It was heartening to read today’s follow up story on the cuffing and removal of Loren Martell from a school board meeting. Yesterday’s story was threadbare and the AP summary the Trib sent out was an abomination.
The proof of this is found in the Trib’s online comment section. Yesterday people left comments heaping abuse on Mr. Martell for disrupting the meeting. Today some of the same folks are reconsidering what happened and their opinions have shifted 180 degrees. I can fault Mr.Martell only in not racing away when the microphone was shut off as he spoke but I wouldn’t have either. I would have been dumfounded although, since Tim has shut off the mike so often lately, not quite as surprised.
I watched enough of the video of the incident to have been alarmed at how quickly Chair Grover summoned the police to intervene after he shut off the microphone. It was damn near instantaneous. It appears to me from the presence of the officer at what was a pretty sleepy meeting that Tim Grover had planned for an opportunity to have Mr. Martell escorted out by a policeman to humiliate and discredit lhim. Such a convenient way to pull a thorn out of his side. I doubt that Tim thought Martell would be cuffed. Once again the arrogance of the School Board majority has redounded to their discredit. No authority quoted in this Trib story can find anything defensible to say about Chair Grover’s actions. Not even Tim.
As Lord Acton said: “Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
