man arrested for talking too long at township board meeting

ridiculous

shite like this seems to be happening more and more in this country.

while i think you were being sarcastic, i'm not sure what the political affiliations are, but that would be interesting to know. the article doesnt give much detail.

This is why people hate cops.

maybe the man arrested is a troublemaker or maybe he had some legitimate gripes against the local gov't. If he had legitimate gripes - then it's a real shame what happened. If people are intimidated against getting involved in gov't - unfortunate things will probably happen.

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maybe the man arrested is a troublemaker or maybe he had some legitimate gripes against the local gov't. If he had legitimate gripes - then it's a real shame what happened. If people are intimidated against getting involved in gov't - unfortunate things will probably happen.

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At this meeting, he was given a 3 minute block - which is common at council meetings that let the public speak. Many don't and have no legal obligation to do so.

He went over that time. When told his time was up, he refused to yield. When told by law enforcement that he had to stop and leave, he refused. That is the textbook definition of interfering with government operations. He is guilty of that charge.

As far as his gripes, legit or not he has a right to air his complaints. He could do it at this meeting in his given time. He could stand on the sidewalk and do it as long as he wanted. What he could not do was disrupt the meeting.

Full disclosure - I've been a small town mayor. At the end of our council meetings, I always opened the floor for public speakers that wanted to address us. I also never put a time limit on them because in theory I agree with you. In practice, some of our meetings went very long because of this policy. If we had been a larger town, it would have impossible to have such a policy due to time constraints alone. You've got to draw the line somewhere.

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everyone in my small town has open access to talk to the mayor. He makes the rounds and stops and talks to people in their yards, at the stores, etc. He's doing a fairly good job. If he screws up, he hears about it all day long when he's out in public. Same with the police chief and cops.

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Easily the hardest job I've ever had for this reason. I wouldn't have done it any other way, but it sure would have been easier to have levels of insulation in place.

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Easily the hardest job I've ever had for this reason. I wouldn't have done it any other way, but it sure would have been easier to have levels of insulation in place.

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It's not as bad as it sounds. The Mayor has an open door policy and he's pretty honest about what he can and can't do and people respect that.