Minutes 06-21-2022 Business Meeting

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19 Courtney Geels said she is the Republican Nominee for US Congress District 4. She said she grew up in Hillsborough and went through the school system of Orange County. She said she is appalled at the direction this Board is going. She said this ordinance is targeting parents. She said that if she is elected, if she disagrees with a constituent, she will still listen to them. She said they are working against a group of their own constituents if this regulation is passed. She said they are all aware of the events that led up to the May elections. She said there is a coordinated effort between the school board, Orange County government, and now the County Commission and that it is very manipulative and unconstitutional. She said this is blatantly against the First Amendment and that it is the Sheriff's duty to uphold the peoples' constitutional rights. She said that if this is passed it is a message that they do not care about the Constitution. She said if the Sheriff then chooses to enforce the regulation, then he is saying to the citizens that he is denying the oath of his office to defend the constitution of North Carolina and the US Constitution. She said that if Sheriff Blackwood enforces this it will be a lie to the people and to God. She said there will be legal ramifications against each of them if they pass this. David Ogden said to please excuse him if he is a little emotional. He said that his 12- year-old daughter lost her two last baby teeth this week and while it is the cutest smile ever, it is a reminder that it is the end of a phase for her. He said that he should be with her tonight, listening to her read and laugh, and talk about her day but instead, he has to be at the meeting to defend her future against would-be tyrants. He said that the fact that this regulation is even coming up for a vote reveals that most of the commissioners have a complete disregard for the Bill of Rights. He said that this ordinance would strip residents of right to peaceably assemble. He said that it depends on fear and submission to suppress. He said that like the school board, this Board has a palpable fear of citizens in the community exposing bad actions by elected officials. He said that the efforts that they are afraid of are tantamount to rebel. He said imagine what those that seek to shed light could do with more time and more motivation. He asked if they think this ordinance will weaken those that stand for liberty. He said that their actions only serve to expose those who vote for these as Machiavellian usurpers of Constitutional rights. He said that the days of no accountability are over. He said that he will be watching and will be disseminating the results of each of their votes to the community. Kathy Arab said this ordinance is unconstitutional. She said it violates the rights of any person that shares a difference world view than that of Orange County's social justice goals. She said that it diminishes individuality. She said that the people elected the commissioners, so the people should carry as much as or more weight than any non-governmental office or from those that provide grant monies with strings attached. She said that America's founders were thinking of them when they wrote the constitution. She said that measuring the social justice impact of the ordinance is interesting to her because the dictionary definition of social justice is state redistribution — which is politics and power — about groups and not individual. She said that critical social justice is inherently incompatible with the world view prevalence in the Constitution. She said that the difference is that social justice defines equity as the same outcomes and the Constitution defines justice as equality, the same opportunities. She said that social justice missions to redress grievances is defined by critical theories. She said that means that any time the numbers aren't equal, you know there isn't equity, but this doesn't align with the natural world. She said that critical social justice is narrow and authoritarian. She said that the people are not intent on gaining political power to force people to do justice. She said that their greatest desire is the freedom to express their convictions. She said that critical social justice does not tolerate a variety of ideas because critical social justice is a source and means of oppression. She quoted Milton Freeman — "A society that puts equality, in the sense of equality of outcomes, ahead of freedom, will end up with neither equality nor freedom...use of force to achieve equality will destroy freedom and the force introduced for good purposes will