Return to The Canfield Fair Part 2

I tried to set up a meeting over the course of the next month or so, only to be stalled by Fair officials. Five months later, in February, I was contacted by fair officials that they were ready to meet with me. I suspect they waited until they felt confident that I wasn't going to sue. I brought with me a folder containing, the paper given to me by Vogrin stating that I was evicted from the fair for, “Taking unsolicited pictures of fair patrons without their permission causing alarm”. It also contained a print-out from the fair's website, encouraging random crowd photography, a copy of the newspaper article pertaining to the incident, a copy of another newspaper article that had been written about me a few months earlier outlining my positive community involvement, a copy of all our local laws pertaining to people's right to privacy, and an outline of, “photographer's rights” prepared by a prominent lawyer, and my wife Nikki to take notes, and be my witness. Let me pause here, and tell you in a nutshell what, a photographer's right is. It should matter to you, because I'm sure you're a photographer. In this day and age, we all are. Nearly everybody has a camera on them at any given time, and are likely to take a photograph in public. In a nutshell, you have a right to photograph anything that takes place in public. If you are at a public event on private property, your rights remain in tact, as long as there is no posted photography policy. No police, or private security, have a right to question you, about your photography, let alone detain you, or touch your camera. We met with Judge Jim Evans, Chief of Security at the fair, and Bev Fisher, Fair Manager. Evans started out by stating that I had, “caused quite a stir” that day, and how lucky I was that security had protected me from, “getting my ass kicked”. I asserted that I hadn't done anything that day that thousands of others hadn't done, and that I didn't deserve to be attacked, let alone singled out, and punished while my attackers walked away. Evans said no one else pissed someone off by taking their picture. “Pissed off or not,” no one had the right to attack me for engaging in an activity that was encouraged by the fair, and then to be punished by the fair, was literally adding insult to injury” I said with a tone of irrepressible insolence. Evans told me that I was right, and that they had to thank me for bringing to light the fact that the fair has a long standing unwritten policy of not allowing photography. I told him that was absolutely ridiculous, especially considering their web-page stating, “We Want Your Photos”. He said that they had hired a P.R. Firm to do the website, and they'd have to do something about that. “That's no excuse!” I replied angrily. Incidentally, as of  today, August 28, 2010, that page is still featured on their website. I suppose it was apparent that I wasn't interested in being cordial. “Look, what do you want, what are we doing here?” Evans asked. “I want to be able to return to the fair without fear of being jumped, or arrested for trespassing.” Evans smiled and said in a condescending tone, “You can come back to the fair, and enjoy yourself like anyone else as long as you don't take anyone's picture without asking them.” I replied that Vogrin had made me sign a paper stating that I had been notified that I was evicted from, and denied access to the fairgrounds property, and that failure to comply would result in charges filed against me, and that I would like that amended in writing, and signed by him (Evans). “I told you that you could come back to the fair, you won't be arrested” Evans replied. “Then you won't mind amending this, and putting your signature to it” I said. “I'm not signing anything, my word is good enough!” he replied, voice raised, “What else do you want?” “I have a constitutional right to freedom of expression-that includes creating an image through the use of photography, or other means without being attacked, detained or harassed. My rights have been infringed upon, and there are remedies available to me. Coercion, and harassment, are criminal offenses. It was unlawful for those people to instill a fear in me that they were going injure me, take and damage my property, and falsely accuse me of a crime just because I was taking photographs, and I have a right to know their names. No one had the right to inquire about the photos I had taken, let alone view, and delete them, without a court order, I offered in the hopes of defusing an ugly situation, look where it got me.” I said. “Your rights! Your rights! Look at ya, ya peace-lovin'... “Evans replied indignantly, and then caught himself. “If you were so concerned about your rights, and being attacked, why didn't you press charges?” he asked. “I was never told that option was available to me, I wasn't given the names of my attackers, I sincerely believed that the situation could have, and should have been resolved amicably for all parties involved at the time of the incident.” He told me, “That was your mistake, now what do you want?” “I would like the names of the people who physically attacked me.”He told me I would given them, but I never was. “Has John Vogrin been reprimanded for illegally acting on his ignorance of my constitutional rights?” “I'm sick of hearing about your constitutional rights.” Evans said. “If you're not concerned with my constitutional rights, maybe you should consider a different line of work” I said. “Don't worry about Vogrin, I've talked to him about this” Evans said. I can only imagine that conversation, I'm sure they had a good laugh. “John Vogrin reiterated his incorrect assertion publicly in an interview with The Warren Tribune Chronicle on September 8, 2009, I've worked hard to establish my public standing, through donations of my artwork to local charitable organizations, and participating in community art projects. This incident has hurt that standing. Are you willing to make a press-release recanting Vogrin's assertion?” “We're not recanting anything” he said with a smirk, “What else?”. “When they took my camera, they brought it back to me with the memory card removed. There was no reason to remove it, If the Canfield fair has copies of my copy-righted photographs, they must be destroyed.” Evans said he didn't know anything about that, and asked what else I wanted. “I would like you to amend, and sign this eviction notice, for all I know, I'll show up at the fair, and be arrested, because I don't have anything in writing stating that I'm allowed back at the fair-grounds.” “How dare you call my integrity into question? I told you could come back to the fair, I'm not going to sign anything!” Evans shouted. “I guess we're done here.” I said, and with that Nikki and I left. After our meeting with fair officials, Bev Fisher, and Jim Evans, I will officially be allowed to return to the fair. I guess it's official even though I couldn't get anything in writing. Does that mean that it's over, no harm, no foul? Not hardly. There was harm, and a foul. Vogrin challenged my first amendment right to freedom of expression. He asserted that a professional photographer or artist couldn't capture the image of a person in public without that person's permission, for their own profit, or otherwise. He made that assertion to me in private, and publicly in The Warren Tribune Chronicle article about the incident. This seems like a gray area for most folks, so let's take a closer look at the issue. Please join me tomorrow for what may or may not be the final installment in this story.

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