A lawsuit surrounding whether Lebanon’s mayor should have blocked two business owners and a former resident from her personal Facebook page is expected to settle soon, and recently filed documents show the case had become extremely contentious.
The lawsuit was filed in June in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati. It alleged that Mayor Amy Brewer violated the free speech rights of the father and son owners of Lebanon Candy and Sports Cards when she blocked them from seeing and commenting on the page.
An amended complaint, filed July 21, added a third plaintiff, a former resident, who said Brewer blocked her after the she criticized Brewer’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The former resident had posted or shared photos of Brewer not wearing a face mask.
Brewer, in documents also filed July 21, alleged that the case stemmed from a personal dispute with Oley and Kevin Snowden. She said she blocked them because of persistent harassment and fears regarding her personal safety.
The documents say the Snowdens were angered by a Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area being established last year in downtown Lebanon, including on the street where their business is located.
The Snowdens began “an aggressive harassment campaign” against Brewer, the documents say – online, by telephone, in person and over text message. They even initiated a recall campaign.
In May 2020, the documents say Oley Snowden made several threats, including telling someone, “That (expletive) needs to die.” The documents also say he asked an unnamed person if they knew anyone “who would have Brewer killed for $10,000.”
An attorney for the Snowdens said Oley Snowden denies making those statements.
“It’s not credible, on its face,” attorney Joshua Engel said. “If you’re threatened, you call the police. You don’t block people on Facebook.”
Engel said two people who signed affidavits surrounding the alleged threats are involved in litigation with the Snowdens in Warren County Common Pleas Court.
Brewer had every right to block people, her attorneys say in the documents, because it’s her personal profile, “not one she operates in her official capacity as mayor.”
Brewer blocked at least 17 people from the page.
The lawsuit said she operated the page as government official, and commonly signed posts "Mayor Amy Brewer." She did that on approximately 171 posts between January and mid-July of this year.
She often uses the page to highlight events happening in the city of about 20,000 residents. And according to the lawsuit, she uses it “to communicate with constituents about issues of public concern.”
Because of that, the page became a public forum, Engel has previously said, and the First Amendment prohibits her from blocking the Snowdens or anyone else.
Engel said Friday he expects the case to be resolved soon.
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