Subway Owner Wins Sign Trial

La Grange Subway owner Tom Hudson won the criminal case the city filed against him for erecting a changeable electronic message sign at his business in December 2016.

The criminal charge was filed under an old version of the City’s sign ordinance. In an interview on Friday, City manager Shawn Raborn said signs like Hudson’s are still prohibited under the new ordinance, which went into effect earlier this year.

In a trial at the La Grange Municipal Court on Thursday, Oct. 26, a jury of six La Grange citizens found him not guilty of breaking a city ordinance against electronic signs like the one Hudson erected at Subway.

La Grange attorney Jeff Heintschel represented Hudson. Heintschel argued that the city ordinance did not actually prohibit a citizen from posting a sign. Rather, he argued, the ordinance prohibited the city from issuing a permit for such a sign. In addition, Heintschel argued that a list of “grandfathered” properties where the City allows electronic signs had no basis in the law.

To read more please log in or subscribe to the digital edition. http://etypeservices.com/Fayette%20County%20RecordID96/