No Freedom in this Independence Day Parade

The 4th of July is all about Freedom: the huge tea party in Boston Harbor that slaked nobody's thirst but instead got folks riled enough to say "enough!". And in small towns - at least here in upstate NY and the northern tier of PA - people take their 4th of July celebrations to heart. Just about every town has fireworks, a carnival down at the Legion field, and a parade down Main Street.

Small town 4th of July parades are great fun. The parade committee chooses a theme and neighbors get together to create floats. I've seen everything from flowery princesses to a pointedly political manure spreader.  And everyone gets to participate.

Except not this year. Not in Montrose, PA. Seems that the chairman of the parade committee is censoring free speech.

This year's parade theme is "Helping Your Neighbors" - a worthy theme given that the service clubs of Kiwanis, Lions, and Rotary are sponsoring and organizing the parade.So some neighbors who have been busy helping in the community were astounded when their float application was denied.

For the past two years, these neighbors have been delivering clean drinking water to people down the road in Dimock, who have been without drinking water due to nearby drilling. They washed and waxed their water delivery truck and wanted to decorate it with some banners to let people know the "Citizens for Clean Water" are actively "helping your neighbors".

The problem seems to be that helping one's neighbors by providing fresh water is too controversial. But, hey - a couple thousand years ago the idea of feeding the hungry and clothing the poor was controversial.

Given that our country was born of a protest movement, how did we come to this moment when only "acceptable" political opinions are allowed in a parade celebrating independence from tyranny?

So this 4th of July you won't see people who have truly been helping their neighbors marching in the parade. They have been relegated to the sidelines, where they'll proudly stand with their signs and tell any and all how to get involved helping people in need. 

Montrose Council, Free Speech & Free Press

Tonight the Montrose Borough  council will meet for the third time in as many weeks. Their first meeting, on Feb. 6 came to an abrupt halt when, after being filmed for ten minutes, they decided that anyone with objections to being recorded by video camera could walk out. They walked.

Remember – that was an open meeting for conducting the public’s business.

Then last week, the council members elected to represent the people, instituted a long list of ways to restrict public speech and freedom of the press.

What will they do tonight? Go early to get a seat. Locals are hoping that plenty of camera- and recorder-laden reporters show up to document the antics of this council. And one citizen reporter is asking that “free people” stand up for their right to free speech and a free press. “Come early and bring a camera,” she advises. Bring a notebook and pencil too – because so far the council hasn't banned those. Perhaps they haven’t heard that the pen is mightier than the sword...

The council meeting begins at 7:30 pm in the Montrose Borough Building, 61 Cherry Street, Montrose PA.

Shenanigans in the Montrose Council Chambers

On Tuesday night the elected representatives of the Borough of Montrose, PA approved a laundry list of actions intended to clamp down on the public’s right to record and disseminate information about the council’s actions. The special meeting was adjourned after the council passed restrictions on how people, including journalists can engage in news-collecting by:

•    restricting public comment to borough residents and taxpayers; 
•  limiting opportunity to speak by borough residents and taxpayers to three minutes; 
• requiring video and recording devices to be located behind the last row of chairs in the meeting room; 
•  requiring video recording devices to be mounted on tripods and remain stationary and unmanned throughout the meeting; 
•  and requiring audio recording devices to also be located behind the back row and be visible.

 Press reports quote ACLU staff attorney Mary Catherine Roper as characterizing the new rules as “wacky”, saying that they go too far.

A good portion of time before the meeting even started council members tried to persuade a credentialed independent journalist to move her video camera to the back of the room. They finally ordered a policeman to take her camera – and this occurred before the new rules were voted on. Their reason: someone might trip over the tripod.

Why are the good councilors of Montrose afraid of people recording their public, open meetings? Meetings that, according to PA law anyone can attend? Meetings that, according to PA law may be recorded?

Perhaps it has to do with an agenda item listed on their February 6 meeting – an item never discussed because the meeting was brought to an abrupt halt. Item number three, listed on the agenda under “Discussion Items” was “Jessup Street, water hydrant.” Nothing dramatic about that, unless you happen to know that the Pennsylvania American Water Company placed a hydrant there, on private land, and that hydrant is being used to fill a small water truck that delivers water to Dimock residents with contaminated wells, but who aren’t receiving water deliveries from the EPA.

About one dozen people showed up that night to hear the council’s discussion regarding the hydrant. The above-mentioned indy journalist was present with her video camera. She started recording before the meeting started, without any comments from the council members. However, once the council meeting was convened, the supervisor advised that people who, for religious or other reasons didn’t want their images recorded, could leave the room. All but one council member left, abandoning the council chambers, the citizens they’ve sworn to represent, the PA state constitution and democracy. You can watch that video here.

A few days before that, journalist and film-maker Josh Fox was forcibly removed from a public hearing in the Science, Space and Technology committee in Washington DC, and arrested – an action that many Representatives decried as shameful censorship. On Feb. 15 the US Attorney dropped the case, finding it baseless and without merit. Fox said that the incident “…serves as a painful reminder that we do not have rights unless we exercise them.” You can read his entire comment here.

Signs of the Times

Seen along Route 706 in Montrose, across from NAPA Auto
photo provided by NEPAgasaction.org

updated 
Just in case you don't remember how to contact EPA to report drill spills, some folks have posted a reminder in large print. Given the recent spill in Hopewell, this is valuable information.

The billboard is paid for by NEPA gas action, a group that has had a billboard with three glasses of water displayed for more than a year in Susquehanna County. But ParkOutdoor - the folks who own the billboard - declined to run that particular ad. Apparently they received complaints that it was "controversial". 

Those complaints came on the heels of them cancelling a pre-paid ad contract for the "Fix It" billboard. The NEPA gas group believes Cabot complained about the billboard. "ParkOutdoor caved to the industry, who spends more money on ads than we do or can," said one activist. While ParkOutdoor is honoring the contract for this billboard, they told the group that they did not know whether they could accept anymore contracts. 

"It's amazing to think that a billboard advertising a government emergency hotline would be declined as being controversial,"said the activist.

Signs of the Times

Rt. 29 South Montrose, PA

On January 1, 2009 an 8-foot cement slab near Norma Fiorento's house in Dimock, PA was blown into the air. the reason: gas migrating from nearby gas wells that were being drilled.

That was 31 months ago and the people of Dimock are still waiting for their water to be fixed. At  one point the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection ordered Cabot - the company responsible for the accident - to construct a pipeline to bring water to the 14 homes that had lost their well water. The $12 million price tag shocked Cabot into making a counter offer: to pay people lots of money and install some kind of home filtration device - a strategy that had already failed in some homes.

So yesterday a group of Dimock residents, frustrated with Cabot's lack of response, installed a billboard on Route 29 in South Montrose. The reason: if you break something, you fix it. Especially, as one person said, if it says in the lease that you'll restore the water.

Apparently "restoring" water is not possible. But even if it was - according to George Stark, a Cabot spokesman, their water isn't contaminated. The billboard is a lie, he told the people - this was caught on tape by a local reporter for WBGN. He also offered to drink the water coming out of their tap - but residents later said he never did.

So, the people got together and created a sign to display so that people will not forget them. It stood for 24 hours. As of today, they say, the billboard is coming down.

Why? Because the good folks who own  PJ's Restaurant and Bar, who rent the space to the sign company, don't like the sign. They fear it will offend their gas-drilling cash-paying customers.

Rt 220, Bradford County, PA

 If they had a billboard like this one, it would probably be OK.

Signs of the Times

Like Burma Shave signs, drilling-related billboards give insight into what's going on.  Usually I don't have my camera with me, so I appreciate someone sending me this photo.

Seen along Route 706 just outside Montrose PA (Susquehanna County)

I understand that Energy in Depth is having a billboard contest. So who knows what you'll see next. Maybe they'll send me a photo - as long as the language is FCC-approved I can post it. Judging from some of their entries, they're gonna need an editor or three.