Article from The Daily Caller by Joshua Gill.

A New Jersey township is charging a family $2,000 per night to allow their Christmas lights display to continue, potentially violating their First Amendment rights, the family said.

Thomas and Kris Apruzzi said Old Bridge Township demanded they pay $2,000 per night that the display is on for police security services, and $1,000 to fund a bus to shuttle students home from a local school.

The Apruzzi family’s 70,000-light Christmas display has gone on for over 10 years and, while free to observe, has helped raise money for various charities. Thomas said the township’s demands are a violation of his right to freedom of speech and religious expression.

“We thought we were going to work on arrangements. But instead they said I have to pay the police department $2,000 a night to have police officers at my house to maintain order,” Thomas said of his summoning to the local police station, according to Bridgewater Courier News.

Read the entire article at The Daily Caller.

Image Credit: Wolfiewolf [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons