A federal judge intervened Friday to let a Deerfield Township couple hand out leaflets outside a Kings High School football game.

        Deerfield residents Dorette and Del Landis filed suit in U.S. District Court Friday after Superintendent David Query earlier this week barred Mr. Landis from campaigning on school grounds. The Landises were joined in the lawsuit by the Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending & Taxes (COAST).

        “The court finds there is a strong likelihood that plaintiffs will succeed on the merits of their suit,” Judge Susan Dlott wrote. “The permit process outlined in the policy acts as a prior restraint on the speech of anyone, including plaintiffs, who wishes to speak on property owned by the Kings Local School District.”

        The dispute arose after the Landises distributed leaflets outside a Kings football game Oct. 4 and parked a pickup truck on school grounds with a political sign in the bed. They were campaigning for Issue 18, a controversial initiative to increase the Deerfield Board of Trustees from three members to five. Mr. Query called Mr. Landis Tuesday to notify him of the policy.

        Adopted in 1998 - while Mr. Landis was a school board member - the district's policy lets the superintendent decide what literature may or may not be passed out on school grounds. The board will probably reconsider the policy in light of the ruling, Mr. Query said.

        Mr. Query said he has no position on the trustee initiative, which is opposed by many elected and appointed township officials. The issue isn't COAST's main interest either, said Chris Finney, the attorney for the group and the Landises in the suit.

        “(COAST) wants to vindicate the free-speech rights of citizens,” Mr. Finney said after Friday's “lightning-fast, stunning victory.”

        “I'm pleased that my First Amendment rights were upheld,” Ms. Landis said.

        E-mail candrews@enquirer.com

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