This morning, at the Public Safety Committee, my public comment was cut short by the Constitutionally challenged City Council member pictured above.
Remember that pose, Stacie, because this time I might finally adjudicate your rationale for what is germane to your committee, what is not, and why you think my attempt to read a news article about an unnamed City Council member was impugning that UNNAMED City Council member.
To see my comment get cut short, click here.
If I hadn’t been cut-off by Stacie Anderson I would have explained, without naming him, that Sean McCoy’s life was saved by first responders in 2003 after he attached himself to a logging truck on the Madison bridge and earned a felony charge for his stunt, which was a failed banner-hang on behalf of Earth First! about a timber sale.
Before making my comment I spoke with a retired fire fighter and he explained how dangerous McCoy’s river rescue was that day, since it was spring run-off and the pilings of the bridge create a very serious water vortex to navigate.
And what did McCoy do after he whined about his high bond, made his plea, and served out his four years of probation after Missoula’s finest saved him from his little dangle over the Clark Fork?
Sean McCoy’s 2009 political activism was what I was in the middle of reading when Stacie cut me off, depriving me of my right to make a public comment. Too bad, because I suspect the 9 firefighters being confirmed earlier today might have wanted to know about why a “street medic” would be arrested with rocks in his pockets:
According to newspaper records, McCoy also traveled to the Twin Cities in 2009 to serve as a volunteer street medic but was instead arrested for protesting the Republican National Convention. Upon arrest, he was carrying rocks in his pocket, according to reports.
During the trial, covered by the Pioneer Press, McCoy faced misdemeanor charges of unlawful assembly, obstructing traffic and fleeing police. Protesters were painted by prosecutors as anarchists who encouraged others to “swarm, seize and stay” in an attempt to disrupt the convention.
Missoula’s Mayor, Andrea Davis, is allowed to rearrange the entire Monday night schedule to accommodate her grandstanding Minneapolis-is-Kent State performance, but my attempt to talk about why a past protest dangerously using public infrastructure is relevant was shut down.
Had I been allowed my full three minutes, I would have referenced the recent protest on the pedestrian bridge spanning Reserve Street, the one built with public TIF money. Here’s a Facebook post that recently got a lot of attention:
There are legitimate concerns about protestors using this bridge, like impeding the flow of multi-modal traffic, pissing off motorists and sparking road rage, or the possibility something could be dropped from the bridge onto a vehicle below.
Maybe I shouldn’t have led with my March 2023 reporting about McCoy’s convenient omission of his criminal history when he ran for Mayor, and the subsequent “reporting” nine months later, after the election, by Martin Kidston.
OR, even better, maybe Stacie Anderson should read up on the first amendment, open meeting laws, and why her use of the mute button might be a costly mistake for her to have made.
Thanks for reading!
The first amendment explicitly says “and to petition the Government for a redress of grievences”. Seeing that you asked for an apology to FIRST RESPONDERS, it is very appropriate that you went to PUBLIC SAFETY to air your grievances. I do hope you followup at a Monday night meeting or at COW. Not letting you say your piece speaks higher volumes than anything you could have said. I’m disappointed in the actions of the chair that day.