1st Amendment rights
By Rick Moran
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site: tom@rue-usa.netMonticello arrests raise question of public safety,
1st Amendment rights
By Rick Moran
MONTICELLO - In what could end up being a classic confrontation of basic principles, five members of the Sullivan County Action Coalition were arrested Monday evening by Monticello's new Chief of Police, Michael Brennan, after Village Manager James Malloy ordered that demonstrators' signs were to be banned from village board meetings for safety reasons.
Malloy maintained that there had been complaints from other citizens that they had been struck by the signs in the close quarters of the meeting room, while a spokesperson for the protesters maintained that arrests were limited to members of the Sullivan County Action Coalition and that other people at the meeting also had signs, and were not arrested.
Before the village board meeting on Monday evening, Malloy issued an order to Chief Brennan, banning protester signs from the meeting room.
Malloy maintained that the signs were both disruptive and dangerous and noted that the state's Open Meeting Law does not prohibit government from banning signs for those reaons.
The village manager's decision to take action then set in motion a classic confrontation between the rights of protesters under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution to meet and speak on a public issue vs. the mandate of govenrment to keep the peace and conduct business in a safe fashion.
The question now is how far the arrested protesters will go in the legal system to answer that question.
Arrested at the meeting were Glenn Pontier, editor of the Narrosburg-based River Reporter, Mary Marino, and Charles Stephenson.
Later in the evening, Thomas Rue and his wife, Carmen, were also arrested.
The five were charged with disorderly conduct and released. Each faces a maximum fine of $500 and/or 30 days in jail for the infraction under state law.
They will answer the charges in Village of Monticello Justice Court before Judge John Diuguid, who was often critized by the same group when he left the office of Village of Monticello mayor to be appointed as village justice earlier this year.
A spokesperson for the protesters said Wednesday that village officials disliked the active criticism of Sullivan County Action Coalition, and banned the signs to limit their method of communicating at village board meetings.
The group has used the signs at various meetings as a tactic during the last several months. Village Manager Malloy maintains that his action to ban the signs was based strictly on the safety of the others in attendance.
The issue being discussed, which apparently turned out the protesters last Monday, was the village's consideration of a medical waste disposal plant proposeal by Stericycle within the village limits.
Village Manager Malloy noted that it is the business of the village to consider such issues and that the area residents have every right to speak on those issues, but that such discussions should be within the framework of the meeting.
Malloy maintains that past protests by members of the Sullivan County Action Coalition have disrupted village board meetings and endangered the safety of visitors to the meeting room, thus prompting Monday's ban.
Malloy added that the group does have a right to protest, but that in the future, demonstrations and signs will be limited to outside the village hall.
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