Alton Tries to Silence its Citizens

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by lagoon

The Selectmen were the ones who did not even give him 15 seconds before one of them stood up and declared what was being spoken was defamatory and left to get the police. What a huge, pompous, over reaction.
The Selectmen could have waited 5 minutes, the Chair could have directed that, and his time would have expired, end of story. Instead they caused to elevate it to what I guess will be a law suit and more money to pay Alton's attorney and then pay out yet another settlement. Not the sharpest knives in the drawer.
The citizens of Alton do have the right to both attend, and address, the Selectmen during meetings. I also believe, as do many, that the Selectmen over use, and miss use the option of going in "private session" to conduct public business. The Right to Know Laws are in place for good reason and if allowed to circumvent those rules it seems that is what some Selectmen would prefer.

Clay talked for 45 seconds and made statements which I assume one selectman thought was character assassination and left the room. When he left the room the video does not show what he did so we can't assume that he called the chief or anyone else. From what I can get out of the video the chief was already in the room from the start of the meeting.

Below is what I get out of the video that Clay said that the selectmen thought were defamatory statements:

1. Poor decisions and actions for selectmen and resign.
2. Continued violations of citizens rights and resign.

Between the remarks Clay made about the selectmen he kept saying for selectmen to step-up and resign.

Then 1 minute and 35 sec’s into Clay’s presentation the chair made a motion to shut down public discussion because of defamatory statements made by Clay.
Clay continued to talk and the chair gave him 3 warnings to stop. When Clay didn’t stop, the chair asked the chief to remove him. Clay refused to move after the chief asked him many times, so he was then escorted out of the room and arrested.

Now the court/s will have to decide whether “poor decisions” and "violations of citizens rights” is defamatory and whether the chief was wrong in arresting him.