I testified in the Palm Beach County Courthouse last week about a column I wrote. I did so voluntarily, despite the fact that I have fought hard — even risked jail time — many times to keep from taking the stand in the past.
Now, do you hear that sound off in the distance? It's a bunch of veteran newspaper pros all groaning in unison. They're the purists, and to them a reporter willfully taking the stand is a journalistic crime in their eyes, no matter what the circumstances.
But before someone tries to drown me in my own ink, listen to the facts of the extraordinary and groundbreaking case for which I testified, The City of Riviera Beach vs. Fane Lozman. The houseboat-living Lozman, a political activist, was fighting eviction from Slip 452 at the Riviera Beach Municipal Marina. The city's pretense for kicking Lozman off the dock was that his ten-pound wiener dog, Lady, had menaced some of the marina's residents.
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Witness for the Defense
March 07, 2007
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I testified in the Palm Beach County Courthouse last week about a column I wrote. I did so voluntarily, despite the fact that I have fought hard — even risked jail time — many times to keep from taking the stand in the past.
Now, do you hear that sound off in the distance? It's a bunch of veteran newspaper pros all groaning in unison. They're the purists, and to them a reporter willfully taking the stand is a journalistic crime in their eyes, no matter what the circumstances.
But before someone tries to drown me in my own ink, listen to the facts of the extraordinary and groundbreaking case for which I testified, The City of Riviera Beach vs. Fane Lozman. The houseboat-living Lozman, a political activist, was fighting eviction from Slip 452 at the Riviera Beach Municipal Marina. The city's pretense for kicking Lozman off the dock was that his ten-pound wiener dog, Lady, had menaced some of the marina's residents.
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The Fane Lozman Story
This is a true story of a persistent and tenacious underdog who fought against the governmental seizure of 2200 homes and businesses in 2006 only to see that same government arrest and destroy his floating home three years later, for an alleged failure to pay one month’s rent at the marina. Fane Lozman did not give up but continued the improbable climb from a county court eviction case to the US Supreme Court.
