– Small Arkansas Town Wants To Ban Free Speech And Freedom Of Assembly, No “Group” Will Be Able To Meet Without Cities Permission (The Intel Hub, July 18, 2011):
A small Arkansas town of 850 is attempting to ban groups from meeting to talk about the city without first getting permission from the city itself.
In a move reminiscent of Nazi Germany, the Gould, Arkansas City Council has moved to ban all groups from discussing the city, even in their own home!
Mayor Earnest Nas, in strong statements supporting the peoples constitutional rights, said he is willing to go to court to stop this plan.
“This is America and even though this is Gould, Arkansas, this is still part of America. And in America, you can’t just vote and violate peoples constitutional rights,” said Nash.
This ordinance would effectively ban citizens from talking about the city at the dinner table, boy scout meetings, and book clubs. In fact, the ordinance is so Orwellian that the interview that the local Fox affiliate did with the mayor would actually be considered illegal under the proposed city ordinance.
A prominent lawyer looked over the ordinance and immediately deemed it unconstitutional.
John DiPippa, Dean of the Law School at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, expressed disbelief when he first read the proposed law.
“The truth is the city of Gould doesn’t have the authority to tell anyone that they have no right to petition them, no right to speak and no right to exist in their city,” DiPippa told Fox16.
If the precedent is set in Gould, Arkansas it is only a matter of time before it is proposed in a town near you.
If the city council of this town actually believes that they can legally stop citizens from talking about city issues in the privacy of their own home they have another thing coming. This is America not Nazi Germany.