Another lawsuit has been filed against the City of Crossville regarding circumstances that former city officials were involved in. A lawsuit was filed against the city in January by former police chief Rodney Shoap citing instances of discrimination and defamation of character. That lawsuit also names former city council member Jesse Kerley and former interim city manager Steve Hill. Now the city is being named in another lawsuit filed by J.R. Blankenship. Kerley has also been named in that lawsuit along with Ivy Gardner. Blankenship says his constitutional rights of freedom of speech and freedom of press were violated in a series of events that led up to his placing, what Kerley termed “unsigned flyers”, around various businesses in the city. Kerley claimed that the incident was in violation of the city’s code, and reportedly called for Blankenship to be charged. This incident kicked off a “war” between Blankenship and Kerley. Blankenship was charged and fined, by City Judge Ivy Gardner, $50 per flyer for a total of $1500. Blankenship contested the fine, and says that the City of Crossville violated the Constitution when they superseded the Supreme Court’s ruling on such local ordinances in a 1960 act. Blankenship has requested a jury trial along with damages and punitive damages. The lawsuit was filed by Attorneys Edmund J. Schmidt III and Joseph H. Johnston of Nashville.