{"id":9937,"date":"2014-08-28T11:08:40","date_gmt":"2014-08-28T15:08:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=9937"},"modified":"2014-08-28T12:22:50","modified_gmt":"2014-08-28T16:22:50","slug":"nydia-tisdales-offense-she-sat-in-the-front-row","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/nydia-tisdales-offense-she-sat-in-the-front-row.html","title":{"rendered":"Nydia Tisdale’s offense: she sat in the front row"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nLandowner Johnny Burt’s excuse for having Nydia Tisdale ejected\r\nfrom an event advertised as a public campaign rally:\r\n

\r\n

\r\n“She promptly sat down on the front row on the end where she would\r\nbe right in their face and was making everybody uncomfortable.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nShades of Ashley Paulk’s excuse for wanting that\r\nillegal bill of attainder<\/a>\r\nagainst LAKE that the Lowndes County Commission continues to selectively enforce.\r\nHe told me it was because I was “in his face” of someone speaking in\r\nCitizens Wishing to Be Heard, even though I was sitting quietly\r\ntwenty feet away, saying nothing.\r\nIf the front row, though.\r\nAnd apparently that’s Nydia Tisdale’s real “crime”: being seen to be videoing.\r\nI ask: if those candidates and their host had nothing to hide\r\nin their advertised public campaign rally,\r\nwhy did they eject someone who was videoing it?\r\n

\r\nMichele Hester wrote for Dawson News 26 August 2014,\r\n\r\nWoman arrested at rally<\/a>,\r\n

\r\n

\r\nJohnny Burt and his wife Kathy, who own the popular tourist\r\nattraction on Hwy. 52 in northeastern Dawson, played host to the\r\nevent, which initially was billed as a meet-and-greet with Gov.\r\nNathan Deal and U.S. Senate candidate David Perdue.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nBy the weekend, the rally had grown to include District 9 U.S. Rep.\r\nDoug Collins, Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens, State School\r\nSuperintendent hopeful Richard Woods and the heads of the state\r\nagriculture, insurance and labor departments, among others.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nSheriff’s Capt. Tony Wooten, who was at the event in his official\r\ncapacity, made the arrest.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“[Organizers] had requested that we have an officer presence there\r\nat the event for security and that’s what he was there for,”\r\nCarlisle said.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nWhen Tisdale refused to stop recording and leave the farm, Wooten\r\nattempted to escort her off the property, according to the sheriff.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“That’s when she kicked him in the shin and elbowed him in the\r\nmouth,” Carlisle said. “From that point on, she was charged with\r\ncriminal trespass and felony obstruction.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nTisdale maintains she had told Kathy Burt when she got to the farm\r\nof her intention to record the speakers. The Burts deny that\r\ncontention.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“What she did is she came in and told my wife and daughter that she\r\nwas there with the governor to record him, so we thought she was\r\npart of their party,” Johnny Burt said Tuesday. “She misled my\r\ndaughter and my wife.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nUm, having followed Nydia Tisdale’s videoing career for a couple of\r\nyears now, and having heard her much longer version of what she\r\ntold Kathy Burt in the\r\nsound interview with her by\r\nBrian K. Pritchard<\/a>, I would bet Tisdale talked about previously\r\nvideoing most of the candidates and Kathy Burt misunderstood\r\nthat Tisdale was with the governor’s campaign.\r\nA bit of due diligence by the landowner, or the governor’s campaign,\r\nwould have prevented this whole incident.\r\nOr a policy announced at the start of the event.\r\n

\r\nAh, someone else, in addition to Attorney General Sam Olens<\/a> and Jason Carter<\/a>, has spoken up:\r\n

\r\n

\r\nLinda Clary Umberger, chair of the local Republican Party, issued a\r\npersonal statement on the incident. Her comments, she said, do not\r\nreflect a position of the local party.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“Being a Republican woman and the chair of the Dawson County GOP, I\r\nam still troubled by the removal of a woman who was videoing\r\nspeakers at a political event this past Saturday at Burt’s Pumpkin\r\nFarm in north Georgia,” she said. “This meeting was advertised as\r\nopen to the public and there were no announcements or signs\r\nrequesting recording devices to be put away.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe local party was not involved in organizing the event.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“Though I have a respect for private property rights, I also respect\r\nthe First Amendment rights of an individual, which should be\r\nmutually respected,” Umberger said. “I believe this was an\r\nunfortunate situation that could have been avoided if cooler heads\r\nhad prevailed.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nInstead, the public is left to wonder what did the candidates\r\nor their host have to hide at this publicly announced campaign rally?\r\nWhat were they doing that made them unconfortable about being videoed?\r\nMany of these candidates are the very same people who are currently\r\nrunning the state of Georgia.\r\nWhat are they doing in their official capacities they might be\r\nuncomfortable about having videoed?\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nWe used to have this issue at our local Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority,\r\nwhere\r\n\r\nMeredith Ellis spoke up 6 January 2011<\/a>, saying\r\n“I really know that it’s uncomfortable for you sometimes”.\r\nTo their credit, the now-renamed Development Authority\r\nhas a new executive director since then,\r\na new focus on cultivating local industry as well as bringing in\r\ncompanies from outside,\r\nand it actively welcomes videoing now.\r\n

\r\nMaybe candidates running for state office should likewise realize\r\nthey need citizens to see what they’re saying.\r\nMaybe if they’re uncomfortable with that, they might consider\r\ngoing into some other line of work.\r\n

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