The supposed defenders of free speech at KELO TV sent their Dallas, TX lawyer after us for exercising our free speech in Perry Groten’s neighborhood last summer. It set us back for a bit but not for long. LCCRP Committee’s Executive Director Tuntland initiated a response to their threat. We went back into Perry Groten’s neighborhood the afternoon of January 20, 2021, and distributed a hand-bill exposing KELO’s attack on our citizen’s free speech.
It is clear that what is unfolding against the free speech rights of fiscal conservatives across America is happening here, too. The only real defense of our rights is a principled offense. See the hand-bill text against KELO that went back into Groten’s neighborhood below. (All hot-links below had Tiny URL addresses in the hand-bill so residents could confirm everything we linked to.)
———————————————————————————-
KELO TV, SUPPOSED CHAMPION OF THE 1ST AMENDMENT, SENT THEIR TEXAS LAWYER AFTER US IN AN ATTEMPT TO SILENCE OUR FREE SPEECH RIGHTS. HYPOCRITES!
We do not agree with President Trump on everything but we certainly agree with him that the mainstream media have become the ‘enemy of the people.’
Last summer we went door to door with a hand-bill in Perry Groten’s neighborhood explaining how he was serving as a fake news reporter for three Lincoln County Commissioners. We asked you, his neighbors, who were out for a summer evening walk, to stop by his home and ask why he’s not telling the whole story about the $50 million jail proposal and is trying to ‘set up’ our founder David Tuntland. (A copy of that hand-bill is here.) Keep in mind there is no greater protected speech that our fore-fathers had in mind, than door-to-door pamphleteering.
As you can see we didn’t imply, suggest or indicate any harm should come to him. That would be abhorrent. We asked nothing more than you have a conversation with your neighbor, KELO reporter Perry Groten.
Yes the vote is over and 67% of the Lincoln County voters agreed the proposal was too wasteful. But now is the time to warn you of a serious threat to our right of Free Speech that came from KELO’s lawyers shortly after this flier was distributed. They sent a legal threatening letter from a Dallas, TX law firm representing Nexstar, Inc. the holding company that owns KELO. See their lawyer here.
They didn’t send it to our non-profit corporation, nor to our executive director. It was sent to a (now former) director – who, sadly, was our weak link. It was effective in that it scared this board member and some of our inexperienced founders enough to quickly dissociate themselves with us. We’ve since reorganized and our new board will not be intimated into silencing our lawful free speech. After all, if KELO can silence us, they can silence you, too. Especially when something important to you needs to be said or printed.
Notice that their lawyer provides no evidence to their assertions. Also, he includes no direct threat to sue us, nor does it rise to the level of sending us a ‘cease and desist’ legal threat. Why doesn’t it? Because our accurate and factual speech in the flier is protected by the First Amendment – the same First Amendment KELO depends on to broadcast!
It is gross hypocrisy when they raise the fact that we told his neighbors Mr. Groten’s home address. After all, how many times hasn’t KELO reporters (or worse, reporters from their national broadcast affiliate CBS) targeted someone they didn’t like, by broadcasting from or publishing their home or work address? This is not uncommon. Just recently KELO published the Pierre home address of Steven Berg, head of the Office of Procurement Management of the South Dakota Bureau of Administration. All we did was ask a few of his neighbors to talk to Groten about his work as a ‘fake news’ reporter, trying to help three Commissioners in their effort to crank up excessive property taxes on their homes. When the tables are turned on them, my does KELO squeal!
How does it feel when the shoe’s on the other foot KELO TV?
Soon after the voters buried this foolish proposal who did Mike Poppens, the most aggressive proponent on the Commission, run to and proclaim on the air that, “The analysis still says it’s logical to have our own, [jail]…” while totally ignoring our analysis proving this was not true?
Poppens went to KELO, of course! Meanwhile, after their humiliating defeat KELO didn’t bother to speak to either of the two Commissioners who opposed this from the beginning, nor to even one of the 20,380 NO voters.
KELO: Enemy of the people of Lincoln County?
Call KELO’s General Manager Mari Ossenfort at 605-357-5630 or email her at mossenfort@keloland.com and demand they stop attacking the 1st Amendment and return to defending it!
Lincoln County Citizens for Real Progress Committee
David Tuntland, Executive Director
P.O. Box 818, Tea, SD 57064-0818
Ph 605-670-8731
Email lccrprogress@yahoo.com www.lccrp.org