KINGMAN - Two new Mohave County policies will go into effect Monday.
The first deals with the use of county property concerning politics, sales or demonstrations. The second deals with bringing a weapon onto the property.
Both new policies were posted at the county building Friday morning.
County Manager Ron Walker also issued a public statement to the public on the issues via the county's Web site, www.co.mohave.az.us, Thursday afternoon.
The new policies are in reaction to recent events involving Luca Zanna passing out flyers during a November town hall meeting with Sen. John McCain, and Mervin Fried being arrested for attempting to carry a pitchfork into the building last week.
In the video, Walker states that the policies were created "to make clear that Mohave County property is for the conduct of official county and government business.
"The county manager is responsible for the efficient management and coordination of all business of the county. The ordinances state that the county manager shall take such actions as reasonably required to conduct that official business," he said. "Therefore, I have a duty to promote, preserve and enforce necessary policy to ensure that the county business environment is free from intimidation, harassment and work place violence for both customers and employees.
"I do not take this duty lightly and I have carefully considered the balance of individual rights in crafting this policy to ensure the least restrictive environment, which I feel allows for the safe and orderly conduct of county business."
According to the policies, the new rules apply not only inside the administration building, but also in the parking lots; driveways and sidewalks; and landscaped and undeveloped areas surrounding the buildings.
It does not affect publicly dedicated areas within or adjacent to Route 66, Andy Devine Avenue or Beale Street.
Mohave County Administrative Procedure (3-1) states; "The Mohave County Administration Building is not a public forum. In order to protect the safety of its employees and visitors, preserve partisan and political neutrality in the provision of government services, promote efficient use of taxpayer resources, and reserve the building and facilities for its intended purpose, certain conduct must be restricted."
The policy prohibits political campaigning of any kind, distribution of petitions for signatures, solicitation of campaign donations, display of banners or signs, leafleting or distribution of material, political assemblies, rallies or demonstrations.
It also prohibits the use of county property for sale of products or goods, parades, fairs and exhibits, except as permitted by the county administration.
It does not prevent county facilities from being used "by other federal, state and local governmental entities and agencies for the conduct of official business. This includes use by elected or appointed federal, state, and local incumbents for communication with constituents."
"Our elected president and U.S. senators and representatives will continue to be able to use our facilities to report to the people on legislation and issues," Walker said in a news release. "And like all candidates, they will not be allowed to hold campaign rallies here. They will have to do that elsewhere on their own dimes."
County Administrative Procedure (3-6) states, "Pursuant to (Arizona Revised Statute) 13-3102(A)(10) Individuals are prohibited from entering a public building while in possession of a firearm or deadly weapon."
According to the new policy, residents entering the building with a deadly weapon or firearm will be asked to leave the weapon in their vehicle or place it in a lockbox provided by the county.
In order to place the weapon into the lockbox, the weapon owner must have a valid federal, state or government photo ID and must completely fill out a form that identifies the weapon, for example, its make, model or serial number.
Once the weapon is placed into the lockbox, the owner will receive a receipt and a county representative will hold onto the key for the box. Before the weapon is returned, the county representative will confirm that the weapon is being returned to its rightful owner. The owner will then be asked to leave the building.
"We reserve this building for its intended purpose," Walker said in the video. "We should have civil discourse and exchange of ideas. And no one who comes here should have to fear for their personal safety.
"Everyone has a right to disagree with the law. For those who want to change the law, the court system and the ballot box are designed to achieve change in a civil manner."
Click the play button to hear Mohave County Manager Ron Walker explain the new policies. (3:43)
Posted: Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Article comment by:
We Can Recall Sockwell
Folks, the recall is really charged up, we are raising money and getting signatures! This county has been under the corrupt thumbs of this BOS for too long, and they have gone too far. We can now remove Sockwell from office. Help us do this. Please go to RecallSockwell.com to help! We meet every week, we need your help, be part of history to clean up this county! RecallSockwell.com for info!
Posted: Thursday, March 18, 2010
Article comment by:
Please Step Up and Help with www.RecallSockwell.com
To help with RecallSockwell go to www.RecallSockwell.com or e-mail MohaveFreedom@Yahoo.com The cause is growing stronger every day, but we still need people to circulate petitions and we need donations. Now is the time for change and we can do it.
Posted: Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Article comment by:
Jeff Cummins
@ Patriots Lose
"Don't misread what I am saying either, I am all for the right to bear arms to protect you and your family, but there are some places guns just don't belong."
I have to agree with you on this.
To protect oneself I would think oneself would need to have his/her arms with him/her self.
It is very hard for a person to protect him/her self if their gun is locked in a box.
If doing this is so secure, is there a reason that law enforcement still have the need to carry firearms inside the building?
Guns do not belong in government lock boxes.
They actually belong on and to the individual citizens that purchased them because they are their property.
Posted: Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Article comment by:
Patriost Lose
Looks like the patriots did lose, the guns were checked before the meeting, as it should be. As Warren O so correctly stated, there is NOT ONE good reason to carry a weapon into a government building, NOT ONE. And saying it needs to be done in case something does happen, which has NEVER happened in Mohave County, is like telling someone to wear goggles before they eat to make sure they don't stick a fork in their eye. Don't misread what I am saying either, I am all for the right to bear arms to protect you and your family, but there are some places guns just don't belong.
Posted: Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Article comment by:
Jeff Cummins
Mervin came to a building with a pitchfork that he used as a symbol of expression, he never did any harm, and nor was any harm an intent.
Now, we have Ron Walker banning every firearm from the county building because of Mervin?
Ron Walker is as corrupt as corrupt can be for impairing the rights of citizens because one person did NO harm with a pitchfork!
If Ron Walker was a man of justice (which he is not), he would ban all deputies and law enforcement from carrying weapons because one man, which was a high ranking officer with Mohave County sheriff office was arrested for domestic violence!
Yeah......how can we trust any officer anymore?
Ron Walker,
Why dont you have the County health department shut down all eating establishments when one health establishment is found out of compliance?
Why dont you ban all vehicles on County roads as soon as you find one person that is in violation of some driving law or regulation?
You need to get out of town and go somewhere where a dictatorship mindset and attitude is welcome. Cuba and Iran might be looking for a few men like you.
Ron Walker has an attitude that shows how much dis-respect and a lack of trust he has for the citizen.
Free speech is a right that is owned by the individual. It is a blessing that has been given to the individual by God.
When people take away your free speech it is nothing less than theft. It one man or a group of men stealing away what does not belong to them.
When they steal away this blessing by the use of threats of fines or punishments, it is nothing less than tyranny.
If John McCain was allowed to speak and use his blessings of liberty.......Luca should not be banned.
People out there
The right of the individual citizen to keep and bear arms in defense of himself or the state is something that belongs to the individual just like your heart, your lungs, your hands and feet.
When the state works in any way to steal away what belongs to you, instead of working to protect what belongs to you, they are corrupt as can be.
Oppose all tyrants.
Posted: Monday, March 01, 2010
Article comment by:
Patriots Win
Patriots Lose?
No! Patriots never stop! We may lose a battle with Fascist pigs that know what they are doing, but we shall win the war against those who do not believe in the US Constitution and Bil of Rights. This is the beginning, not the end you fool! Non-patriots, turn in your arms and legs.
Posted: Monday, March 01, 2010
Article comment by:
Jeff Cummins
John Wilson,
You are correct!
There are no laws that states a person must have some government ID card to carry his/her firearm.
There is no law that states a person must present an ID to check in a firearm on government property.
These people really and truly have a hatred of our rights.
It is terrible!
They do so many things under 'laws' that are not good laws in the first place.
King George had lots of laws, it hardly means they were all good.
North Korea works with a system of laws......but bad laws are always bad laws no matter how many people vote them in.
In China it used to be that law enforcement could force your wife to have an abortion....by law! And if you opposed them, they would arrest you, find you guilty, and call you a criminal. Fancy this, they have real uniforms and badges too!
John the Baptist was arrested.
Jesus was arrested.
Paul was arrested.
Sometimes being arrested does not really mean you are such a bad guy after all!
Posted: Monday, March 01, 2010
Article comment by:
Jeff Cummins
Dear Patriots Lose,
No, we did not have to shoot the bullies.
However, you will find that even our sheriff deputies sometimes need to shoot bad bullies because sometimes bad bullies cannot be reasoned with.
This does not mean that law enforcement personnel are to have MORE rights than the citizens that established law enforcement agencies in the first place.
The County employee as well as the citizen that deals with Mohave County both have the basic right of self defense.
Tyrants can can impair them, they can infringe on them.....and they DO! That is something that has been going on for as long as humans existed.
Would you teach and have all law enforcement to dis-arm themselves just because some law enforcement people have done evil things?
That is essentially what Ron Walker is doing with these policies even though no one used a weapon in any offense!
When law enforcement along with other government agents and officers dis-arm the general public, when the general public has not done anything wrong.....they are tyrants and are turning the place into a police state.
The government was established to protect the rights of the people, and not squash them.
You don't ban all people from driving cars on the road just because there are drivers that have used their vehicles to do harm on purpose.
That is not justice and it is not right. That is a tyrannical mindset.
I should not punish you or infringe on your rights because some guy in Omaha Nebraska killed his wife with a pitchfork. What are you going to do....ban all pitchforks? But hey, Mervin did nothing at all with his pitchfork that caused any harm.
We are punishing law abiding citizens because people are paranoid of pitchforks!
People should be punished individually for their own corrupt and individual actions.
For Ron Walker to bring all of this down on law abiding citizens that have not committed any crime is deplorable and sick. It comes from a tyrannical mindset. The word 'tyrant' has to do with people that lord over others and have a disdain for people and their basic rights.
We have an Arizona Constitution and it not only has a declaration of basic rights, it also notes that there are many other rights that people retain even though not all of them are mentioned.
No one has the right to shed innocent blood......but carrying a firearm for self defense and for the defense of others is not shedding innocent blood.
Read the Arizona Constitution some day. The preamble is a declaration of gratitude to almighty God for liberties that we hold dear.
When tyrants infringe and squash basic liberties of free speech so that the public cannot politely inform fellow countrymen with fliers of the good or bad things our elected officials have done, especially when at a political event......it is nothing but tyrannical censorship.
That is my own personal opinion and I happen to agree with myself.
Have a nice day!
Posted: Monday, March 01, 2010
Article comment by:
az mac
The Silent Majority
There is only one law and that is the constitution. The people can over rule the federal government, the states and the cities. We the people can also over rule the supreme Court. We the people hold all the power. The government has only the power we the people give them You should learn our history and about the constitution. It is not hard to under stand what our fore fathers were thinking. They wrote all their thoughts down. The only people breaking any laws are the BOS. You may like the government to do your thinking for you but I am an adult and can do my own thinking. I find people like you very unamerican. Only people doing the wrong thing have a reason to fear every thing. The BOS are about to lose their jobs for breaking their own rules and law and from the laws I have seen, they should go to jail.
Posted: Monday, March 01, 2010
Article comment by:
A Concerned Citizen In Kingman
So help me understand this new policy by explaining to me this quote “the policies were created to make clear that Mohave County property is for the conduct of official county and government business”
Should I ask how you will handle the current Board of Supervisors (BOS) once they start running for reelection will he/she be asked to leave tax payers property to run for reelection for his/her seated position or will that be granted permission? With that said, who is the govern body that will make the decision on what is acceptable and not acceptable?
Let’s also keep in mind what the meaning of “Freedom of speech is and I quote “the freedom to speak without censorship and/or limitation. The synonymous term freedom of expression is sometimes used to indicate not only freedom of verbal speech but any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used i.e. tax payer’s property (County facilities).
The right to freedom of speech is recognized as a human right under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and recognized in international human rights law in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The ICCPR recognizes the right to freedom of speech as "the right to hold opinions without interference. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression".
Furthermore freedom of speech is recognized in inter-American human rights law” no matter when you assemble publicly, and furthermore I would say this is acceptable at a facility that the tax payer’s built with tax dollars.
Now to side with your opinion on weapons I will agree there needs to be set guidelines to limit what you can carry in a county or state facility without proper certifications i.e. CCW’s which you also pay a tax to hold.
I believe that the county decision makers (County Manager Ron Walker) is trying to censor the communities ability to openly speak or remove our freedoms of speech by removing a public medium (County Facilities), I would ask the county elected decision makers (County Manager Ron Walker) that was elected by the tax payers how & where he campaigned for his seat, then I would ask if they are treating the tax payers that elected him and/or any candidate that is up for election or re-election fairly.
I thought we were fighting a war to break a ugly cycle and detour communism's, keep in mind also we have spent over a trillion dollars to fight world and foreign country dictators thousands of miles away to only have the same conduct in our own back yard.
I would ask that the community stand up and ensure these dictators are removed from office, I would ask that we stand up for our constitutional rights that our forefathers adopted on September 17, 1787. I would ask who is County Manager Ron Walker to take these rights away from a community or say that we are not allowed to campaign on Tax Payers property as long as it’s not interfering with business as usual?
I believe this to be an abuse of power and he should be viewed & considered a threat to our First & Second Amendment rights
Mr. Ron Walker please explain your thinking to the people that elected you into office, please explain how this new policy is going to help the community? Please explain to the people where your priorities are and how you are working to lift the morale of the community with such policies? How will this bring in big industry & Jobs to put the people back to work and food on their tables? How does this policy have any positive affect on the community at all?
Lets just be frank all that’s being seen here is a self indulged power hungry county manager wasting tax payer’s dollars building policies that only have a negative impact and bringing nothing positive to the table. Wouldn’t it been better spent time putting your priorities around the economy & jobs? Think of the money spent building such a policy when your public (the folks that elected you) are out of work and money. Did you do the right thing, that a question you should ask yourself.
Sincerely
A Concerned Citizen
Posted: Monday, March 01, 2010
Article comment by:
Kingmanward Kingmanward
At all the people wondering what "tea [partiers]" will do now, etc, and those that are glad there is a policy against public assembly there now-
what are you going to be saying when the tables are turned? When there is an issue you have worth protesting about at the county building but you cannot do so. You are branded a criminal if you do.
The time will come- it always does- do not shoot yourself and other citizens of Mohave in the foot by supporting a law that infringes on the 1st amendment.
Posted: Monday, March 01, 2010
Article comment by:
Mouth of the South
Excuse Me- you are absolutely correct that the Communists are taking over this country. I think I saw Breshnev coming out of the Dambar last week.
Posted: Monday, March 01, 2010
Article comment by:
The Silent Majority
Kudos to the county. The majority of us are sick of the gun toting whackos who refuse to live within the law and within clearly established Supreme Court precedent on limits to protesting in county business office areas.
Read your Constitution, people. Yes, the Constitution has the First Amendment, but it also calls for a Supreme Court, whose job it is to interpret the Constitution. And they have done so. You can't protest in county business areas.
I am not sure whether the Miner has accurately reported it, but a policy which bans all protesting on ALL county property is unConstitutional, but barring protests in business areas is ok.
Posted: Monday, March 01, 2010
Article comment by:
Excuse Me
I am almost speechless. The county has passed policies that are limiting individual rights granted by the US Constitution to peacefully assemble and politic on public, government owned, taxpayer paid land? We are to believe that peaceably expressing one’s opinion is an inherent danger to the people who work there? Although, technically passing policies for inside the building may be legal, it is bad form and leaves us to question the moral and ethical issue. I can see not allowing politicking inside the building as it may interfere with actual work getting done, but outside is another story. I can only hope this policy is applied consistently regardless of whether or not it affects a seated politician giving any speeches, meetings, forums, or town halls on county land. According to this policy only content that is to “inform on current policy or conducting of official business ” is to take place. I am of the opinion that ANY speech given by a politician is political and therefore “politicking” they just can’t help themselves, once they win an election they are forever campaigning for the next time. And to quote from the paper, “this policy is protect the safety of county employees and visitors, preserve partisan and political neutrality…..certain conduct must be restricted”. Really, this policy has been made to protect partisan and political neutrality? This would be believable if there was actually balanced bipartisan representation at the county, and not just a very one sided partisan group. Furthermore, isn’t squashing of your rights to free speech and peaceful assembly a communistic belief? Isn’t the conservative Republican Party against the evils of communism? Isn’t this talking out both sides of your mouth? A quote from an unknown person regarding communism and personal freedoms, “…freedom of speech gives people ideas, which in turn awakens them to their oppression and results in a rising up of the people against an absolute ruler”. Is this what the county manager and Board of Supervisors are really afraid of? Shame on the rest of you who are more worried about your right to take a gun into the building than in preserving your right to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly because exercising your free speech and peaceful assembly rights is the only way you will be able to get rid of these communistic dictators running this county.
Posted: Monday, March 01, 2010
Article comment by:
me me
It is my right to carry in AZ with a permit.
I am old, a woman, and a citizen----it is my right to carry.
I have never felt threatened in the County Building by anyone.
Our County Supervisors and Ron Walker should be ashamed of themselves.
We can distribute the voting record of McCain or any politician anywhere.
