YORK, Pa. — A York woman fighting City Hall for a decade over a religious lawn sign in the yard of her former home has won a court ruling that a local sign ordinance was unconstitutionally applied in her case.

U.S. Middle District Court Judge Yvette Kane ordered the city to pay $3,548 in damages to Sybil Peachlum and enjoined the city from enforcing parts of the sign ordinance.

"God wins," Peachlum, 47, said on Dec. 23, celebrating even though she currently has no place to erect the sign again because she lost her home in a foreclosure. "I've been harassed to the nth degree. I've faced multiple charges. This decision tells me I was right."

Peachlum's legal battle began in January 1994 when a neighbor complained about her illuminated 3-by-5-foot sign, which depicted an anthropomorphized peach holding a newspaper with the headline, "Peachy News. Jesus is Alive."

Peachlum was repeatedly cited by the zoning department and fined after refusing to remove the sign, and her permit application was rejected. In 1999, she asked the zoning department to waive the $350 appeal fee, but the city said no.

In November 1999, after she was cited four times in two months for violating the sign ordinance, Peachlum filed suit, accusing the city of violating her rights to free speech, free exercise of religion, due process and equal protection.

In a 17-page decision issued on Dec. 19, Kane ruled that the city had restricted Peachlum's free speech because the ordinance "imposes discriminatory restrictions based on the signs' content," allowing exemptions "based on the sign's function or the message it displays, in addition to the physical characteristics of (the) signs."

Kane found that the city's sign ordinance did not violate or restrict Peachlum's freedom of religion or equal protection. Her due-process complaint was deemed moot in light of the other rulings.

In June, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the city must make exemptions to the zoning appeal requirements for individuals who cannot afford the $350 fee.

City solicitor Donald Hoyt could not be reached for comment.

Peachlum said she was working toward having her own residence again. Until then, her sign is in storage.

"If I ever get to that point, the sign is definitely going back up," she said. "I will use my home as an expression of my faith."