Pr. William Owner Defends Sign as He Removes It
Court Sets Condition To End Case Over Pro-Immigrant Wall


By Jennifer Buske
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 7, 2008; Page PW01

A Mexican flag, crumbled cement and a gnarled piece of plywood covered in blue and red lettering were all that remained at Liberty and Prince William streets Friday.

After standing for almost a year, the 12-by-40-foot pro-immigrant sign that was a symbol of pride for some and an eyesore to others tumbled to the ground Thursday, 15 hours before its owners appeared in court, accused of violating Manassas city code.

"A year has passed since we placed the first message on the wall, and I don't know how to express that I'm proud we made this decision," Gaudencio Fernandez, 48, said in an interview later. He built the sign to protest what he called "racist" policies that target illegal immigrants in Manassas and Prince William County. "We feel happy knowing the wall did its job but at the same time sad because we loved it."

Although the sign was gone Friday when Fernandez and his wife, Delia Alvarez, arrived at Prince William General District Court, its image lived on as the couple and about a dozen supporters entered the courtroom wearing shirts that displayed a photo of the sign and said "Mexicanos Sin Fronteras" -- Mexicans Without Borders, a pro-immigrant group.

The couple faced the judge after receiving a letter from Manassas officials in May stating that their property at 9500 Liberty St. and sign did not comply with city codes and ordinances. Two violations were listed in the letter -- one regarding the failure of the owners to obtain a building permit and the other about trash on the property.

The judge gave the couple until Tuesday to remove all remnants of the sign from the property. If that happens, the charges will be dropped, the judge said.

"We express our support to the Fernandez family, and we were proud when they made the decision to use their property to [address] the civil rights struggle," said Ricardo Juarez of Mexicans Without Borders. "What Fernandez did was use his right of free speech, and we stand behind him."


Kristi Caturano, attorney for the city, said the city and Fernandez's attorney, Mark Voss, have been discussing the case for weeks.

The two parties agreed that if the sign and its supporting structure came down by Friday evening and the debris was cleared by Tuesday, the charges would be dropped.

Fernandez, however, said he took the sign down of his own free will.

He said he would like "to let everyone know that the Fernandez family decided to remove the wall by their own decision and not under any pressure" and added that he thinks more people support the sign than not. "We did it in good faith. . . . We want to work with all the community."

The billboard was plastered last September on the remaining wall of a house destroyed by fire in 2006. The sign, which sported blue and red block lettering, became known as "the liberty wall" and quickly sparked a heated debate.

Some supported it, saying Fernandez had a right to free speech. Others were appalled by the message, which compared the local governments' actions to those of the Ku Klux Klan, among others.

Manassas City Manager Lawrence D. Hughes said the city took awhile to act because of the free-speech issue. In the end, however, the city determined that Fernandez had violated code because he failed to obtain a building permit before he fortified the structure.

Fernandez said he plans to build another wall, one that is 201-by-14 feet. He said it will be similar to the original sign. He also started the Web site http://libertywall.blogspot.com to make sure the wall lives on.

"We will follow all the rules and in the near future get a special-use permit to build a new wall on the same land," he said. "I would put up a lot more [walls] if I had the room to denounce any crime of discrimination against our community."


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