November 21, 2006
To the Editor of the
An opinion piece published by your paper under the title “Disobedience or Disrespect?” draws conclusions not based on fact. I am the person who first stood up at the Orange City Council meeting with his back to Mayor Mims Hackett. May I be permitted to explain the circumstances?
My action was not premeditated or coordinated with any group and certainly had nothing to due with property-revaluation and tax bills. I simply could not tolerate any more inappropriate interference by the Mayor in City Council procedures. Council President Tency Eason (the Mayor’s cousin) had just admonished Councilman Donald Page and silenced him as “out of order,” when the Mayor leaned forward and whispered into his cousin’s ear. The Mayor then proceeded to take the floor and lecture the audience. I certainly would not have objected - if this was an isolated event. It was not.
Under our check and balance form of city government, the Council is supposed to be an independent and equal legislative body, separate of the executive position of mayor. The mayor is, by statute, a guest at council meetings, but may enter into discussions and debate, if recognized properly by the Council President. This separation of powers is the bedrock of a political system instituted to protect our citizens from abuse of power and cronyism. Since I started attending Orange Council meetings, I have witnessed many examples of the Mayor interceding and even controlling Council meetings.
There was no disobedience at that Orange City Council
meeting because there was no disruption and no rules broken. I stood up to protest abuse of office. Others
that I talked to after the meeting told me they were protesting the Mayor’s
actions also. For whatever the reason,
peaceful protest is protected under the Constitution of the
The above letter was sent in response to Opinion
editorial, below, in the Orange Transcript,
[Acting Police, Chief Aric Webster, directed that citizens standing silently in peaceful protest be removed from the council chambers.]
Disobedience
or Disrespect?
Civil disobedience has been known to have effected major changes in our lives.
For example, the protests of the late 1950s through early 1970s led to
civil-rights protections based on race and gender.
Those protests often were based on
logical and realistic reasoning. Those
that were not often were unsuccessful.
Members of the
It was bad enough that many of the arguments for rescinding tax increases or restricting property-value
increases were not realistic or legal. We noted this in an earlier editorial
that discounted the tax group’s
suggestions.
During the
This was not, as tax-group members stated, “civil disobedience.” This was a
childish form of disrespect. Perhaps these members believe they had been
ignored previously. They have made statements, screamed and yelled, but they
believe the council has not listened.
Actually, council members have gone out of their way. They have listened and
even agreed to extend the fourth-quarter payment deadline to Dec. 15. That is
45 extra days many municipal bodies might have granted just 20 or 30 days but
the leader of the tax group wanted 60 days, to
Tax-group members may feel their silent protest will generate the “positive”
media they believe will attract property owners to their cause. However, we
believe their actions do a disservice to residents who may encounter problems
in paying their taxes. These residents may have hoped for help from this group,
but instead they have been disrespected.