Secret Gun Ban in Fayetteville!

[Guest Straight Shooter]

Our Board of Mayer and Alderman,on Tuesday,11August,passed a No Guns In Parks Bill. This was done in secret,behind closed doors,no public notice AT ALL,no public discussion...nothing. Of the six members voting 5 voted for the ban,one against.

At this time,and I am currently looking into this,Im told our City Police Chief,who happens to be from Memphis I think,was against the ban. I was also told this came about last Thursday night,out of the blue,then voted on Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. when everyone is at work or getting off,and no one knew about it anyway.

If this aint dirty pool,I dont know what the hell is. We are VERY pro-gun,conservative here in Fayetteville,Lincoln County,but we have some of the most tired old Liberals running things you ever saw.

I am taking this matter on as my personal mission,to expose what was done,by whom,and to try to get this undone. I need help,advice,and for people here in Lincoln County,to start raising hell about this,and the way it was done.

Im off Friday,and I will be attempting to contact all involved,including the mayor,so I can get their words on the record.Ill be writing a letter to the editor of the Elk Valley Times,with whom I spoke to about 15 minutes or so yesterday about the meeting.

Again,I NEED HELP AND ADVICE on what I need to do next.Thanks for any given.

[Guest bkelm18]

Well first obviously you need to find out if they did anything illegal. I don't know if your town requires open meetings and all that. If they did nothing against the law, well I'd say you've got an uphill battle in the least.

[graydw1]

After reading the paper last night, I was wondering when or if a public forum would be held. Doesn't surprize me at all. Keep us informed.

[Guest kerstuff]

Isn't this violation of the Sunshine Law?

[JayC]

Well first obviously you need to find out if they did anything illegal. I don't know if your town requires open meetings and all that. If they did nothing against the law, well I'd say you've got an uphill battle in the least.

All towns in TN require open door meetings with proper notice of the schedule ahead of time. It's part of the TN Sunshine laws. If this was truly a closed door meeting, then it would be a clear violation of the Sunshine law.

[Guest canynracer]

Not to mention, you state that you have tired old liberals runnin things...get all the "pro Gun Conservatives" folks together and make it your mission to vote them out!

I am not knockin you, I am just thinking if it is as conservative there as you say it is, how did the libs take control in the first place? Perhaps things are not as they seem?

[Guest NeuralFizz]

All towns in TN require open door meetings with proper notice of the schedule ahead of time. It's part of the TN Sunshine laws. If this was truly a closed door meeting, then it would be a clear violation of the Sunshine law.

I believe there are SOME stipulations to the law, I'd have to find out what they are.

[Guest GimpyLeg]

Unfortunately, the meeting was not private, just not well advertised. While the floor was open for discussion, at least one citizen plead our case. When a council member motioned for the resolution (R09-12) to be deferred for public input, no one seconded the motion so the resolution was voted upon and passed with only one nay (the resolution was to opt-out).

Sources: August Adgenda http://www.fayettevilletn.com/vertical/Sites/%7BED84D6F1-7E1B-4DD8-A6B4-6B69CBD78687%7D/uploads/%7BF7B011EC-F0B9-46EC-BF77-28B6133BFE5D%7D.PDF

DRAFT 8.0 8/11/2009

Board of Mayor and Aldermen

City ofFayetteville, TN

Regular Meeting

August 11, 2009

Board Chamber Room Tuesday evening 5:00pm City Hall

AGENDA

1.Call to Order Mayor Shelton

2.Pledge and Prayer Eric Reynolds, S Fay Church of Christ

3.Minutes Mayor Shelton

4.Approval ofBills and Additional Bills Mayor Shelton

5.Reports (5-7 Minutes each)

A. School Board Amendments Billy Joe Evens

B. IDB Update Nathan Ward

C. Main Street Marie Caldwell

Standing Committee Reports:

A. Utilities Joe Askins

B. City School Board Dorothy Small

C. Police Danny Bryant

D. Fire Marty Pepper

E. Recreation Michael Stewart

F. Planning Pat Fraley

G. City Administrator's Report Jim Lee

H. Mayor's Report Mayor Shelton

6.OLD BUSINESS:

A. Budget Amendments

1.Police overtime dollars

2.Funding for logos on City Vehicles

3.Days for Judy on part-time (not more than 120 days)

7.NEW BUSINESS:

A. Call for Public Hearing on Wellsbrook Village-( Jerry Mullins)

B. New State Law on Ordinance

C. Resolution-R09-11 Exploration Qf Possible Economic Impact Plan, Tax Increment Financing And Central Business Improvement District...

D. Resolution R09-I2 Handguns In Public Municipal Parks...

1. Budget Amendment

E. Parade approval

1.Annual Trail of Tears Re-Enactment

2.Alzheimer's Memory Walk

F. Emergency PO for Pumping of Oil separator

8.COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT COMMENTS The Mayor will recognize participants for a 4-minute comment period

9.ADJOURNMENT

FPU Streaming - OnDemand Fayetteville Public Utilities- live streaming video powered by Livestream

Around 1:15:20 minute marker

[Guest Straight Shooter]

GimpyLeg is correct..I was wrong. The meeting was not "closed door" as I had stated. After coming in this morning from work,and watching the meeting on the FPU local channel,I got to see for myself what happened.Only alderman,Mr.Stewart I believe,tried to table the vote for public discussion,it was not seconded,and was voted on at that time.

Things are almost never "as they seem" in politics,and Ive never understood why our county is so conservative,yet still vote in the same people year after year.

I will post info on this as it develops,myself,and I hope others,are working on it.maybe we can get this undone,I hope.

[Worriedman]

The same folks that rushed to vote this time, can bring it back up at any time. If you can raise awareness, and get the shooting community involved, you can have them reconsider their actions. There is nothing in the State law that says anything about it not being able to be reconsidered.

If you get enough folks interested, and make the Council aware that failure to act differently will simply mean the new Council members elected in the next poll will do so, they will change their tune, and the local law!

[JayC]

I believe there are SOME stipulations to the law, I'd have to find out what they are.

The exceptions to that rule are very narrow, talking to a lawyer about a current lawsuit, and a few others, but they're not supposed to discuss or vote on anything behind closed doors. Under the law they're not even allowed to discuss or debate an upcoming vote behind closed doors.

Although our Sunshine law doesn't have enough teeth (personally I think we need to make violating it a Class E felony), it does open up pretty much everything under the sun (including currently the HCP database).

[Guest bkelm18]

All towns in TN require open door meetings with proper notice of the schedule ahead of time. It's part of the TN Sunshine laws. If this was truly a closed door meeting, then it would be a clear violation of the Sunshine law.

Was not aware of the Sunshine Law. Thanks.