'Herschel 2022' banner joins 'Trump Won,' 'Let's Go Brandon' signage on Seagrove Beach home

SEAGROVE BEACH — Marvin Peavy has tripled down on his insistence that Walton County is infringing on his free speech rights, hanging a third massive political banner down the side of his home along Walton County Road 30A, a scenic two-lane beachside route along which signage is tightly controlled.

The newest banner to hang down more than two stories of Peavy's Seagrove Beach home where he routinely spends part of each week reads "Herschel 2022" in support of former University of Georgia football player Herschel Walker, who is seeking a U.S. Senate seat in Georgia. Running as a Republican, Walker is part of a crowded GOP field headed toward the state's May 24 primary.

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The pro-Walker banner joins two other banners on Peavy's home — one reading "Trump Won," supporting the erroneous view that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election, and the other reading "Let's Go Brandon," a veiled insult to President Joe Biden.

Walker was an integral part of the University of Georgia's 1980 national championship team, and he went on to play professional football in a career that began with the New Jersey Generals of the now-defunct United States Football League. Interestingly, the team was owned by Trump during part of Walker's playing days, and Trump has endorsed Walker in the Georgia race to pick a Republican challenger for the U.S. Senate seat now held by the Rev. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat.

Peavy was cited late last year for the "Trump Won" banner under county sign regulations for the County Road 30A Scenic Overlay — which includes properties immediately adjacent to the road — that prohibit "(s)treamers, feather flags, pennants, ribbons, spinners and other similar devices."

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The new pro-Walker banner won't result in an additional citation against Peavy, according to Mike Lynch, the county's code compliance manager.

"Once we have a code case open on a property, basically the property is in violation," Lynch said. At Peavy's property, he added, "since it's all a sign or banner, we don't stack those."

At a November hearing when the "Let's Go Brandon" banner also was hanging from Peavy's home, he was ordered to pay a $1,269 fine for the "Trump Won" banner and was ordered to take down both banners.

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Within days of the hearing, counsel for Peavy filed a notice of appeal in Circuit Court.

The appeal itself was filed in February, arguing that there were technical problems with the way that the county notified Peavy of the violation. It also contended that the county's sign regulations "suppress too much speech."

In a text message exchange on Sunday, Peavy said he was not worried that hanging the pro-Walker banner would jeopardize his appeal of the county ruling on the two other banners.

"I'm fighting for my First Amendment right," Peavy said in a text message, adding, "It is campaign season."

Political signs are exempt from restrictions placed on other signs in the 30A scenic overlay district, but the regulations are clear that such signs are temporary, and must be removed within 15 days of the end of a political campaign.

And again, Peavy was not cited for having political signs hanging from his home, but was instead cited for violating the regulation prohibiting streamers and other similar devices in the 30A Scenic Overlay.

The county responded to Peavy's appeal in April with a brief stating, in part, that the county's regulation of signage along the locally designated scenic corridor is well within the bounds of federal court decisions that have upheld restrictions on signage as acceptable regulation that doesn't unduly limit constitutionally protected freedom of expression.

"The images of the banner at issue in the record of this matter speak loudly as to its purely aesthetic impact on a scenic highway," the brief from county land-use counsel Steve Hall stated.

The county's brief in the case — the issue is assigned to Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Lewis — also argued that Peavy doesn't have standing in Circuit Court to argue the constitutionality of the county's sign regulations, as he and his counsel attempt to do in their brief.

Instead, the county contends Peavy and his lawyer are limited to addressing only the sign regulations under which he was cited, which the county argued in its brief are "... valid content-neutral regulation which is narrowly tailored to serve the substantial interests of the County in the treasure that is known as Highway 30A ... ."

In a required procedural move May 3, Peavy's counsel filed a "notice of constitutional question" with the court, letting both the State Attorney's Office and the state attorney general know that they had raised the constitutional issues in the case.

This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Seagrove Beach homeowner hangs 'Herschel 2022' banner to 30A home