Tea Party of Bradley County says it’s first amendment rights have been violated

Perilous times are upon our city and county. Basic God given rights are being threatened on a consistent basis.

Our enthroned government has become so presumedly powerful that the general citizenry is now becoming fearful of its entity of government. Any resistance to it’s force is viewed upon as hate speech or being contrary. Defending against tyranny, restoring a lost republic, pursuing life, liberty and happiness is no longer viewed upon as valiant or brave, but pitiful by it’s elected representatives.

Recent actions to limit free speech upon it’s citizens by a runaway government is indicative of the times of the day where citizen participation in matters of freedom are frowned upon.

We have seen government abuse and it is very ugly. The sadness of this reality outweighs the strength of those words.

People are being criminalized and marginalized in Cleveland Tennessee by our elected representatives for portraying the actions set forth by our forefathers which among other subjects gives us the right to free speech.

When, on June 18th, 2012 this mayor and his court took a vital liberty from it’s citizens by passing a resolution 7 to 0 to basically hunt down, expose and imprison law abiding citizens for exercising free speech.

A travesty was committed and a protected innocence taken away by an assembly of men well intended to disperse and quash free speech in Cleveland Tennessee. Feeling threatened by your citizenry for challenging bad policy should never be reprimanded in a public or private setting with freedom stealing resolutions.

Free speech is being perceived as a threat instead of a reassurance of our inalienable rights and the people mocked for exercising our rights.

Let it be known that no entity or establishment of government will stifle, delay, quash or eliminate our most basic right as a free people.

Reverse the recent resolution that took away our rights and replace it with a confirmation of our free speech rights.

Our leaders witnessing this debacle should be standing side by side with the people making these demands. Our leaders should be rallying to the aid of their people being stripped of their rights. Instead, we stand and gaze from a comfortable distance as the slaying ensues.

Where are the supporters of freedom. Shame on any man that adds to our demise by doing nothing. Why are detractors in abundance when it’s people are quashed. This phenomenon may only be realized when our detractors have all our rights in their fists!

Freedom once lost is exactly that, lost!

The only thing that is standing between inprisonment and freedom for its people are these very well written constraints below, that at the moment still rule the land.

United States Constitution, First Amendment:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
― (United States) Congress

Tennessee State Constitution:

Article 1, § 19. Freedom of speech and press; defamation

That the printing presses shall be free to every person to examine the proceedings of the Legislature; or of any branch or officer of the government, and no law shall ever be made to restrain the right thereof. The free communication of thoughts and opinions, is one of the invaluable rights of man, and every citizen may freely speak, write, and print on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty. But in prosecutions for the publication of papers investigating the official conduct of officers, or men in public capacity, the truth thereof may be given in evidence; and in all indictments for libel, the jury shall have a right to determine the law and the facts, under the direction of the court, as in other criminal cases.
http://www.tncrimlaw.com/law/constit/I.html#21

Thursday, August 9th, 2012
Bradley County Tea Party says its rights abused

by Randall Higgins
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2012/aug/09/tea-party-says-its-rights-abused-tennessee/?local

CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Tea Party of Bradley County members are warning the Cleveland City Council not to interfere with their right to free speech.
On June 18, the City Council voted for a resolution supporting a city police investigation into the distribution of leaflets in South Cleveland. The anonymous leaflets, left on doors and porches, warned that a city renewal plan meant taking over about 300 homes in that area and tearing them down.

Alarmed people who contacted City Hall were told that was not true.
After the council’s vote to find out who distributed the leaflets, tea party members came forward and admitted doing so.
Police Chief Wes Snyder sent a memo to the council, stating there were no criminal violations and that the tea party members’ right to speak could not be restrained.

On Monday, attorney Stuart James, on behalf of the Tea Party of Bradley County, sent a warning letter to the council and announced he wants to address its members at their next meeting Monday.
“As you know, political free speech is protected by the Tennessee and United States constitutions,” James wrote in the letter. “Although free speech is not an absolute right, free speech is protected. Moreover, free speech is protected from retaliatory actions by governmental bodies, such as the City Council. “Therefore, any resolution attempting to undermine those rights is in and of itself, constitutionally suspect. Moreover, the City Council may have exceeded its authority and may have violated the Constitution of the United States of America and the Tennessee Constitution attempting to pass a resolution designed to stop the exercise of free speech.”

Donny Harwood, president of the Tea Party of Bradley County, said Wednesday the group is being proactive.

“That’s a great portion of what we do, getting information to the public,” he said. “We can let them trample on our right to free speech or we can take a stand.”

Mayor Tom Rowland said Wednesday the city has no response, but James is welcome to speak to the council.

“We did receive the letter,” he said. “There were some inaccuracies in it.”

The county, Cleveland and Charleston hired a consultant to look at growth potential through 2035 and a batch of proposals came out of that study, but no final plan has been suggested or discussed.
There may be future opposition to the renewal plan, as well, James wrote in the letter.
“Any actions by the City Council to quash or quell free speech will be met with the appropriate response to enforce and protect the rights of individuals and organizations to exercise their free speech,” the letter stated.
James asked the council to repeal the previous resolution and adopt instead a resolution calling for protection of free speech in Cleveland.

Rowland routinely invites anyone not on the council’s meeting agenda to comment at the beginning of the official sessions. The council meets Monday at 1 p.m. for a work session and at 3 p.m. for its official voting session.

Swat team raids US farm, fresh veggies deemed unsafe for guests consumption

Health department raids community picnic and destroys all food with bleach

We were told our food was unfit for consumption and demanded that we call off the event…

Quail Farm
The evening was everything I had dreamed and hoped it would be. The weather was perfect, the farm was filled with friends and guests roaming around talking about organic, sustainable farming practices. Our guests were excited to spend an evening together. The food was prepared exquisitely. The long dinner table, under the direction of dear friends, was absolutely stunningly beautiful. The music was superb. The stars were bright and life was really good. And then, …for a few moments, it felt like the rug was pulled out from underneath us and my wonderful world came crashing down. As guests were mingling, finishing tours of the farm, and while the first course of the meal was being prepared and ready to be sent out, a Southern Nevada Health District employee came for an inspection.

Community Dinner at Quail Farm
Because this was a gathering of people invited to our farm for dinner, I had no idea that the Health Department would become involved. I received a phone call from them two days before the event informing me that because this was a “public event” (I would like to know what is the definition of “public” and “private”) we would be required to apply for a “special use permit.” If we did not do so immediately, we would be charged a ridiculous fine. Stunned, we immediately complied.
We were in the middle of our harvest day for our CSA shares, a very busy time for us, but Monte immediately left to comply with the demand and filled out the required paper work and paid for the fee. (Did I mention that we live in Overton, nowhere near a Health Department office?) Paper work now in order, he was informed that we would not actually be given the permit until an inspector came to check it all out. She came literally while our guests were arriving! In order to overcome any trouble with the Health Department of cooking on the premises, most of the food was prepared in a certified kitchen in Las Vegas; and to further remove any doubt, we rented a certified kitchen trailer to be here on the farm for the preparation of the meals.

The inspector, Mary Oaks, clearly not the one in charge of the inspection as she was constantly on the phone with her superior Susan somebody who was calling all the shots from who knows where.

We were told our food was unfit for consumption and demanded that we call off the event because:

EH Specialist II Mary Oakes
Some of the prepared food packages did not have labels on them. (The code actually allows for this if it is to be consumed within 72 hours.)
Some of the meat was not USDA certified. (Did I mention that this was a farm to fork meal?)
Some of the food that was prepared in advance was not up to temperature at the time of inspection. (It was being prepared to be brought to proper temperature for serving when the inspection occurred.)
Even the vegetables prepared in advance had to be thrown out because they were cut and were then considered a “bio-hazard”.
We did not have receipts for our food. (Reminder! This food came from farms not from the supermarket! I have talked with several chefs who have said that in all their years cooking they have never been asked for receipts.)
At this time Monte, trying to reason with Susan to find a possible solution for the problem, suggested turning this event from a “public” event to a “private” event by allowing the guests to become part of our farm club, thus eliminating any jurisdiction or responsibility on their part. This idea infuriated Susan and threatened that if we did not comply the police would be called and personally escort our guests off the property. This is not the vision of the evening we had in mind! So regretfully, again we complied.

The only way to keep our guests on the property was to destroy the food

Bleach is poured on organic food
I can’t tell you how sick to my stomach I was watching that first dish of Mint Lamb Meatballs hit the bottom of the unsanitized trash can. Here we were with guests who had paid in advance and had come from long distances away anticipating a wonderful dining experience, waiting for dinner while we were behind the kitchen curtain throwing it away! I know of the hours and labor that went into the preparation of that food. We asked the inspector if we could save the food for a private family event that we were having the next day. (A personal family choice to use our own food.) We were denied and she was insulted that we would even consider endangering our families health. I assured her that I had complete faith and trust in Giovanni our chef and the food that was prepared, (obviously, or I wouldn’t be wanting to serve it to our guests).

Farm food is destroyed
I then asked if we couldn’t feed the food to our “public guests” or even to our private family, then at least let us feed it to our pigs. (I think it should be a criminal action to waste any resource of the land. Being dedicated to our organic farm, we are forever looking for good inputs into our compost and soil and good food that can be fed to our animals. The animals and compost pile always get our left over garden surplus and food. We truly are trying to be as sustainable as possible.) Again, a call to Susan and another negative response. Okay, so let me get this right. So the food that was raised here on our farm and selected and gathered from familiar local sources, cooked and prepared with skill and love was even unfit to feed to my pigs!?! Who gave them the right to tell me what I feed my animals? Not only were we denied the use of the food for any purpose, to ensure that it truly was unfit for feed of any kind we were again threatened with police action if we did not only throw the food in the trash, but then to add insult to injury, we were ordered to pour bleach on it.

Food lined up to be destroyed by Health Department
Now the food is also unfit for compost as I would be negligent to allow any little critters to nibble on it while it was composting and ingest that bleach resulting in a horrible death. Literally hundreds of pounds of food was good for nothing but adding to our ever increasing land fill! At some point in all of this turmoil Monte reminded me that I had the emergency phone number for the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FTCLDF) on our refrigerator. I put it there never really believing that I would ever have to use it. We became members of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund several years ago as a protection for us, but mostly to add support to other farmers battling against the oppressive legal actions taken against the small farmers trying to produce good wholesome food without government intrusion. The local, sustainable food battle is being waged all across America! May I mention that not one battle has been brought on because of any illness to the patrons of these farms! The battles are started by government officials swooping down on farms and farmers like SWAT teams confiscating not only the wholesome food items produced but even their farm equipment! Some of them actually wearing HAZMAT suits as if they were walking into a nuclear meltdown! I have personally listened to some of their heart wrenching stories and have continued to follow them through the FTCLDF’s updates.

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