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George, This afternoon I stopped at the chalkboard and cleaned off the Marshall quote and the First Amendment.  The Marshall quote was illegible because someone had written, "Bong Hits for Jesus" across it. Given the current Supreme Court case it gave me pause but I still went ahead and removed the quote. The person who wrote it is free to write it elsewhere on the chalkboard, they can walk up and down the Mall and carry a sign reading "Bong Hits for Jesus" and they can stand in front of City Council and proclaim "Bong Hits for Jesus". My removal of their "expression" didn't keep them from expressing themselves. I want to read the quote and I want others to read it so off came "Bong Hits for Jesus". After I finished cleaning the Marshall quote I was busy talking to some curious onlookers (plenty of those, and most are sympathetic or in complete agreement with me and my agenda) and then I saw a woman walk by and pause and look at, and begin to read the Marshall quote. I said to her, "Excuse me, but can I take your picture reading that?" She was a little taken aback and asked me why. I told her that I had just cleaned it and that before that she wouldn't have been able to read it and so I was very happy that she had stopped and I wanted a picture. She thanked me for cleaning it and agreed and I took her picture. It made me feel very good to have made that quote legible and then to have a tourist stop and read it. She told me she was visiting from Smithfield.  Do you realize that both engravings are more often illegible than they
are legible? I would hope that you would want people to read them. Most
of the time they can't read them because they are covered with graffiti.
If the quotes are to be effective at informing the public they must be legible. Editor's Note: The quote reads,
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