{"id":1751,"date":"2011-07-17T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-07-17T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/07\/arrests-for-speaking-in-an-arizona-town.html"},"modified":"2011-07-17T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-07-17T17:00:00","slug":"arrests-for-speaking-in-an-arizona-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/07\/arrests-for-speaking-in-an-arizona-town.html","title":{"rendered":"Arrests for speaking in an Arizona town"},"content":{"rendered":"Something seems familiar about this story of a couple of people being arrested\nat small town council meetings for speaking up.\n

\nBen Popken wrote for the Consumerist 15 July 2011,\n\nSmall Arizona Town In Furor After 2nd Citizen Arrested For Speaking At Town Meeting<\/a>:\n

\n\n<\/a>\nThe town of Quartzsite, AZ, population 3,466, is in disarray after a\nvideo showing police hauling away a citizen for speaking at the town\nmeeting podium went viral. The woman was saying that the town council\nhad been violating open meeting laws.\n

\nIt was the second citizen arrested at a Quartzsite town meeting in two weeks.\n<\/blockquote>\nWhat’s all this about?\n\n\n

\nTensions have been simmering in the town ever since the council raised\nsewage and water rates in order to help meet budget shortfalls. Citizens\ngot upset after there was a disagreement over whether the town council\nmeetings were being held in full accordance with open meeting rules. For\ninstance, whether all all the meetings were accessible by the public\nand whether there was sufficient public notice given as to their dates\nand times.\n<\/blockquote>\nThere was a very loud Lowndes County Commission meeting about water rates rises\na couple years ago, but nobody was threatened with arrest at that one.\nPersonally, I think the county was right on that one, and the people\nwho were complaining didn’t really need so much water for their lawns.\n

\nHowever, back in 2005\n\nthe Valdosta 15 were arrested<\/a>\nbecause some of them wanted to continue speaking in a Valdosta City Council\nmeeting.\nThe same activist, Rev. Floyd Rose, last year went long on a technical point\nabout Council meetings, and Mayor Fretti let him speak twice the five minutes\nCouncils’ rules say are permitted.\n

\n\n<\/a>\nIn Lowndes County Commission meetings, the chair has twice this year\nalluded to arrest or legal action against people speaking in front of him.\n\nonce in January on the biomass topic,<\/a>\nafter which the Chairman became conspicuously polite to anti-biomass speakers\nin later meetings;\none has to wonder whether the County Attorney had a few words with him.\nWe do know the Commission suddenly adopted\n\na rambling set of somewhat peculiar rules about Citizens Wishing to be Heard.<\/a>\n

\n\n<\/a>\nAnd\n\nonce in June on the animal shelter topic.<\/a>\n

\nAnd of course there were the county budget meetings\n\nat which no citizen input was entertained.<\/a>\nThat’s the topic on which\n\nI was cut off before my time was up,<\/a>\nas was Jessica Bryan Hughes at an earlier meeting when speaking\non animal shelter issues.\n

\nBack in Arizona, on 7 July 2011, the most recently arrested activist,\nJennifer Jade Jones,\n\naddressed the council again:<\/a>\n

\n“I know you guys believe you’re above the rules, but you’re not above the rules.”\n
\n…\n
\n“You work for us. You shouldn’t be telling us what to do —\nwe should be telling YOU what to do. That’s your job.”\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n