Newspaper carrier settles suit with mayor

FLINT, Mich. – A mayor who was feuding with The Flint Journal agreed to pay $150,000 to a newspaper carrier detained at City Hall while making deliveries, the American Civil Liberties Union said.

The deal, which requires City Council approval, would settle a lawsuit filed against Mayor Don Williamson by the ACLU of Michigan on behalf of carrier Tom Hansen.

The suit claimed that Hansen’s constitutional rights were violated in September 2004 when police questioned him as he tried to deliver papers to subscribers. Hansen was released without being charged.

The arrest came two months after Williamson issued an executive order prohibiting city employees from reading or having non-work-related reading material on city property during work hours. The order came after an executive order calling for a boycott of the Journal because the paper had criticized his policies.