Veteran’s right is to express

By The Daily Progress

Published: November 28, 2008

You can’t be patriotic on our own National Mall?

That’s what a local veteran and those who might like to support him have discovered.
Our own government has blocked John P. “Big John” Miska from silently handing out memorial poppies and quietly accepting donations.

Now the Vietnam vet is fighting back.

Assisted by The Rutherford Institute, he is suing the federal government alleging violation of his constitutional free-speech rights.
Mr. Miska, commander of the Ruckers-ville post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, often travels to Washington to si-lently hand out VFW poppies to passersby. He says he does not force them on people who don’t want them, or require them to either pay for them directly or to provide a “donation” in return. However, he usually has a donation bucket indicating that gifts are used by VFW Post 8208 to support wounded troops.

Even though Mr. Miska never asks for a donation, he says, he has been told by park police on several occasions to stop accepting gifts.
National Park Service rules prohibit panhandling on the famous D.C. Mall.
We can understand regulations a-gainst panhandling. But the term is typically considered to refer to begging that is aggressive or coercive. Mr. Miska’s passive approach would not seem to fit this category under Washington’s panhandling law.

“This is not about me,” Mr. Miska told The Daily Progress (“Local veteran sues in free speech case,” Nov. 25). “This is about everybody’s rights. There has been a constant erosion of our constitutional values and constitutional rights. If we do not stand up for our rights, we lose our rights.”
The most recent incident cited in his suit shows how, indeed, this case is a-bout our rights. On July 4, the suit said, a group of women tried to donate money, and a Park Service volunteer told them to stop. Mr. Miska also was ordered to leave, and Park Police then threatened to confiscate his poppies and arrest him.
Now, it’s bad enough for the Park Service to deny Mr. Miska his patriotic calling to honor and seek to help his fellow veterans. It’s especially outrageous that police would threaten arrest and confiscation on the Fourth of July, of all days. (To be fair, police were doubtless under extra stress dealing with crowds and security on July 4.)

Adding the outrage is the fact that Park Service personnel accosted potential donors. They didn’t just tell Mr. Miska he was violating regulations, they interfered with those who wished to support him.

That potentially means if you went to the Mall and wanted to give a gift to your neighbor from Ruckersville or to help the vets because your child is in Afghanistan, you could be stopped.
It’s not just Mr. Miska’s rights that are being interfered with, but yours as well.

We reiterate: We understand the concern about aggressive panhandling.
But Mr. Miska’s right to express support for veterans by handing out poppies should not be abridged — nor should the right of any passerby who wishes to contribute to his effort. This kind of voluntary exchange between two persons — two free persons — should be beyond the reach of government regulation.