Times Herald Record -Thursday Jan 16, 1997
$20,000 has cussin minstrel singing
By Richard A. D'errico Staff Writer
WOODSTOCK - How do you shut foul-mouthed folk singer up? Give him $20,000 and hope he'll get the message.
John the Baker recieved a Town of Woodstock check worth $20,000 with his name. It cleared this week. John the Baker and the Town settled out of court on The Bakers 1 million dollar lawsuit. Remember John the Baker?
He's the one arrested in October 1994 for swearing on the Village Green. He was singing songs from his selp promoted tape tittled, "She Hates My Music. Police hated his music, too, and arrested him for disorderly conduct. Police said his songs were laced with swearing and seual references and shouldn't be sung near children. But Woodstock Town Justice Sidney Slaton ruled three months later that the section of law used to arrest John the Baker was unconstitutional.
After his arrest, John the Baker remained unapologetic, defending his vulgarity. "If I want to cuss you out right now, its legal." "i think the songs are offensive," he said yesterday. " But they're supposed to be. The music industry and the military industrial complex are obscene and thats what I'm singing about." Woodstock Supervisor Tracy Kellog said the town believed it had a strong case against The Baker but decided to pay out of court to avoid legal costs. "The way similar cases seem to be working, there would be a sympathy factor that would come into play, " she said. "I believe in individual rights but I also believe that there has to be some individual restraint in terms of how you handle yourself in a public forum when there are children around....The last thing I want is them singing songs about personal body parts."
Besides disorderly conduct, John the Baker was charged with resisting arrest, a mis demeanor. The Baker's lawyer, Russel A. Schindler, said if John had been convicted, he could have been sentenced to a year in jail. As it was, he spent 6 hours in jail. That means John the Baker was paid $3,333 for each hour spent behind bars. "we think that is fair compensation for what he went through," Schindler said.
Norman Siegel, executive director of the New York Civl Liberties Union, also was pleased by the settlement. "Hopefully, this sends a message to people throughout the State...that people do have First Amendment rights to express themselves even if we don't agree with the choise of language," he said. "And Woodstock, of all places, ....should understand this."