MAYOR WELCH HAS VOCAL SPEAKERS DOING THE HOKEY POKEY By Marchelle Martha Barber, Publisher and Photojournalist for the INFORMER (August 27, 2014) How many people remember an old song children used to sing called the Hokey, Pokey? The song goes like this: You put your right foot in. You take your right foot out. You put your right foot in. Then you shake it all about........ Well, now Country Club Hills Mayor Dwight Welch has vocal residents who want to speak during City Council meetings doing his version of the Hokey Pokey. Mayor Welchs political song and dance is yet his latest tactic to silence his critics who want to speak to the public during Council meetings. You see, lately, more and more residents are become vocal. So, Mayor Welch had to EXPAAAAAAAAAAAAAND his tactics so, one by one, he can frustrate his vocal critics. MAYOR WELCHS STOP THE SPEAKER WITH A SPEACH OF MY OWN TRICK: All speakers have three minutes to speak to the public during the City Council meeting. So, when the speaker begins, Welch just interrupts him or her so he can speak instead. What Mayor Welch has to say usually takes up the entire three minutes, so Welch can then surprise the speaker with the news that the three minutes are up. The police are often summoned by Welch for speakers who feel tricked when Welch stole their time. MAYOR WELCHS THREE MINUTE RULE: Figures dont lie, but liars figure, and crooked Mayor Welch tells everyone he thinks doesnt know how to use a clock that speakers he wants to silence have used up their three minutes. However, some residents have started bringing their one stop watches to the meetings and realizing Welch is often lying when he tells residents their three minutes are up. But if a speaker is a Welch fan, or does not say anything Mayor Welch doesnt want to hear, they can have all the time they need to speak. WELCHS NEWEST GAME -- THE HOKEY POKEY: This game was publically implemented by resident Ms. Leora Bell a few months ago. Ms. Bell would began speaking during City Council meetings and requesting that EVERY SPEAKER face Council, with the speakers backs turned to the residents in the crowd. When no other speaker followed her example, Ms. Bells request became more of a DEMAND. As more meeting passed, Ms. Bell began speaking during her three minute allotment about her academic credentials and how she is not on anyones side. Also, every time Ms. Bell began her speeches, she always adjusted the microphone so that any speaker following her would have to face Council, or readjust the microphone in the traditional direction themselves. Once, Bell turned the microphone around her way so hard, it wouldnt pick up the sound from the following speakers, who had to simply speak without it. Then, after an especially hot Council meeting where one speaker used the term Uncle Tom during his three minutes to speak, Mayor Welch ordered ALL speakers to face him during their speeches. Mayor Welch said he decided to make the change because he thought people facing the audience were playing to the cameras. So, thanks to Ms. Bell and Mayor Welch, speakers now have to do the Hokey Pokey when they speak. Any speaker who raises a foot in the wrong direction may be stopped by Mayor Welch and kicked out of the meeting by police. But demanding that Country Club Hills residents speak to Council HER WAY is not all Ms. Bell has been up to recently. According to a story in the Southtown Star, Ms. Bell is an OBJECTOR who wants to keep the TERM LIMITS REFERENDUM from being placed on the November 2014 ballot. For those of you who do not know what an OBJECTOR is, this is a person who wants a candidate or a referendum removed from an upcoming election, and does so using a court action. Sometimes there is a valid reason to OBJECT to a candidate or Referendum, but most of the time its just politics. But in the case of at least one other Country Club Hills OBJECTOR, he was experiencing rough times until he allowed his name to be used as a OBJECTOR in a complaint against someone Welch didnt want to run. Soon afterwards, some of his financial worries were resolved as if he had won the lottery. Also, the lawyers who represent the OBJECTORS are usually Welch campaign contributors -- proving Mayor Welch doesnt even worry about covering up his tracks. I understand that members of Council have so many of Welchs tricks spring on them every day -- they cant catch the all. But it seems what Mayor Welch is demanding of the speakers seems to violate Freedom of Speech and Open Meetings Laws. But, so far, Mayor Welch has consistently silenced residents during public meetings. Warning residents at the beginning of Council meetings to talk nice or be removed, is an obvious example. Yet, the officials who are supposed to protect the residents of Country Club Hills seem to ignore -- or even accept -- Welchs legal infractions. Hmmmmmmm. Its like Country Club Hills has a GREEN LINE around it where residents dont have the right to be protected under the law because there are too many millions that can be made at their expense. Could that be what its all about? -- INFORMER (8-27-2014)
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 07:55:42 +0000
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