Caltrans to pay Minutemen in settlement over cleanup on I-5

By Leslie Berestein
Union-Tribune Staff Writer
2:00 a.m. August 6, 2009

A settlement has been reached between Caltrans and the San Diego Minutemen that gives the anti-illegal-immigration activists what they were hoping for: the right to keep their Adopt-A-Highway sign on northbound Interstate 5, a cash payment, and litter cleanup on an additional stretch of the freeway.

The settlement was reached Monday, according to federal court records. In ending the lawsuit the group filed last year, the state conceded that the San Diego Minutemen sign near the Border Patrol's San Clemente checkpoint will remain for the duration of a five-year permit, and that the group may continue to clean the highway shoulder there, said attorney Howard Kaloogian, who represented the group.

The activists had sued on grounds of free-speech discrimination. “They are pleased that justice has been done, that their free-speech rights are being respected and protected,â€