Knightdale sued over vaccine mandate | WCPSS school board restricts personal attacks in public comments
No. 47 — Nov. 19-Nov. 25, 2023
“Former Firefighter Sues Town of Knightdale, NC Over COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate”
B. Tyler Brooks and the Thomas More Society have filed a lawsuit against the Town of Knightdale on behalf of a former firefighter, Tyrone Lumley, who alleges he was illegally and unconstitutionally denied accomodation for his religious objection to the COVID-19 vaccine.
Read the thread on Twitter by James R. Lawrence III, who initially represented Lumley in this matter.
Pro-Palestine demonstration causes shooting scare at Crabtree mall
Pro-Palestinian protesters cause lockdown at Crabtree Valley Mall - ABC11
Fact Check: Was there a Black Friday shooting at Crabtree Valley Mall? - N&O
Black Friday scare: Raleigh police investigate loud noise at Crabtree Valley Mall amid pro-Palestine protest - WRAL
A demonstration by pro-Palestine protesters at the Crabtree Valley Mall with bullhorns and a banner drop sparked a panic after the noise from unruly “demonstrators” knocking over a table in the food court was reportedly mistaken for gunshots. As one redditor described the experience:
I was at the mall when this happened. It’s easy to say how stupid it was when you weren’t there. However, we were terrified. People were shouting “shooter shooter” and stampede running through the mall. We ran through the back of the store in foot locker and didn’t know until over an hour later it wasn’t actual gunfire.
Protesters demand end to Israel-Hamas violence at Harrison Avenue bridge over I-40 in Raleigh - WRAL
On busy travel day, Triangle protesters take to I-40 overpass to call for Gaza ceasefire - N&O
Jewish Voice for Peace, which has previously organized pro-Palestine road blocks in Raleigh and Durham, held another event in the Triangle this week, once again calling for a ceasefire.
This time, the group did not block the highway. It is unclear to me whether this is due to a change in tactics, or whether perhaps the “approximately 75” demonstrators who showed up were insufficient.
Journalist A.P. Dillon shared the following image of graffiti at UNC, which reads “Long Live the PFLP” (PFLP, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is a Marxist-Leninist organization known for carrying out acts of terrorism):
Wake County school board approves policies
Wake school board approves new rules on teacher gifts, public behavior at meetings - N&O
The Wake County Board of Education approved a new policy change this week restricting citizens from making “personal attacks and insults” during the public comment section. The policy previously only “encouraged” speakers not to engage in this behavior:
9. Speakers are welcome to offer comments or criticism directed at substantive ideas, actions, or procedures of the Board and individual Board members. In the interest of maintaining civility and decorum, however, speakers
are encouraged tomust refrain from personal attacks and insults directed at the Board, individual Board members, staff, or members of the general public.
Is prohibiting personal attacks in a public forum constitutional?
In Bach v. School Board of Virginia Beach, a federal court held that a school board public comment policy which prohibited “attacks or accusations regarding the honesty, character, integrity or other like personal attributes of any identified individual or group” was unconstitutional, as it “deter[red] individuals from speaking out on an issue of public importance”.
However, as far as I can tell, the governing precedent for the federal court in Raleigh would be Steinburg v. Chesterfield, from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2008, which held that “content-neutral” policies preventing personal attacks were “not facially unconstitutional”:
We conclude that a content-neutral policy against personal attacks is not facially unconstitutional insofar as it is adopted and employed to serve the legitimate public interest in a limited forum of decorum and order. Such a policy is deemed content-neutral when it "serves purposes unrelated to the content of expression . . . even if it has an incidental effect on some speakers or messages but not others." Ward v. Rock Against Racism, 491 U.S. 781, 791, 109 S.Ct. 2746, 105 L.Ed.2d 661 (1989).
However, it was suggested in 2016 by a court in the Fourth Circuit that relying on the Steinburg ruling was misplaced, as “the Supreme Court changed the content-neutrality test for rules about speech in 2015, so Steinburg's 2008 analysis is outdated”.
This policy might be ripe for challenge by a citizen who has a better grasp than I on the relevant SCOTUS rulings.
Durham Mayor reminds public of her faction’s controversy and scandals
‘Are you going to hit me again?’: Tensions reignite at Durham City Council meeting - N&O
At her last public meeting before the 2023 mayoral election winner is sworn in, current Durham Mayor Elaine O’Neal took a moment to relive the controversy and scandals surrounding the Durham City Council. The highlights of the year include O’Neal and her allies Monique Holsey-Hyman and DeDreana Freeman asking Wikipedia for the identity of editors who had included “unflattering information” regarding their factions scandals, including the extortion allegations against Holsey-Hyman (which she wasl ater “cleared” of), and the reporting that Freeman had cursed at and assaulted fellow council members after the meeting in which the extorion allegations had been announced.
In nearly the same breath, Freeman denied having hit political adversay Mark-Anthony Middleton after just predicting that she would “get upset” and it would “get violent” if the conversation continued:
“I think it would be appropriate to have the conversations with a facilitator because it is not going to work today. I’m going to tell you right now, I’m going to get upset and it’s going to get violent,” Freeman said.
“Are you going to hit me again?” Middleton asked.
“I never hit you! I never hit you in the first place, and the fact that you lie like that and you lie with a straight face as a pastor is disgusting,” Freeman said.
Source: News & Observer
Durham voters made their preference between the two factions known in the latest elections, with Leonardo Williams beating out his alleged assaulter Freeman to replace O’Neal as mayor (she did not run for re-election), and Holsey-Hyman losing her election for the council seat she had been appointed to. (Freeman will hold her current council seat until 2023).
Follow-up:
DEQ will intervene to help clean up lead in Durham city parks - NC Newsline
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