Coupeville resident Ken Pickard is pretty good at getting folks riled up.

And he has every right to do so.

He’s been outspoken over a variety of issues over the years, from environmental and development issues to the Big Rock. He’s rarely been known to pull his punches and can be outrageous at times.

Most recently, Pickard got some people mad by parking his truck covered with protest signs on Front Street. He is a member of the group Citizens of Ebey’s Reserve, or COER, which is critical of the noise caused by the Growler jets as they practice landing and taking off at the Outlying Field near Coupeville.

Pickard’s signs say things like, “Navy intentionally injures citizens physically, mentally, financially.”

To most people, such assertions are simply ridiculous, to say the least. Some people are rightfully outraged.

The thing is, there may be a method to Pickard’s madness. By playing the provocateur, he’s getting people to talk about an issue he wants people to talk about. And it works.

The trouble is that outlandish tactics often turn off people who might otherwise be sympathetic to a viewpoint.

That’s not to suggest that Pickard doesn’t believe the things he says or writes. Only he knows if he really believes that the Navy intentionally hurts people.

Whatever his method, he has a right say what he thinks. And the Town of Coupeville was correct in not trying to silence him, despite complaints.

As critics of COER have pointed out, the men and women who fly those Growlers are putting their lives on the line to preserve freedoms that include the First Amendment.

Free speech can be hard to take sometimes. Which is why it is written into the Constitution in unambiguous language.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”