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posted by martyb on Wednesday October 18 2017, @09:18PM   Printer-friendly
from the what-if-nobody-showed-up? dept.

Governor Rick Scott (R) has declared a state of emergency in the county where the University of Florida lay, due to a planned speech by Richard Spencer. According to NPR:

When Hurricane Irma was bearing down on Florida last month, Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency. On Monday, he did the same thing in Alachua County, ahead of a speech by white nationalist Richard Spencer at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

"We live in a country where everyone has the right to voice their opinion, however, we have zero tolerance for violence and public safety is always our number one priority," Scott said in a statement. "This executive order is an additional step to ensure that the University of Florida and the entire community is prepared so everyone can stay safe."

"I find that the threat of a potential emergency is imminent," Scott declared in his executive order, noting that Alachua County Sheriff Sadie Darnell had requested the state's assistance. The order will make it easier for various agencies to coordinate a security plan for Thursday's speech at the university.

[...] No campus group invited Spencer to speak, and the university is not hosting or sponsoring the event. Spencer's group, the National Policy Institute, is paying the university $10,564 for facility rental and security.

And it looks like it could get expensive:

The speech and accompanying protests are also a major expense: The university as well as state and local agencies expect to spend more than $500,000 to provide additional security.

And the University of Florida can't demand that Spencer pay the full cost of protecting him, because of a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Forsyth County v. Nationalist Movement.

In that decision, the university explains, "the Court clarified that the government cannot assess a security fee on the speaker based upon the costs of controlling the reaction of potential hostile onlookers or protestors," under legal doctrine known as the "heckler's veto."

Well, that is the cost of free speech in a free country.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @03:26AM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @03:26AM (#584351)

    You do realize the context is "governor declares state of emergency" which drastically increases the infringement of individual freedom. Nothing has yet happened. Do you even?

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday October 19 2017, @09:51AM (4 children)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Thursday October 19 2017, @09:51AM (#584451) Homepage Journal

    A terrorist organization does not just turn over a new leaf one day and start helping old ladies across the street instead of attacking people and destroying property. Being prepared is nothing but practicality.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @06:42PM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @06:42PM (#584723)

      How quickly you turn your belly up in the air for you masters, and you have the gall to think you're courageously pro-freedom. Right, in some warped attempt to guarantee one man's freedom of speech we must clamp down on the entirety of Alachua County.

      I've said this many times before, you need therapy and/or pharmaceuticals. There is something wrong with your brain.

      • (Score: 2) by arcz on Thursday October 19 2017, @06:56PM

        by arcz (4501) on Thursday October 19 2017, @06:56PM (#584745) Journal

        Exactly what freedoms are being crushed by having more police around than usual?

      • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday October 19 2017, @07:52PM (1 child)

        by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Thursday October 19 2017, @07:52PM (#584814) Journal

        What he needs is to be on the receiving end of this shit. You know that old saying "A liberal is a conservative who's been jailed on false charges?" Yeah. Uzzard is a very common type among the right wing, the low-caliber sociopath who simply can't understand other peoples' suffering until it happens to him personally.

        --
        I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...