© uapd.arizona.edu
Some residents in a small Arizona city are saying that the term "police state" is more than just a metaphor for the authoritarian rule they feel that they are being more and more subjected to in tiny town just east of the California border.
A closed-door meeting over the weekend in Quartzsite, AZ allegedly led to the town council declaring a state of emergency and the removal of the mayor.
The decision reportedly comes after a
video of a town resident being escorted out of an open meeting by police went viral on the Web and caused local officials to receive numerous death threats.
Jennifer 'Jade' Jones had the floor at a Quartzsite town meeting on June 28 when she became vocal about her disagreement with recent tax increases in the area. The town had recently made the decision to raise water and sewage fees for the first time in a decade, much to the outrage of the residents of the 70 mobile-home parks that help make up the 3,500-person population in Quartzsite. As Jones spoke out against the tax hike, Councilman Joe Winslow demanded she vacate the building or be escorted out by police.
A resulting disagreement between the two parties escalated when Mayor Ed Foster demanded that police continue to let her speak, interjecting, "Officer, that woman has the floor. You're violating my rules of order here. Sergeant, I have control of the meeting."
Despite the mayor's plea, Police Chief Jeff Gilbert ordered Jones removed. She suffered a torn ligament as she was taken into custody and thus admitted to a local hospital.
Comment: The above article is largely NATO propaganda along the lines of "history is written by the victors (or aggressors)". For a more accurate account of what has come to be called the "Bosnian war" see the articles at this link.