I was so tempted to type wedgie….

It sounds like things are moving right along with the Fernandez Wedge, according to the Washington Post. The injunction will be heard tomorrow by a circuit court judge. All the City can do is go through the process, regardless of what all the dark screen quarterbacks want to happen. It appears that the motive this time is to send a message to VRE riders.

[More updates: I hope Sr. Fernandez is not superstitious. Poor Richard has let us know that the hearing will probably be Friday the 13th.]

From today’s Washington Post:

A Circuit Court judge will weigh in as soon as tomorrow on the structure, after Manassas officials filed an injunction against Fernandez on Monday when he refused to stop construction. That came after Brian Smith, the city’s chief building official, issued two violations to Fernandez on Sunday, including a stop work order and a building code violation. Both notices threaten to bring criminal charges against Fernandez, 48, who immigrated to the United States from Mexico in 1979.

“Let them put me in jail. I’m not going to remove my message,” Fernandez said this week, after spending $1,600 on lumber, plywood and white, waterproof vinyl panels that are typically used on bathroom walls but have provided Fernandez with a durable canvas for his thoughts.

If Fernandez receives a court order to remove the structure and fails to comply, he might end up in jail, but it’s not clear whether the city would be able to remove the installation after that. Then again, Fernandez said that his current message is temporary and that he might dismantle it in two months — unless, he said, Manassas officials “make it difficult for me.”

[UPDATE: Current wedge and sheet signs at 9500 Liberty Street  2/9/09.]

Close-up

24 Thoughts to “Update on the Manassas “Wedge””

  1. Gainesville Resident

    Hah! That’s a good one about wedgie – MH!

  2. He “MIGHT remove it in two months?”…THAT is very telling. He just wants the city to leave him alone until he can get the publicity generated, just like last time. It didn’t happen overnight then either. I’m sure he believes that the City is stupid, and sufficiently cowed by him, that he can drag this thing out again as long as he likes. If he’s right, and he could well be, be prepared for another long siege…and tempers rising proportionately.

  3. Gainesville Resident

    He also threatens to leave it up longer if the city “makes things difficult for him”.

  4. That’s just a ruse, Gainesville…he hopes that the City will be stupid enough to believe him so that he CAN drag this thing out for years again.

  5. Poor Richard

    – Headine – “Fernandez Gives Old Town Manassas Wedgie” ?

    (It is my understanding that this is slated to be in court on Friday – the 13th)

  6. Moon-howler

    Poor Richard, I will make that update if you will get me a positive on that Friday 13. I was going by what the post said real early this morning.

    And I like YOUR title better than mine. I behaved. I didn’t want to, but I did.

  7. Poor Richard

    – As anyone who has had even minor dealings with the judicial system knows,
    court dates are often moved (Was a witness to a shoplifting several years ago
    and the hearing was delayed five times). Know the WaPo stated “as early
    as tomorrow” for the Wedge, but, as far as I know, it is now slated for the 13th
    – of course, that too may change. Stay tuned.

  8. Slowpoke Rodriguez

    From his comments, it sounds like Mr. Fernandez says “let them put me in jail”. That seems like right thing to do here.

  9. Carroll Ave

    Good for Fernandez for exercising his right to free speech. And I agree with him 100%, if not more so.

    A nice wind needs to come along and transform the ridiculous Mayor Parrish into a hurling projectile.

  10. Moon-howler

    Too bad he can’t find a way to exercise his free speech that doesn’t detract from the overall appearance of his community and disturb the tranquility of the neighborhood.

  11. SecondAlamo

    Highway billboards don’t have anything to do with free speech, but even if it did I wouldn’t want to see one in my neighbors yard. Free speech doesn’t exactly mean you can stand on your roof at 2AM and scream political comments for hours on end, or at least that wasn’t our forefather’s intent. Now tell me I’m wrong.

  12. Agueda M. Dominguez, 38, said she was sprayed in the face with a chemical agent and beaten by a Manassas Park police officer after refusing to sign a citation that she couldn’t read.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/04/AR2009020403774.html?sub=AR

  13. Dominguez said that when she refused to sign the citation, the officer ordered her out of the car. He repeated the command, then sprayed a chemical agent in her face, she said.

    “He pulled me out of the car, threw me against the hood and threw me on the ground,” said Dominguez, adding that she was not resisting arrest but trying to wipe the stinging chemical off her face.

    Dominguez said the officer struck her, grabbed her by the hair and slammed her face into the concrete, lodging bits of gravel and sand under her skin while handcuffing her. She said she was in handcuffs when she woke up several hours later at Prince William Hospital.

    Who’s the real criminal?

  14. M-H,

    Tranquility of the neighborhood? I wonder if Agueda M. Dominguez would agree.

  15. Slowpoke Rodriguez

    Mackie!!!! I knew you’d come through! I can’t believe it took this long for it to come up! I know you were there and know ALL the facts of the case. Let’s Hear It, Mackie….Testify!!

  16. Leila

    SecondAlamo, did you say you wanted to be told you’re wrong? Ok. You’re wrong. There are lots of First Amendment cases dealing with highway billboards and political speech. So yes, highway billboards have to do with free speech.

    On the standing on the roof bit, Fernandez isn’t doing that. If he were, I guess he would be open to accusations of disturbing the peace if it was at 2 am. But since he isn’t screaming, it’s irrelevant. There are really very few restrictions on political speech, as in justifications for the government to take action. Fernandez’s speech isn’t a clear and present danger, for example.

    My question is, could he have obtained a permit for something like this? After all, there are an awful lot of aesthetically horrible commercial signs out there. Presumably aesthetics are not the criteria if you have the proper permit.

  17. Leila

    Wow Slowpoke, must be a slow night huh. Why you getting on Mackie when Mr. Letiecq has a 60 plus comment thread on the incident and he has been defending the woman?

  18. Slowpoke Rodriguez

    I’ll be completely honest with you, Leila….it’s a bit boring over there lately. Actually, it’s not real slow with Obama’s administration melting, but I seriously can’t believe there’s not a “get all lathered up” thread on this!

  19. SecondAlamo

    Leila,

    There’s free speech, and then there’s respecting your neighbors. If everyone chose free speech over common respect, then our communities might become trashed with such displays. I don’t think anyone wants that, but that is what Fernandez is forcing. I guess his blog wasn’t getting any attention (0 comments).

  20. Moon-howler

    Mackie, that incident was not in the City of Manassas and has nothing to do with with this topic. Were you there? I was not. I am going to wait until more information comes in rather than make an ass of myself and get on a high horse over something that is alleged, at this point.

  21. Moon-howler

    Slow, We do try to deal with facts. Sometimes it is better to give things like that a few days to see what facts are reported rather than to get all lathered up, as you say. Getting lathered up has no shelf life. We can get lathered up if the need arises once we are on firmer earth.

  22. Censored bybvbl

    Ummm – I’m now hearing that there’s a sign between two trees.

  23. silver fox

    You heard RIGHT!! We now have two eye-sores in the City of Manassas.

    I can’t help to be curious. Will the new sheet sign be marching through the streets of Manassas to the courthouse this Friday.

  24. Rasputin

    The new sheet was not compatible with our recent wind storm. It isn’t smart to piss off Mother Nature.

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