“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.”
Dear readers,
The Bruce Township Board of Trustees voted 4-1 to ban your Record newspaper from the township hall at their regular board meeting held March 15.
Beginning with our first issue on Dec. 1, 2015, we have left a few promotional copies of this newspaper on the table in the main hallway of the township hall where visitors may find other publications such as Macomb Now or The Source newspaper.
None of these publications, including The Record, charge for this public service.
This is a common practice in the newspaper industry and it has been affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court as an exercise of free speech and of the press—it is guaranteed to everyone under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The passage of the resolution by the board which included Supervisor Richard Cory, Clerk Susan Brockmann, Trustee Mark Falker and Trustee Paul Okoniewski demonstrates an incredible ignorance of basic American civics and civil liberties.
The only person to vote against the ban was Treasurer Debbie Obrecht.
The resolution is non-binding and it is as toothless as an earthworm.
This action by the board did not come out of the blue to me.
Cory had called me a week ago Friday to ask me to stop dropping the newspaper at the township hall. Brockmann had contacted me by email in February with a similar request.
When I asked why, Cory responded “You have written too many stories about Susan (Brockmann.) It just seems like you are out to get her.”
Most readers of The Record know that Brockmann is facing “super drunk” charges for an alleged incident at the township hall at 3 a.m., Sunday, Sept. 11.
Troopers from the Michigan State Police claim that Brockmann backed her car into a patrol car that was responding to the township hall’s burglar alarm. Troopers said that Brockmann admitted to tripping the alarm. Troopers claim that Brockmann’s blood alcohol level was nearly two and a half times the legal limit. Her next court date on this incident is March 22 in New Baltimore 42nd District Court.
We didn’t learn about this incident until nearly two months later after a member of the criminal justice system alerted us that the case was starting to make its way through the court system. In the meantime, Brockmann was reelected to office without voters knowing a single thing about the alleged incident. Brockmann never volunteered a thing.
The Record broke the story on Nov. 16 and it has been carried by every major news outlet in Metropolitan Detroit. It fits every criteria of a major news story.
In light of this truly bizarre action by the Bruce Township Board of Trustees, here are our promises to you, our readers:
- We commit to reporting on news in Bruce Township as well as all other communities in our distribution area regardless of any resolution passed against us.
- We are committed to producing objective journalism that is fact based and independent of the government and political parties. Our job is to report not to offer opinion or to advocate. Presented with the facts, it is up to the readers to make judgements about news events. Opinions are confined to editorial and opinion pages in this newspaper.
- We are committed to holding our elected officials accountable for their actions.
This resolution passed by Brockmann, Cory, Falker and Okoniewski demonstrates that these elected officials want only the news THEY want you to know.
Lawrence Sobczak,
Publisher
