Commissioners should be charged with a federal crime

Published 10:00 pm Wednesday, September 9, 2015

To the editor:

I think everyone is missing the point here. I was a volunteer with the county for several years and, like you, I find it difficult to believe that good volunteers are cast aside due to politics, but that isn’t the point here.

The point is the first amendment to the constitution.

According to Wikipedia, “The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances. It was adopted on Dec. 15, 1791, as one of the ten amendments that constitute the Bill of Rights.”

According to Cornell University Law School, what does the right of free expression encompass? The government may not a) prohibit one’s own expression; b) prevent one from receiving another’s expression; c) compel one to express certain views; d) foster adherence to an ideological viewpoint; or e) compel one to subsidize speech to which one objects. It is the right to express one’s beliefs, without any form of governmental interference that is at the heart of “free speech.”

“Without any form of governmental interference.” The volunteers not only have the right to sign the petition, but they also have the right to not fear repercussions from local government because of their actions.

Everyone who knows me knows that I am apolitical. I don’t talk politics or religion. That was the way I was raised. However, this removing of two volunteer animal cruelty investigators because they signed a petition, has me angry enough to say something.

As a retired Marine, I am proud of my uniform and proud of all Marines living and past. This was a slap in the face to all the many Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines who gave their lives in wars so that we as Americans are free to think, act and vote for what we believe without repercussions from our local government.

I think we should start a fund and hire an attorney and start federal legal action, since it is an obvious disregard of the constitutional rights of two citizens of Polk County.

I have been sitting on the sidelines too long. General John Stark in 1809 said, “Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils.” Time for a change Polk County. Time to stand up and stop rewarding incompetence. We forget that the commissioners work for us. If this were an employee of mine I would fire them. Misters Pack, Gage and Holbert, there is a storm coming and you are standing in its path.