Orange County NC Website
15 <br /> PUBLIC COMMENTS: <br /> Dale Hodson asked if the Board would be voting on an item that the public has not seen. <br /> Chair Price said that it is in the public domain and that the amendment being discussed <br /> by the attorney is a common practice. She said that the Board has the option to vote on the <br /> item tonight. <br /> Dale Hodson said that he does not have it in front of him. <br /> Chair Price said that it would be in his packet if he accessed it online. <br /> Dale Hodson said this is a bait and switch. <br /> Chair Price said it was not. <br /> Dale Hodson said that the ordinance is mean spirited and unconstitutional. He said that <br /> it is mean spirited because it has been created to keep Orange County parents from free <br /> speech activities regarding their schools. He said that it is unconstitutional because it prevents <br /> speech, assembly, and redress, all guaranteed in the First Amendment. He said that it is also <br /> unconstitutional because of the equal protection provided by the Fourteenth Amendment. He <br /> said that students are not bound by the ordinance but everyone else is. He said that allows <br /> students to picket, but he can't. He said this is a clear Fourteenth Amendment violation. He said <br /> that if 1,000 students line the sidewalks leading to a school with their BLM signs that he can't <br /> also join them with his BLM sign. He said that is a clear Fourteenth Amendment violation. He <br /> said this ordinance is criminalizing these protected activities on private property as well. He said <br /> that the Sheriff will be sent to cite them in their own backyards and that this ordinance is <br /> madness. He said that the Board has said that the whole reason is to protect the emotional <br /> health of kids, but where was that when they locked down, remote learned, and masked their <br /> kids. He said that is what has damaged the kids' emotional health. He said that the Board says <br /> that they want free speech but only in a way that does not hurt children. He asked what that <br /> even means. He said that it means they do not want free speech. He said they want zero free <br /> speech within 1,000 feet of a school other than for students. He said that they only want speech <br /> that is regulated and controlled by the state. He said that this is exactly what the authors of the <br /> First Amendment were aiming to prevent — an authoritarian government limiting speech. He <br /> said that they say that their children must be protected, but that is a parent's job not the <br /> government's. He said that if a child saw something that was offensive near a school today then <br /> it is the parent's job to counsel, console, and discuss with the child. He said that they say they <br /> can protest farther from schools, so their restrictions are okay. He said that the restrictions are <br /> so drastic in the times and locations that it is as much a violation of the First Amendment as <br /> restricting the content of their speech. He said that they say that all rights have limits. He said <br /> that the courts have ruled that any restrictions must be limited and that this is not. He said this <br /> ordinance should be removed from the agenda and that the Board should never bring it back. <br /> He said they should stop meddling in their free speech. <br /> Larry Tippens, retired Army and Department of the Army Civil Service. He said that he is <br /> 81 years old and if they do not want to get a lot of illness, pain, and misery then they should not <br /> get old. He also said they should listen to a cardiologist that is somewhat controversial from <br /> Florida State University. He said that you can hear his lectures to his lectures to med students <br /> on fasting for survival. He said that he goes with Isaiah 65 and that is if you die at 100, you die <br /> a young man. He said that people studying genetics say that we should have 125 years. He <br /> said that having sworn to protect the constitution, things like this concern him because he has <br /> talked to people who have escaped fascist governments. He said the things they see that chip <br /> away at our freedoms terrorize those political refugees. He said they tremble when they speak, <br /> and they are so afraid that we are only a year or two away from the same situation as <br /> Venezuela. He said that you hear a lot of promises from people that are far left because they <br /> don't intend on keeping those. He said if there is going to be a loss of free speech and <br /> assembly then he invites how would they celebrate people like Martin Luther King, Jr. who is <br />