Like many voters, Bernard Stahursky put up a sign this summer promoting his candidate.
But it didn’t just have a name. His — on Maple Avenue North — included a call to action.
“Honk 4 Trump,” it said.
Passing motorists did.
Often. At all hours.
Maple Avenue North sign.
That upset Carole Bernstein, an attorney and legal mediator, who lives across the street and works at home. Her husband, Dr. Neil Herbsman, is a New York gastroenterlogist.
It wasn’t the first time. Stahursky — a 91-year-old retired garage owner — had posted the same sign in 2020.
At the time the couple’s daughter was stuck at home, studying for a medical exam. Her bedroom faced the sign. All day long, she heard the horns.
Herbsman asked Stahursky to remove the sign. He refused. In retaliation, the couple put up a “Honk for Biden” sign.
After the election, it came down. But Stahursky’s stayed up. He added others. One said, “If you voted for Biden, thanks a lot, asshole.”
Eventually, Stahursky took his signs down. But this August — around the time of the Democratic convention — the “Honk” sign returned.
Bernstein created a log of the number of honks. On August 27, she and her husband called Westport Police.
An officer asked Stahursky to remove the sign. He adamantly refused, citing the First Amendment.
The honking continued.
Bernstein researched state law. She found “private nuisance” legislation. It says that a person’s First Amendment right ends when it impacts another person’s quiet enjoyment of their home.
In early September, she and her husband filed a complaint in Superior Court. The same day, the sign came down.
But a few days later, Stahursky replaced it with one linking Kamala Harris to pedophiles, human traffickers and drug traffickers. This one was directly across from the couple’s property.
Bernstein found a Connecticut statute that prohibits “malicious structures” targeted at neighbors. It was aimed she says, at spite fences, not signs. But she added the new sign to her complaint.
A hearing was scheduled for November 1. Stahursky’s lawyer, Eugene Zingaro, asked for an adjournment.
Bernstein and Herbsman said they’d consider it, provided the case was heard earlier.
In court this week, she, her husband, Stahursky, and his next door neighbor all testified.
Bernstein and Herbsman’s lawyer played a Ring recording of honks between August 31 and October 16. (Click here to see and listen to a driver leaving Stahursky’s home, and leaning on the horn down Maple Avenue. Click here for a second recording; click here for a third.)
Screen shot of Ring recording of a car leaving the Stahursky home.
Stahursky again invoked his First Amendment rights. He said he wanted to spread the truth about Harris and her ties to pedophilia, sex traffickers and drug traffickers, which he heard about on Fox News and Newsmax.
Judge Dale Radcliffe ruled today that since the “Honk 4 Trump” sign was no longer up, it was no longer a nuisance.
However, he added, a sign urging honking is not free speech. If the sign returns, he could issue an injunction.
As for the sign that is now up, Radcliffe ruled that while it is distasteful, it is protected speech. (Click here to read the complete decision. Click here to read the amended complaint.)
Bernstein and Herbsman are pleased that the “honk” sign is down.
Stahursky’s lawyer was pleased too. He told Connecticut Insider: “It’s unfortunate the delicate sensibilities of the plaintiffs were affected.
“Mr. Stahursky, who farms the land he was born on and who served this country in the Korean War, has earned to right to support the candidate of his choice.”
