Basically, a chemical company(US Nitrogen) wants to dump their waste into the Nolichucky River polluting it.
At a recent public meeting, US Nitrogen employees, our GOP mayor, and the GPD pretty much tried to stifle the citizens apposing the dumping. The meeting was to start at 8:30am this past Friday. Most citizens arrived at 8am, only to find that US Nitrogen employees had already taken up most of the seating, which happened to be the seating closest to the board speakers. The majority of the citizens opposing the dumping were forced to stand in the back of the room. There were microphones available, that no one bothered to hook it up. A few of the citizens tried to stand at a rope divider near the front of the room so they could hear, when a GPD officer stepped up and got in front of them. The mayor was speaking, and for whatever reason, some of the crowd began clapping, at which time the mayor threatened to throw everyone out if there was another outburst. A 76 year old elderly gentleman raised his hand, and asked the mayor to speak up so everyone could hear. The mayor immediately told the GPD officers present to arrest the man.
The video shows 2 officers lead the old man out. Here is his story about what happened-
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PEOPLE OF GREENE CO. .About the incident at the IDB on Fri. the 18th., most of what happened inside the bldg.is well recorded. I did ask them to speak louder so we could hear, trying to prevent any more outbursts as the Mayor asked, I did not consider that question an outburst!! I was taken completely by surprise when the Mayor directly ordered the police to remove me. I thought everyone that attended should be able to hear at a public meeting, are we only to look? I had driven 30 miles, as I am sure other people had, this was only my 2nd public meeting, my 1st being at West Green, at which lots of people spoke, in addition Roger Coen had stated that he had spoken to Tom Ferguson, and advised all would be allowed 3 minutes, that advise also ended with him being removed. Lastly there were no instructions from the Mayor to the contrary. SINCE THERE ARE NO VIDEOS after the arrest and handcuffing," my first," goes as follows. on the way down the steps the officer called for a transport, but very shortly cancelled the transport, saying he was `walking me down` , as we started the walk I asked him his name, having had a small restaurant on Depot St., across from the jail a few years ago, I thought I might have known him. This question seemed to agitate him. He told me his name was Dixon or Hixon, and very abruptly increased the pressure and lift on my right arm, pulling my shoulder up into a very painful position, causing me to walk very awkwardly. After a few steps I told him I had a very bad back and hips and would have to sit or lean against something, at which time he lifted my right arm higher and stated that I had no trouble walking forward in the meeting room. His next words were, you are charged with resisting arrest, got on his radio and called for backup. Another officer pulled up but did not get out of his car, the officer then was practically dragging me across the street, where another officer came out of the sheriffs office took me under my left arm and practically carried me into the booking room to a chair. The city policeman then disappeared. The booking officer, after a couple of questions, such as my name etc. asked if I needed a band-aid, I told him no, at that time he told me I had to have one that I was " bleeding on his floor". My right arm was numb I did not know my elbow was bleeding. Another officer to my rear made the comment "maybe he needs some concrete time", as the booking questions continued, an officer entered and introduced himself as Lt., and I have forgotten his name, escorted me to a nurse who applied a band-aid. He was very professional, apologized, asked if I needed any thing, and left. The atmosphere in the room became totally different, the booking process continued in a much more civil manner, I was told my wife had made bail, which I would not have done, was summonsed to court July 21st. This was a painful and humiliating experience to go through with a police Dept. and County Officials at the ripe old age of 76.LORD HELP THE GOOD CITIZENS OF GREENE CO.
Here is the CNN story related to the incident-
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1154129?ref=feeds/latest
At a recent public meeting, US Nitrogen employees, our GOP mayor, and the GPD pretty much tried to stifle the citizens apposing the dumping. The meeting was to start at 8:30am this past Friday. Most citizens arrived at 8am, only to find that US Nitrogen employees had already taken up most of the seating, which happened to be the seating closest to the board speakers. The majority of the citizens opposing the dumping were forced to stand in the back of the room. There were microphones available, that no one bothered to hook it up. A few of the citizens tried to stand at a rope divider near the front of the room so they could hear, when a GPD officer stepped up and got in front of them. The mayor was speaking, and for whatever reason, some of the crowd began clapping, at which time the mayor threatened to throw everyone out if there was another outburst. A 76 year old elderly gentleman raised his hand, and asked the mayor to speak up so everyone could hear. The mayor immediately told the GPD officers present to arrest the man.
The video shows 2 officers lead the old man out. Here is his story about what happened-
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PEOPLE OF GREENE CO. .About the incident at the IDB on Fri. the 18th., most of what happened inside the bldg.is well recorded. I did ask them to speak louder so we could hear, trying to prevent any more outbursts as the Mayor asked, I did not consider that question an outburst!! I was taken completely by surprise when the Mayor directly ordered the police to remove me. I thought everyone that attended should be able to hear at a public meeting, are we only to look? I had driven 30 miles, as I am sure other people had, this was only my 2nd public meeting, my 1st being at West Green, at which lots of people spoke, in addition Roger Coen had stated that he had spoken to Tom Ferguson, and advised all would be allowed 3 minutes, that advise also ended with him being removed. Lastly there were no instructions from the Mayor to the contrary. SINCE THERE ARE NO VIDEOS after the arrest and handcuffing," my first," goes as follows. on the way down the steps the officer called for a transport, but very shortly cancelled the transport, saying he was `walking me down` , as we started the walk I asked him his name, having had a small restaurant on Depot St., across from the jail a few years ago, I thought I might have known him. This question seemed to agitate him. He told me his name was Dixon or Hixon, and very abruptly increased the pressure and lift on my right arm, pulling my shoulder up into a very painful position, causing me to walk very awkwardly. After a few steps I told him I had a very bad back and hips and would have to sit or lean against something, at which time he lifted my right arm higher and stated that I had no trouble walking forward in the meeting room. His next words were, you are charged with resisting arrest, got on his radio and called for backup. Another officer pulled up but did not get out of his car, the officer then was practically dragging me across the street, where another officer came out of the sheriffs office took me under my left arm and practically carried me into the booking room to a chair. The city policeman then disappeared. The booking officer, after a couple of questions, such as my name etc. asked if I needed a band-aid, I told him no, at that time he told me I had to have one that I was " bleeding on his floor". My right arm was numb I did not know my elbow was bleeding. Another officer to my rear made the comment "maybe he needs some concrete time", as the booking questions continued, an officer entered and introduced himself as Lt., and I have forgotten his name, escorted me to a nurse who applied a band-aid. He was very professional, apologized, asked if I needed any thing, and left. The atmosphere in the room became totally different, the booking process continued in a much more civil manner, I was told my wife had made bail, which I would not have done, was summonsed to court July 21st. This was a painful and humiliating experience to go through with a police Dept. and County Officials at the ripe old age of 76.LORD HELP THE GOOD CITIZENS OF GREENE CO.
Here is the CNN story related to the incident-
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1154129?ref=feeds/latest
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