When a town official attempts to take away one’s ability to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, it tends to tick off a lot of people, as it’s the least we can do to honor the freedom and overall greatness of the United States.
According to the Washington Examiner, Silverton, Colorado Mayor Shane Fuhrman learned a quick and humiliating lesson when he announced at a recent town trustee meeting that the sacred pledge would no longer be allowed to be recited.
Immediate backlash
Citing past controversies over the reciting of the pledge at Silverton trustee meetings, Fuhrman opened up a recent meeting by announcing — in no uncertain terms — that the Pledge of Allegiance was no longer allowable under his watch.
“Due to direct and indirect threats, inappropriate comments in and out of public meetings, and general divisiveness and issues created in our community, we will not be reciting the Pledge of Allegiance during Town of Silverton trustee meetings,” Fuhrman announced, which drew immediate backlash from Molly Barela, a town trustee.
“We already discussed this as a board, and any other unilateral decisions we need to know about?” Barela shot back.
Fuhrman went on the defense, clapping back at the trustee and challenging her to “find somewhere in the code” any language that would prevent him from making such a decision.
The trustee never backed down, adding, “It’s been done for a long time. We all took an oath, and we, as a board, we decided it would be done.”
The townspeople react
After the heated back-and-forth between the mayor and the trustee, the meeting eventually reached the point where it opened for public comment, and it didn’t take long for the residents of Silverton to make their frustration with the new, anti-American rule loudly known.
That was evidenced when one woman, who was called on to speak, used her turn to begin reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Moments later, nearly the entire room joined her in reciting the pledge, growing louder as the embarrassed mayor attempted to interrupt the stunning, patriotic display.
All Fuhrman could do at that point was to threaten those in attendance of being banned from the meetings in the future if they continued to recite the pledge — a silly threat which was obviously ignored as the group of Silverton residents proudly finished the patriotic American oath.
Barela reminded the mayor of the majority vote taken last year to continue reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to open up the meetings, saying, “Back in April 2020 when the newest board members were seated the mayor brought it up that he didn’t want to do the Pledge of Allegiance anymore because it’s not really a thing, it was a 4/3 vote that we continue to do it.”
“To tell members of the public they are not allowed to say the Pledge of Allegiance during public comment and threaten to have them removed that it was a one strike in you’re out policy violates every single one of their first amendment rights,” Barela added.
The post Citizens fight back after mayor tries to ban the Pledge of Allegiance at town meetings first appeared on Conservative Institute.
No comments: