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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

City Working Around Its Photo Ban

ST. LOUIS (CN) - A St. Louis suburb will not enforce its ban on commercial photography in a park while it negotiates a settlement to a civil rights lawsuit.

Photographer Josephine Havlak sued the Village of Twin Oaks and St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar in February. She claimed a Twin Oaks law banning commercial photography in its park was unconstitutional. Havlak had been hired to take wedding pictures.

Village officials said the ban is needed so that Twin Oaks residents can enjoy the park.

The new ordinance will state that 50 people is the largest organized gathering allowed in the park. The previous ordinance stated only 50, without making it clear whether that referred to people or vehicles, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Twin Oaks, pop. 393, is an affluent suburb 20 miles west of St. Louis. The median household income is $68,489, more than $23,000 above the Missouri average, in a community that is 96.9 percent white, according to city-data.com.

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