Does freedom of speech still exist in PT? | Letter to the editor

Posted 9/15/22

The beauty of Port Townsend used to partly be our activism and the constant safe flow and expression of freedom of speech. Also, as a 25-year resident who hopes to be aging gracefully, I used to feel …

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Does freedom of speech still exist in PT? | Letter to the editor

Posted

The beauty of Port Townsend used to partly be our activism and the constant safe flow and expression of freedom of speech. Also, as a 25-year resident who hopes to be aging gracefully, I used to feel if I needed the protection of our police, that they would be there for me.

I am neutral regarding the actual recent pool dispute, but am very disillusioned over the event where Julie Jaman was speaking at a city park while being harassed and in my opinion, abused.

So if I complain to the police who stood across the street watching, they said that if I felt unsafe, I could leave. What am I to think? Are demonstrations still allowed in Dream City? Do we still have freedom of speech here? Have our police been trained in crowd control? Are they there for us?

What an answer from a police force who take almost 1/3 of our budget.

Frances Andrews
PORT TOWNSEND

Comments

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  • Thomas Camfield

    The police are wise not to escalate a situation by pulling out their guns and throwing people around.

    Monday, September 19, 2022 Report this

  • CodexSeraphinianus

    Frances, thanks for the letter. In my humble opinion, free speech is extremely close to being gone! There’s a lot of arguments to be had here! I don’t know what police pulling guns has to do with anything but I digress!

    All I can say is vote accordingly, and that’s not always as easy as just picking red or blue. Sometimes we gotta choose options we don’t like to get to a better place. Consider that. As far as police not intervening, it’s an order that comes from the top. You have a Mayor and community that fervently pushes certain agendas to a fairly extreme level. It wouldn’t be surprising to hear a recommendation like that come from leadership here (to stand down while people got hurt), because it’s against their narrative.

    Vote on policy not the person. If that would happen more often we wouldn’t be in most of the mess we are in now. Policy! Stay safe.

    Tuesday, September 20, 2022 Report this