Our Town is able to regulate the time of day that the Bandstand/Public Plaza area is used as well as the manner of its use. What the Town can not regulate, once our requirements of time and manner are met, is who uses the area and the message they convey. The right to assemble and express ones self in a public area is a well known and protected Constitutional Right.

The Town of Bethany Beach has recently received attention and criticism because of a planned "rally" by the "Aryan Nations" an infamous organization of white supremacists.

The Town received a request from a person purporting to be a member of the "Aryan Nations" asking to use the Bandstand/Plaza area for a rally to protest illegal immigration. It was clear to the Town that even if it refused to officially register the group to use the Bandstand/Plaza, the group, being well versed in its member’s Constitutional rights, would hold a rally regardless. In order to meet legal requirements, exercise some control over the rally and have it conducted in a time and manner that better suited the Town, the Town officially registered the group’s use of the Bandstand/Plaza.

It has been portrayed that the Town has the ability to refuse to allow this group to meet in a public place and publicly express their views. That is not the case. The same laws that allow a Scout master to bring his Troop to the Bandstand/Plaza for a presentation during the summer or a Minister his Congregation for an Easter Sunrise Service are the same laws, which protect this group. We have no legal power in Bethany Beach to abridge Constitutional rights of assembly and speech, regardless of how noxious we find the message, and that we believe is what our Founder’s intended.