BASIC CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS UNDER FIRE IN SALTVILLE

Town of Saltville Finds Innovative Way to Fill Town Coffers

And To

Silence Citizen Voices

The Iconoclast never has any difficulty in finding good examples of bad behavior by public officials.

Our latest example is the little Town of Saltville in Smyth County out in Southwest Virginia.

According to a recent news item in Richmond Times Dispatch, the Town of Saltville has filed a $687,760 civil law suit against one Shirley Ann “Sissy” Bailey of nearby Glade Spring alleging that her “strenuous protest of the town’s plan to turn an abandoned railroad track into a hiking trail has crossed the line from opposition to unlawful and belligerent interference.” The suit includes $337,760 in compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages. See more details on this in the Richmond Times Dispatch.

Town officials justify the law suit for fear that the 51 year old lady or her fellow protesters “could turn violent.” Saltville economic development director Tracy Mitchell was quoted as saying that “We just don’t want violence” and explained that Ms. Bailey was “targeted” in hopes that it would “quiet other land owners and end the dispute over the ownership of the rail line.”

Could turn violent? Targeted? Quiet others?

Since when is a hypothetical crime actionable? One might reasonably guess that Ms. Bailey is probably a royal pain in the butt to the town officials. But the words of the economic development director reveal a disturbing motivation behind the town’s action against this lady and her friends. This sounds an awful lot like intimidation to quash voices of dissent under the color of official governmental authority.

Let us be very clear here before we go further. The Iconoclast is not going to take sides on the merits of the dispute over the ownership of the rail line. The Iconoclast does not know all the facts of the case concerning the history of this dispute or the various legal arguments and facts pertaining to the ownership of the rail line property. These kinds of legal questions just need to work their way through the process. Also, the Iconoclast has absolutely no problem with the Town of Saltville trying to pursue this economic development project.

However, the Iconoclast does have a problem with the idea of public officials from the Town of Saltville trying to intimidate and stifle the right of free speech by filing a law suit that threatens financial ruin to a “targeted” individual with the express hope that it will “quiet others” involved in this dispute.

This is fundamentally wrong!

It is also an attempt by people who are in public offices to undermine a basic Constitutional right as provided in the First Amendment, namely freedom of speech.

Citizens can some times be cantankerous and disagreeable. However, in America, citizens have a basic right to express their opinions so long as those expressions do not go beyond certain boundaries to jeopardize public safety or the rights of others.

If Ms. Bailey is committing some act of violence, she is probably in violation of some section of the criminal code. So the Town of Saltville should file appropriate criminal charges whether they are felony or misdemeanors. Haul her into criminal court, present the charges and the evidence and let her face the charges. If she is convicted, let her face the consequences prescribed by law.

But no, the Town of Saltville is going after this lady through a civil suit to recover what most would see as a very significant amount of money… probably far in excess of any monetary fine likely to come from any criminal prosecution of her actions. The word punitive, like in to punish, should sound some alarms here.

Is this some new form of creative public financing? If successful it will certainly keep the local tax rate low and disgruntled citizens silent and bankrupted. Anyone having even the mildest of concern about any public action by the Town of Saltville will be well advised to keep their mouths tightly shut for fear of similar repercussions.

But seriously, this action is a sign of something much more ominous: an attack on civil liberties by the very government that is supposed to be protecting those liberties.

For a local unit of government to file a civil law suit against Ms. Bailey based on what Ms. Bailey or her friends might do in the future is a ridiculous concept and abuse of civil liberties. It is also, clear that the intent of the Town of Saltville to intimidate and silence dissenting voices of citizens within their community. Intimidation of this sort is something we like to think is only found in backwards countries where you have dictators and military bosses in charge.

Citizens of America deserve better behavior of their public officials. This abusive behavior by public officials in the Town of Saltville should be loudly condemned by all freedom loving citizens everywhere.

As for Ms. Bailey, she had better watch her self and stay on the right side of the line or she will surely be facing the consequences. But so long as she remains on the right side of the line, let the lady speak.

Let freedom ring!