Timothy Karr of MediaCitizen reported,
“I have spent most of the week poring over news stories, blogs and commentary on last week’s decision by Bay Area Rapid Transit officials to shut off cellphone service to quash planned protests on its trains and platforms.

Opinions are many and range from BART spokesman Linton Johnson, who says constitutional rights end the moment people walk through transit-authority turnstiles, to “X” of the hacker collective Anonymous, who protested BART’s action and said our freedom to connect should be absolute and universal.

I tend to agree with “X,” but adding my criticism to what has already been heaped on BART seems of little consequence at this point.

What does matter is the dangerous precedent set by public agencies that silence new media, and the need for clarity about our free speech rights regardless of the medium.

The San Francisco incident is not unique. Earlier this summer Cleveland’s City Council passed an ordinance outlawing the use of Facebook and other social media to assemble unruly crowds. While a mayoral veto struck down the Cleveland ruling, the overreaction is part of a spreading official backlash against political organizing on new media.”

Ed. Note:
Could this happen here?

ABSOLUTELY!

We already have a local government considered by many to be one of the most citizen-adverse in the state.

Just because this happened in San Francisco does not rule this out for this area. If Yelm’s City Hall had a circumstance in which they did not want their citizens to rally, don’t you think they would do the same?

After all, in 5 1/2 years of the Harding Administration, there has been NO Town Hall meeting for the citizens to meet with city officials and there will not be one as long as he is mayor, for he fears citizen backlash in public. The ONLY way a citizen can speak collectively to the mayor and city officials is during the twice-monthly City Council meetings – and then only 5 citizens limited to 3 minutes each per Council session, in a controlled City Council environment, where a speaker can be cut-off at any moment.

THINK ABOUT IT!
HMMM!!!!!