Jacksonville attorney George Gabel honored as Friend of the First Amendment

George Gabel has a tie he wears on special occasions: Its red and sprinkled with many tiny American flags.

Those special occasions? He gives a grin: This is the tie I like to wear when Im arguing First Amendment cases.

Those flags, he figures, are a not-so subtle reminder to judges and anyone else of the importance of a free press and open government. Its something Gabel, a Jacksonville attorney with a courtly, soft-spoken manner, has been fighting for since the 1960s.

For that work, he was honored Tuesday in Tallahassee with the First Amendment Foundations Pete Weitzel/Friend of the First Amendment Award.

Frank Denton, editor of The Florida Times-Union, nominated Gabel for the award, calling him a warrior for the First Amendment. He cited numerous cases in which Gabel tangled with judges and politicians on behalf of the publics right to know what is going on, noting that Gabel is always there to stand up in court on behalf of the Sunshine Laws and the First Amendment.

It is a point of passion for Gabel, who likes to quote Thomas Jefferson on the matter. And he mentions a T-shirt that Judy, his wife of 52 years, bought him emblazoned with quote from Martin Luther King Jr. that reads: Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

Without a pause, he then said: One of the things that matters to me is the First Amendment and open government.

Gabel is an attorney at Holland & Knight and has an office on the 39th floor of the Bank of America Tower, where he has miles-long views of the water and land of his hometown.

Hes become something on an institution in Jacksonville. Walking through downtown toward a lunch spot last week, it was hard for him to get more than 20 yards without someone hailing him by name.

Gabel, 75, grew up in the Murray Hill neighborhood, the second of five children. His childhood was pretty idyllic, he said people seemed nicer then, and life was simpler, safer.

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Jacksonville attorney George Gabel honored as Friend of the First Amendment