Judge hears appeal in ongoing steel-wheel case
By Jean Caspers-Simmet
simmet@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 07/22/2010 9:17 AM
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OSAGE, Iowa —District Court Judge Bryan McKinley will rule in 45 to 60 days on an appeal tconcerning the constitutionality of the Mitchell County Road Protection Ordinance, which bans steel wheels on hard surface roads.
McKinley heard arguments at a hearing last week in Osage.
In May, county Magistrate DeDra Schroeder denied a motion to dismiss a citation issued a Orchard teenager for violating the ordinance. Colin Murphy, the boy's attorney, argued that the ordinance is unconstitutional because it prevents his client from exercising his religious belief. The boy and his family are Old Order Groffdale Mennonites. Church rules prohibit them from using rubber tires on their tractors. Schroeder found the boy guilty in March.
Murphy said that his client agrees with the first two parts of Schroeder's ruling — that the use of steel wheels by the Older Order Groffdale Conference is a religious practice and that the county's ordinance interferes with the religious practice.
But, Murphy said, his client disagrees that Mitchell County proved that the ordinance is of general applicability and that there is an overriding governmental interest in protecting roads.
He said that farm machinery with tires that have protuberances that don't injure the highway, steel tire chains if required for safety and ice grips and tire studs on school buses and emergency vehicles are exempt in the Iowa Code, which is incorporated into the ordinance.
"These exclusions undermine the county's purpose of preventing damage to the roads," Murphy said. "Why are they concerned about damage caused by the Mennonite's vehicles, but not damage caused by chains on cars or ice grips on school buses? The ordinance is filled with exceptions, which makes it not generally applicable, and as a result it must pass strict scrutiny before it can be applied in a manner to burden the Mennonites' religious beliefs."
County Attorney Mark Walk said the ordinance is neutral and of general applicability.
"If you have steel wheels with projections on a vehicle you cannot drive it on a hard surface road in Mitchell County," Walk said. "Everyone is treated precisely the same."
In his supplemental brief, Walk said that the government has the right to protect its property.
"I do not think Mr. Murphy would make the argument that Mark L. Walk, as a Lutheran, is free to go out and spray paint on the county's bridges, 'That you must be baptized to be saved,' even though that is my belief," Walk wrote. "My right to paint on county bridges ends when I start damaging the county's property. It is the same way with steel wheels. The Mennonites have an absolute right to use them. However, that right ends when they start damaging Mitchell County's property."
Walk said that the county engineer testified that steel-wheel tractors cause excessive wear and tear on the roads, especially the county's new white-top roads.
Murphy said the damage is cosmetic and no worse than the damage caused by other vehicles.