Fayette County Solicitor Steve Harris has declared he won't prosecute

persons cited with violating the county's sign ordinance for having

more than one political sign in their yard.

Harris claims the ordinance is unconstitutional. But that issue is yet

to be decided, State Court Judge Fletcher Sams says in a recent letter

to Fayette County Administrator Chris Cofty.

Although Harris has the authority to dismiss individual cases, "I

believe he has no judicial authority to invalidate laws or to declare

them unconstitutional," Sams wrote in the letter. "This is

the responsibility of the judiciary.

"The judicial canons of ethics prevent me, any judge or judicial

candidate from prejudging any issue likely to come before our courts," Sams

wrote in the letter. "Therefore, I assure you I have neither formed,

nor expressed, any opinion as to the legality of Fayette County's

Sign Ordinance. This letter should not infer to anyone how this court

will rule. If any constitutional challenge to Fayette County's Sign

Ordinance is presented in this court, I will adjudicate that issue to

the best of my ability, only after all parties have had an opportunity

to be fully and fairly heard."

Harris, who is running for a Superior Court judgeship against incumbent

Tommy Hankinson, says the ordinance limits Fayette residents to expressing

their support for just one candidate in one contested race whereas someone

might wish to support several candidates in different races.

"Displaying a sign from a home carries a message quite distinct

from placing the sign somewhere else," Harris wrote in a recent

letter to Cofty. "In addition, residential signs are unusually cheap

and convenient as a form of communication, especially for persons of

modest means."

In support of his argument, Harris cites a Georgia Supreme Court decision

in a Union City case that political speech can't be restricted by

a sign ordinance.

The county's sign ordinance only distinguishes between commercial

signs and non-commercial signs. The ordinance allows just one non-commercial

sign per lot that can be no bigger than six square feet and no taller

than three feet.

Cofty said the county has "always enforced the ordinance regarding

signs" and recent actions have not been targeted at any person or

persons seeking office.