U.S.—It’s up to each of us in independent media to ensure that strange little occurrences in smaller cities and towns across the country don’t turn out to be the first wave of a Constitutional-rights-ending explosion.
That’s because bigger media, especially those owned by corporations such as GateHouse and Paxton (the latter of which owns the Paragould Daily Press, will cover for the powers-that-be at every turn.
Scrolling through Facebook today, I was seeing reference to a story about martial law coming to a town in Arkansas…and because I couldn’t find the original article on it in a Paxton paper in Paragould, as well as what used to be an official statement from the Paragould police, I really began to doubt the veracity of it.
However, a little more researching turned up original reference in another Arkansas paper. And it turns out, it’s happened just the way original reports have it, even though most other online sources referencing it have been sanitized.
Here’s the link to the other paper, and a snip:
LITTLE ROCK — The Paragould Police Department is trying to assuage public concern following statements by its chief that he will deploy police in SWAT gear and semiautomatic rifles on city streets to question residents and check identification.
No such unit is in place and “we’re not declaring marshal law,” a woman who answered the phone in Mayor Mike Gaskill’s office said Monday. She said the mayor was on vacation this week and said a statement posted on the police department’s website would answer any questions in his stead.
Neither Gaskill nor Police Chief Todd Stovall returned calls to their offices seeking comment Monday.
The two announced at a town hall meeting last week that next year the city would deploy a new street crimes unit in certain areas in response to rising crime.
“If you’re out walking, we’re going to stop you, ask why you’re out walking, check for your ID,” Stovall said, according to a report in the Paragould Daily Press.
“They may not be doing anything but walking their dog. But they’re going to have to prove it,” Gaskill added, according to the newspaper.
The report apparently cause a stir in the city of 26,500 about 150 miles northeast of Little Rock. The police department posted a statement on its website Sunday that it said was in response to questions and concerns raised by citizens regarding the tactics and methods under which the new police unit would operate.
Folks, we have to fight back on this. The “decision” was made back in December and it’s only just now getting wider publicity, likely because of the low-key coverage back two months ago and that it was picked up by sites like Infowars, which mainstream media wants to marginalize. It’s an invasion of our rights to be detained for no purpose but “questioning.” Yet that’s what the powers-that-be are wanting to shove us into. And they’ll start with a smaller town of 25,000 to do it in. Why should they start that size? Well, larger, and it might be noticed by mainstream media, the few that might actually give it ink. Smaller…well, there’s no point in that. The corruption in towns that are smaller—like many of our small towns in southern Illinois—have overwhelmed us already, and the media’s in the back pocket of the corrupt…so who would report it?
We will. Please read and research. There’s something very wrong here, and there’s a possibility that this could be the first ripple in the wave of destruction of our Fourth Amendment rights to being secure in our person and possessions—the one that keeps the cops from stopping us and indefinitely detaining us without cause.
