Quote:
Originally Posted by dave603
"3. When addressing the Board, all speakers are to conduct themselves in a civil manner. Obscene, libelous, defamatory or violent statements will be considered out of order and will not be tolerated. The Board Chair may terminate the speaker’s privilege to address the Board if the speaker does not follow these rules of order."
These rules seem to have been re-written this year.
I don't know if that was in there before or not, but it's
almost like they had this guy in mind when they wrote them.
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That's the way I understand it. The selectboard revised the policy and stopped showing live televised meetings. This aggravated Clay and now he wants them to pack their bags and go to...wherever??
Here is an article that is in the fosters this morning:
Clay claims he was hurt when arrested by police chief
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
ALTON — Right to Know advocate Jeffrey Clay said Monday that Alton Police Chief Ryan Heath physically hurt him when he was arrested for disorderly conduct at a board of selectmen's meeting on Feb. 3.
Clay, who has sued the Dover School Board for allegedly violating New Hampshire's laws about public meetings, was arrested by Heath after he asked members of Alton's board of selectmen to resign, during a public forum at their meeting, earlier this month.
The entire incident was captured by a local cable access television channel and posted on fosters.com. It shows that Clay sat down before the board, during the public forum, and said, “Every time I show up here, it is my most fervent hope that I am going to find that you folks have resigned. But you continue to show an unwillingness to step up to the plate and take responsibility for your poor actions as selectmen and resign. I am asking you to do that now.”
One of the board members said, “This is character assassination.”
Board Chair R. Loring Carr asked for two points of order as Clay continued to talk about the selectmen's actions. Carr asked his fellow board members if they felt Clay's statements were libelous and inflammatory.
Less than two minutes into Clay's statements, the board voted in favor of closing down their public forum because of the comments.
That did not stop Clay from speaking. He remained in his chair and started reading definitions of integrity, honesty and character.
That is when Carr told Clay, “You are done.”
Heath, who was in the audience, was asked to address the issue. He moved a set of chairs next to where Clay was sitting and approached him.
“You want to take your hands off me, please?” Clay asked Heath.
When Heath did not back away, Clay said again, “Take your hands off me, please.”
Heath told Clay that he had been asked to leave. Clay asked Heath if he was under arrest. Heath replied that he would be if Clay did not comply with his orders.
Clay again started to speak. Heath reached into his pocket, pulled out a cell phone and called for police back up.
After Clay finished reciting the definition of audacity, which means boldness or daring, especially with confident or arrogant disregard for personal safety, conventional thought, or other restrictions, Carr warned Clay for a third time.
Heath placed Clay under arrest. As he did, he pulled on Clay's left arm and led him from the room with that arm behind his back. That is when Clay says he was physically injured.
“Alton's Chief of Police threw my left arm up behind my back, causing severe pain,” Clay said in a letter sent to Foster's editors on Monday.
Clay said in the letter that he takes no pride in being arrested, but he takes “great pride” in the First Amendment and freedom of speech, and in citizens' duties to “hold public officials accountable when they violate laws and people's trust.”
“This is exactly what I was doing when I was arrested,” Clay said.
Lt. Todd MacDougall of the Alton Police Department said Tuesday that Clay was charged with two Class B misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct. These charges carry a fine as their maximum penalty.
Clay vowed to fight the charges against him.