Mar. 20, 2023 10:30p
(WGTD)---Anti-Semitic flyers were found strewn about a south side Kenosha neighborhood early Monday, just days after littering citations that had been issued last year against a Kenosha man were dismissed. Kenosha police are reportedly investigating.
The leaflets—in plastic baggies weighted down with pebbles—were found in an area near the Southwest Library. "I just walked out to my mailbox to put something in it to be sent and there was a plastic bag with a white paper folded in fourths and a few little stones at the end of my driveway," said Marieta Huff. "I was pretty sure I knew what it was because I'm a member of Congregations United to Serve Humanity and we had problems with anti-Semitic literature being dropped in other neighborhoods."
An organizer for CUSH said this was the first anti-Semitic leafleting case to surface in Kenosha since citations were handed to 57-year-old Jeffrey Kidder following a police investigation last summer.
The details of that investigation were never released, and Kidder, in hallway conversations with reporters after his court appearances, declined to admit that he was responsible for distributing the leaflets.
The littering tickets were dropped just before Kidder’s trial was scheduled to begin last week. Assistant City Attorney Bryan Charbogian couldn’t say much when questioned. "In terms of rationale, some of that stuff we get into is privileged material and I can't really go too far into rationale," he said.
Early on in the case, the state Attorney Generals’ office was notified because of the constitutional free speech issues that had been raised by the defense, but Charbogian said the office declined to participate.
City Administrator John Morrissey said it was his understanding that the case against Kidder wasn’t the strongest. Morrissey vehemently denied that the potential financial costs of seeing the case through the appeals process was a factor in the city attorney’s decision to drop the case.
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