response to the cartoon was, "You have people believing they need snowshoes and plungers to ski here," which Newcombe called ridiculous. Attorney Robert Hemley, who represented Newcombe and the Times Argus, said that the Killington ski resort brought the suit, "maliciously  not because they thought there was any merit to the lawsuit but rather to chill expression of opinion contrary to what their position was."
Killington lost the lawsuit but clearly intimidated Newcombe, who drew no more cartoons of the resort while the case was active. Later, when Newcombe agreed to exhibit the cartoon at a nearby art gallery, Killington went to court the next day and filed a lawsuit against him for displaying the the drawing in public. Newcombe said the American Civil Liberties Union agreed to defend him. "I had no idea what a bunch of nuts they were," Newcombe said of Killington. "I can't believe they made such a fuss over it."

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