Most people know that the First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees freedom of the press, as well as freedom of religion, from governmental intervention.
It actually goes a bit further than that, though:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Even though it says "Congress," the Supreme Court has gone further, and stated in Gitlow v. New York that it applies to state and local governments as well.
As I discovered from a link shared by a friend on Facebook, a town council in Arkansas apparently disagrees.
Gould, Arkansas, is a town of about 1,000 residents in southeastern Arkansas.
They have financial problems, like many towns; apparently, they owe $300,000 in taxes to the IRS.
So, a civic group called the Gould Citizens Advisory Council is apparently trying to help improve the city (among other things, they raised money to help pay off some of that debt). On the other hand, the town council saw it as inappropriate meddling.
So, they took these steps:
The City Council adopted an ordinance last week making it illegal to form any kind of group without its permission. . . .
. . .
And it is not the only ordinance bringing unfavorable attention.
Last week, the Council overrode the mayor’s veto of two other controversial measures. One required that the citizens advisory council cease to exist. The other made it illegal for the mayor to meet with “any organization in any location” either “inside or outside Gould city limits” without the Council’s permission.
As the article above and video below note, as currently written, the ordinance bans all groups, and would have made the interviews the mayor gave illegal without the permission of the town council.
Honestly, the fact that any town council could come up with ordinances that are so blatantly in violation of multiple clauses is stunning. In my opinion, the town council members who voted for this ordinance have proven themselves unfit to govern, and I hope are voted out at the earliest possible opportunity.
Here's a local broadcast on the ordinance:
The video basically outlines the feud, explains the actions taken by the council, and then the anchors talk to the reporter about the story. The anchorwoman says—as I did, but more politely— You’ve got to be kidding me.” The reporter then explains that she asked the councilwoman interviewed in the piece about why it was necessary to have such a blanket ban . . . and never got a straight answer.