DeadCenter
Regular Member
imported post
I was at this meeting. This guy should not be allowed to write. He has no idea what he is talking about.He is insulting, ignorant and a complete ass.
DC
http://www.starexponent.com/cse/news/opinion/columnists/article/town_council_trick_or_treat/21368/
Gordon Meriwether
Published: September 17, 2008
When I went to Town Council Tuesday past, my intent was to offer in public forum an idea to close West Street on Halloween evening in the interest of protecting the young trick-or-treaters from our normal heavy traffic. That was immediately sent to the Public Safety Committee for discussion.
Whether it passes or not, the real trick-or-treaters of that Tuesday evening were my fellow public forum presenters. They were there at the Town Council meeting to oppose an ordinance our chief of police proposed to not allow the discharge of a firearm in the town limits. These trick-or-treaters were not town residents. They were mostly from northern Virginia. (I don’t guess the treats are as good in Sterling, Vienna, Fairfax and Fredericksburg as they are here in Camelot.)
Following my brief appeal for the safety of the children, they rose one at a time and pleaded their case that the laws on the books were certainly sufficient to ward off any potential unsafe firearm discharge in the town limits. And if to fulfill their role as trick-or-treaters, they played dress-up for all the room, especially the Town Council members, to see. They were all brandishing firearms on their hips.
The first speaker proudly announced his credentials as a former Marine and dubbed our Town Council meeting as the safest room in Virginia, presumably because he and his colleagues were armed and ready to repel any potential evildoers from disrupting the proceedings, be they immigrants, truants, terrorists, ground hogs or leftover communists.
One by one, the remaining trick-or-treaters stood at the podium with the symbol of their manhood proudly strapped to their right hip. I will offer that the two Culpeper County presenters were not armed and spoke of the consolidation and the impact the new ordinance would have on the county farmers when the consolidation takes place. (Here’s another reason to fight the consolidation — all these liberal laws on the town books.)
Of course, after the bold and eloquent speeches of our self-anointed protectors, council defeated the ordinance. The northern Virginia Bubbas (all white males) quickly exited the chamber to celebrate another intimidation gone well.
Their unintended consequence was to light my fire to ban weapons from Town Council proceedings. Wearing their guns into my town and into my town’s council meeting is not only ridiculous, but also just downright rude. It serves no purpose but to intimidate.
I grew up in the Deep South among hunters, and I can’t think of one occasion that anyone was ever rude enough to wear a sidearm into a neighbor’s home. These trick-or-treaters felt it in our best interest to wear their weapons in our government home to oppose legislation that they have in their home counties.
Do you think the good people of Vienna, Va., allow the discharge of a firearm in the town limits? Allowing the wearing of weapons of any kind, whether boldly displayed or concealed, should be banned from all government meetings including public hearing on this matter (law enforcement excluded).
These bullies of the Potomac, no matter how rude or misguided, have done us a favor. They drew the attention to our vulnerabilities. I accept that guns have their place in our culture and history, but they do not have their place in our halls of democracy. I urge our Town Council to step up and pass an ordinance to ban firearms from legislative sessions, committee meetings and public hearings.
With the Virginia General Assembly ready to fight every imagined or real anti-gun law, our elected officials may wring their hands with hopelessness of the cause, but it’s the right thing to do.
Guns have no place in our Town Council meetings. Their only possible non-violent use is intimidation … intimidation of the members of the Town Council, of you and of me.
On Tuesday night, I was not intimidated, I was offended. I did not feel safe, but threatened. Thank God our chief of police was there to protect us.
Gordon Meriwether is an independent columnist who lives in Culpeper. He appears every other Thursday in the Star-Exponent. E-mail:
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meriwether@starpower.net
I was at this meeting. This guy should not be allowed to write. He has no idea what he is talking about.He is insulting, ignorant and a complete ass.
DC
http://www.starexponent.com/cse/news/opinion/columnists/article/town_council_trick_or_treat/21368/
Gordon Meriwether
Published: September 17, 2008
When I went to Town Council Tuesday past, my intent was to offer in public forum an idea to close West Street on Halloween evening in the interest of protecting the young trick-or-treaters from our normal heavy traffic. That was immediately sent to the Public Safety Committee for discussion.
Whether it passes or not, the real trick-or-treaters of that Tuesday evening were my fellow public forum presenters. They were there at the Town Council meeting to oppose an ordinance our chief of police proposed to not allow the discharge of a firearm in the town limits. These trick-or-treaters were not town residents. They were mostly from northern Virginia. (I don’t guess the treats are as good in Sterling, Vienna, Fairfax and Fredericksburg as they are here in Camelot.)
Following my brief appeal for the safety of the children, they rose one at a time and pleaded their case that the laws on the books were certainly sufficient to ward off any potential unsafe firearm discharge in the town limits. And if to fulfill their role as trick-or-treaters, they played dress-up for all the room, especially the Town Council members, to see. They were all brandishing firearms on their hips.
The first speaker proudly announced his credentials as a former Marine and dubbed our Town Council meeting as the safest room in Virginia, presumably because he and his colleagues were armed and ready to repel any potential evildoers from disrupting the proceedings, be they immigrants, truants, terrorists, ground hogs or leftover communists.
One by one, the remaining trick-or-treaters stood at the podium with the symbol of their manhood proudly strapped to their right hip. I will offer that the two Culpeper County presenters were not armed and spoke of the consolidation and the impact the new ordinance would have on the county farmers when the consolidation takes place. (Here’s another reason to fight the consolidation — all these liberal laws on the town books.)
Of course, after the bold and eloquent speeches of our self-anointed protectors, council defeated the ordinance. The northern Virginia Bubbas (all white males) quickly exited the chamber to celebrate another intimidation gone well.
Their unintended consequence was to light my fire to ban weapons from Town Council proceedings. Wearing their guns into my town and into my town’s council meeting is not only ridiculous, but also just downright rude. It serves no purpose but to intimidate.
I grew up in the Deep South among hunters, and I can’t think of one occasion that anyone was ever rude enough to wear a sidearm into a neighbor’s home. These trick-or-treaters felt it in our best interest to wear their weapons in our government home to oppose legislation that they have in their home counties.
Do you think the good people of Vienna, Va., allow the discharge of a firearm in the town limits? Allowing the wearing of weapons of any kind, whether boldly displayed or concealed, should be banned from all government meetings including public hearing on this matter (law enforcement excluded).
These bullies of the Potomac, no matter how rude or misguided, have done us a favor. They drew the attention to our vulnerabilities. I accept that guns have their place in our culture and history, but they do not have their place in our halls of democracy. I urge our Town Council to step up and pass an ordinance to ban firearms from legislative sessions, committee meetings and public hearings.
With the Virginia General Assembly ready to fight every imagined or real anti-gun law, our elected officials may wring their hands with hopelessness of the cause, but it’s the right thing to do.
Guns have no place in our Town Council meetings. Their only possible non-violent use is intimidation … intimidation of the members of the Town Council, of you and of me.
On Tuesday night, I was not intimidated, I was offended. I did not feel safe, but threatened. Thank God our chief of police was there to protect us.
Gordon Meriwether is an independent columnist who lives in Culpeper. He appears every other Thursday in the Star-Exponent. E-mail:
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meriwether@starpower.net