Man receives felony after speaking too long at town hall meeting

While we sit and watch the madness of humanity and all of the injustices being perpetrated by foreign Governments, things like what happens to this guy somehow get missed.

BRIDGEPORT TOWNSHIP, MI — A man was dragged away in handcuffs and charged with a felony after speaking too long at the podium during a town council meeting.

The meeting was held on March 4th. Mark A. Adams, 59, brought with him a long list of grievances he says he has suffered over the past three years at the hands of the Bridgeport, a town of roughly 10,000. When he took the podium, he explained the type of “continual harassment” the town has put him through.

He alleges that the town has no respect for property rights, and issued a “Stop Work Order” on a project on his property, followed by an order for the destruction of his project. He said that the bureaucrats came for his barbecue grill, and then his bird feeders. They even cited him for placing a post in the ground without the township’s approval. “You’re making the township a laughing stock,” Adams said. “Who on earth is going to want to locate their business here, or try to raise a family, in a place that has so little regard for property owners’ rights?” Adams mentioned that requests for documents under the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) have been refused and that he has been harassed by the police. He said the town shut down his farming operation and harassed him when he erected a fishing dock. He also mentioned allegations of tax fraud, theft, and usury on behalf of the town.

Adams had barely scratched the surface of his 21-point list when the council ordered him to sit down. Even though he had requested 15 minutes to get through his list, he was cut short after just 180 seconds. Officers drag Mr. Adams away. “Mr. Adams, your 3 minutes are up,” said one of the councilmen. Adams fired back, “Three minutes? Its been three years!” He attempted to offer copies of his typed document of grievances to the sparsely-seated audience as he frustratedly said that the town was violating his rights.

The two spoke over one another and then police officers were sent over to silence the aggrieved citizen. Three cops dragged Adams away while he protested. He was charged with a misdemeanor of disturbing the peace and a felony of “resisting and obstructing a police officer,” according to MLive. Mr. Adams pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he could spend up to two years in prison.

I can relate to this guy because I had a business illegally shut down by a county I operated in for 18 months. I was featured on ever single piece of tourist literature for the area and had all the permits required. Yet one giant landowner decided the noise of my hot air balloon was to much for him. So he told his cronies at the Board of Supervisors to shut me down.

I had the signatures of nearly every business in the area and nearly every single other home and landowner. Never has so much support been shown by a single community. Yet when the people running the show want you out they will go to any lengths to do it. The County threatened to have me arrested and when that did not work they went after the property owner I was leasing my site from.

I had a Supervisor from the County tell me point blank "We know what we are doing is illegal but you are up against the largest property tax payer in the county so you are just going to have to sue us. You will probably win, eventually. Only being able to show 80k in losses it would have cost me far more to fight than move. So, I moved to another County just 25 miles away and am doing quite well.

I posted this and my little story just so that those of us here in the USA understand something most just do not get.
People talk about how unfair it is to tell the Tatars in Crimea to move, yet it happens constantly in our own Country. Maybe not for religious reasons however the end effect is the same.

Many US citizens are having their rights run the hell over by City, State and the Federal Government and we do nothing to defend ourselves against the Police that are working for them.

Resistance has become futile here in the USA and I feel like we are all just a few years away from being forced to wear Google Glasses 24/7 so our behavior can be properly monitored.

People are already being locked up for thought crimes and bad jokes whilst gaming online or twitting something while drunk. IMO it's just the beginning. I am glad to no longer be a kid as I am quickly beginning to live in a world that is no longer my home. It makes me very sad for the future and terrified for the kids.

Sorry, guess this turned into a bit of a rant, had to get it out I guess.

This is what happens when we continually select our public officials, from the same pool of elites and elite wannabes. They see themselves as members of a private, superior club and have no regard for the rest of us. People need to wake up and STOP electing people that are aligned with and been indoctrinated by the 'establishment'. It may be cliché but it's true nonetheless: The definition of insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome. Break gthe chain people... break the chain.

I'm really starting to believe that small town MI is becoming more corrupt than any big city here. I can use my own county for plenty of examples.

And people just don't seem to care anymore, no matter what you try to do to inform them.

Hope this fellow gets a good lawyer, from another town.

Well ...when the days comes and the people finally rise back up....there will be a long list of documentation of things like this....and then the people can decide what should be done to every politician/etc who made life difficult for us.

I dont know if this guy is a good man or bad man...but its good its documented.

What a gasbag. The rule is there to allow everyone to speak.

reply to post by Mamatus


Freedom only counts if you're connected or rich or preferably both. Seems the "home of the brave and land of the free has been turned into the "home of the cowed and land of the oppressed"

Well I guess you get what you vote for err scratch that n/m.

Was he asked to end his speech and let others speak? and he refused?

I don't know.

Seems like he was breaking the law of common manners.

cosmicexplorer
Well ...when the days comes and the people finally rise back up....there will be a long list of documentation of things like this....and then the people can decide what should be done to every politician/etc who made life difficult for us.

I dont know if this guy is a good man or bad man...but its good its documented.

I was reading an old Hindu Prophecy last week.

Here it is.
"He will kill by the millions those thieves and rogues who have dared dress as kings."

Have you ever been to one of these meetings? They are public "official" meetings designed for official business. The "board" (council, etc.) approves minutes, pays bills, discusses old business, entertains new business, etc. Generally they are boring and uneventful. In the last few years it has grown increasingly common to set aside a small amount of time for "public comment." This is when a member of the public can get up and say, "I have a concern about X." These comments are limited to a few minutes, the time often depending on how many people are slated to speak. 3 minutes is not at all uncommon. the idea is to state your business and sit down.

Issues are NEVER "solved" during these times. Never. The idea is to get an issue on the public record. Stop. Under the circumstances what this guy OUGHT to have done is say, "I have a list of grievances too long to enumerate here. Here's is an example. Give example. Here is a list. Give list to President or Chair. Ask to have this list reviewed." Sit down. By doing this you have "served public notice." the rest of the activity takes place off camera. If it takes lawyers and a court suit, okay. Then do that. Make your WRITTEN case. Make sure the council knows about it with certified letters. Make sure you don't skip a step if there is an official grievance procedure, and proceed.

But once in awhile you have somebody like this. He's a pain in the butt and has always been a pain in the butt. His list of grievances is a mile long and goes back years. Most of the issues are caused by himself not paying attention and thinking the rules don't apply to him. Many of the issues are so petty that they do not deserve a minute of the council's time. Basically the guy has decided that this little city council is against him, has always been against him, and they are the focus of his life. He's written countless letters to the local newspaper airing his many grievances and the fact is, most of his fellow citizens think he is certifiable. They avoid him if at all possible.

And people like this certainly don't want to follow the rules, as this guy proves. Instead, it's all about him. It's not that he needs more then three minutes. He'll take up hours, right then and there, to force the meeting to HIS agenda at the expense of everything else because, after all, he's angry and whatever his issues are, they are the most important things in the world for this city council to discuss. And if he can keep them overnight arguing about his issues, he will. Nobody else matters.

And I absolutely guarantee that if you sat down and figured out just what this guy's problems are, 90% of them could have been easily solved if he had taken the time to act in a mature manner and sit down with someone to work out a solution. But as a hot head he has never been able to do that, always stomps off the moment everything doesn't go his way, and thereby lets these issues fester for years.

So finally the council has had enough and hauls him away. He's charged with a felony, but he'll get off. the council is simply returning the favor of what he has done to them for years. They've had enough. He's like a little kid who badgers you until you send him to his room. I don't blame them a bit.

reply to post by Mamatus


Sorry to hear about them closing your business down.