Monticello official says protest went over the line
By ALEXANDER H. WILLIAMS
Staff Writer
MONTICELLO - For months, a small group of protesters sat in a back row at the Monticello Village Hall with signs chastising the Village Board.
The signs read: "Shame On You," and "Taxation Without Representation Is Tyrrany."
But those protesters never made it it to their usual seats on Monday night. Instead, they were arrested.
Village Manager James J. Malloy said yesterday that he had grown tired of the protesters. They disrupted the meetings, he said.
And senior citizens had complained that the signs bumped them on the heads.
So Malloy gave the ultimatum before the meeting began: No signs allowed.
One state expert on open meetings said yesterday that village oficials may be within their legal rights to ban placards inside the meeting rooms, although arresting demonstrators is unusual.
Robert Freemanm, executive director of the state's Committee on Open Government, said nothin in the open meetings law deals specifically with signs. But if there is a disruptive element, then the government officials may enforce a ban, Freeman said.
"The people who were arrested did it clearly for the purpose of getting arrested," Malloy said. "There is a point when it becomes disruptive enough where you have to draw the line."
Five people from the protest group, Sullivan County Action Coalition, were arrested Monday night.
They were protesting Stericycle, a medical waste processing company that wants to open a plant in Monticello.
The five, charged with disorderly conduct, a violation, are scheduled to appear before Village Justice John Diuguid - a former village mayor - Aug. 10 in Village Court.
They face a maxiumum fine of $250 and 15 days in jail.
Glenn Pontier, Mary Marino and Charles Stephenson entered the meeting room Monday with their signs and were arrested and escorted out by Police Chief Michael Brennan.
Later that evening, two other members of the group, Thomas and Carmen Rue, repeated the performance.
The protesters said the Village Board did not like the protester's brand of political speech and had it banned.
"I definitely feel we had the right to get in there... As far as I'm concerned, they violated my rights," Marino said.
Arther Eisenberg, the legal director for the New York Civil Liberties Union, said if the village didn't allow the protesters to bring their signs into the meeting because they did not like the political message, then the village board has violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution allowing freedom of speech.
"It's an axiom that the First Amendment prohibits officials from penalizing certain speakers for the content of their message," Eisenberg said.
Malloy said people can still protest outside the Village Hall.
But inside, the meetings are to conduct village business, not for open discussions, he Malloy said.
Signs in support of the Village Board also are prohibited, he added.
Police do sometimes get called to tense meetings around the mid-Hudson, but rarely are demonstrators arrested.
In late June, two people almost got into a fistfight at Pine Bush school board meeting. School officials called police, but no one was arrested.
In New Paltz, Mayor Thomas Nyquist has never witnessed an arrest at a Village Board meeting. But, he said, he knows how meetings can get disruptive.
"You have to know when to cut off debate," Nyquist said.
Home | Public Issues | Sullivan County | New York State | Links | 
Questions or comments about this site: tom@rue-usa.net