Alton Tries to Silence its Citizens

[P-3 Guy]

Originally Posted by Merrymeeting

In normal circumstances, most would agree. But in this case, this is a "citizen" who has been continually disruptive, refuses to conform to Robert's Rules and other norms of public behavior in meetings, and is preventing the meeting from proceeding.

At some point it stops being free speech and just becomes obnoxious.

Speech can be both obnoxious and protected by the First Amendment. It's not an either/or proposition. If everyone in government agreed with what everyone else said, we wouldn't need a Constitutional amendment protecting speech.

I don't know how it works in Alton, but generally when citizens at a Selectmen's meeting get a chance to address the board, the rules are that they have a set time and that whatever is said stays within the bounds of decorum. There are no Roberts Rules involved - no one is making a motion or taking a vote. Based on what was contained in the editorial, it doesn't sound like any rules were broken, just some thin-skinned public officials got their feathers ruffled and overreacted.