City Council is poised to introduce a new automated traffic camera ordinance that could clarify any language thrown out in a pending ruling by Jefferson County Common Pleas Judge David Henderson.

Henderson held a four-hour hearing Thursday on a request by attorney Gary Stern and his wife, April, for a permanent injunction stopping the use of the cameras. The city began using the Traffipax portable cameras on Sept. 22, but the practice was halted on Dec. 5 when Henderson issued a preliminary injunction. The cameras were mainly used on Lovers Lane, Ohio 7 and in front of Harding Middle School.

Stern has maintained the city failed to follow its own ordinance by failing to publish notice of locations of the cameras; failing to erect conspicuous signs; and failing to maintain a list of locations to be monitored by the cameras. Stern also has alleged the traffic camera ordinance is unconstitutional because it makes a criminal offense a civil violation and violates the due process rights of the driver by allowing a city police officer to hear appeals of the tickets.

The city, through Assistant Law Director Costa Mastros, has maintained the city can regulate street traffic because it has home-rule authority as a charter city.

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Like the calvary rushing to the aid of the wrong troops, four Republican senators who had earlier declared battle against the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping have now proposed to give the surveillance program five years of near-bulletproof protection.

The new measure by Mike DeWine of Ohio, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Olympia Snowe of Maine would significantly expand the administration’s power to intercept U.S. citizens’ international phone calls and e-mails without obtaining a warrant — even when they have not been implicated in any crime. It also would let the surveillance continue with much less oversight than Congress demanded in previous laws.

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Red light camera proposals were rejected in one state and two cities yesterday.

The Virginia House of Delegates defeated an effort to reinstate the controversial red light camera program that the legislature terminated last July. Senator Kenneth Stolle (R-Virginia Beach) had inserted a provision into an unrelated bill to reauthorize statewide photo ticketing and the bill passed the Senate 31-8 last week. The measure died yesterday when House Speaker William J. Howell (R) ruled the amendment was not germane.

In Kentucky, the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council voted 13-2 to direct Mayor Teresa Isaac to drop the idea of installing red light cameras.

Montgomery, Alabama’s city council also voted 5-4 to reject a measure to authorize red light cameras. (see story below)

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As it began exploring the use of red-light cameras Tuesday, the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners heard from a skeptical public concerned about traffic enforcement and “Big Brother” surveillance.

“I feel a human being can make a better judgment call than a camera,” Kansas City resident Lamar Mickens told the board during an evening public forum at which about a dozen persons spoke.

“This is an encroachment on freedom,” said Jim Stoll. “I find the Big Brother syndrome to be very distasteful to me.”

A few speakers favored the cameras to deter what they see as a major cause of auto accidents. But the majority questioned whether the city is trying to protect the public or simply wants to increase revenues through more traffic tickets.

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The Montgomery City Council voted down Mayor Bobby Bright’s proposal to use cameras to monitor red lights on some city streets Tuesday.

Under Bright’s proposal, the cameras would take pictures of a violator’s license plate and the red light at selected intersections in the city. The photograph would be sent to the vehicle’s owner, along with a citation

The mayor said Tuesday he will continue to work to get the proposal passed.

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