Sit Down & Shut Up

The city of Yelm, Washington boasts that it is the Pride of the Prairie. Well, yippee, yay and whoopedy-woo for them.

Where all this pride stems from, I wondered after reading this article which details how elected town council members have now outlawed their constiuents from speaking at city meetings about certain matters.

Lovely.

It seems that Wal-Mart wants to set up shop near Yelm and the city council members are all on the dole on the same page as Wal-Mart.

One little problem. There are some fired-up citizens saying, "Hell, no!"

Well....not anymore.

YELM, Wash. (AP) -- The town council barred residents from mentioning Wal-Mart at meetings, prompting a challenge by civil libertarians who said a "free and accountable" government depends on a citizen's ability to voice concerns openly.

The retailing giant has an application pending to build a superstore, spurring controversy in the small town about 15 miles southeast of Olympia.

In a letter to the council, American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Aaron H. Caplan said his group believes it is unconstitutional to ban any mention of Wal-Mart at council meetings. The term "big-box stores" also is banned, as is "moratorium."

The ban began because council members were fed up with complaints about the proposed superstore and related demands for a moratorium on big-box stores, municipal attorney Brent Dille said. He said officials also didn't want to appear biased if the council ever hears appeals in the matter.