you must sign in you can sign in with the pole pad or you're a visitor and you have to sign in using a visitor pass you have to sign something to go to a public meeting yes really yes no thanks it's the law it's not the law I will you can't be in this area no it's a public meeting it's a public area please leave me alone you have can you please leave me alone you have to sign in I'm trying ma'am I'm trying to I'm trying to work here excuse me I am working here can you stop I'm trying to work I am working here also okay go up there and work no you go out so that's against the rules and you can't sit with us right now it's a public meeting open to the public I don't have to you have to sign in in order to be in this room you can't with us hi are you folks here um citizens of the Town residents of the town what's that are you a resident of the town did you I'm sorry what was that are you a resident of the town oh I don't answer questions thank you though you're an attorney I'm an attorney yes oh God where did you get your law degree a Cracker Jack box so you're a voter you should sit in one of the seats I'm going to stand right here at first stand been in the car all day I've been working trying to bring change this town you can stand I know I can I'm going what if he wants to sit though if he wants to sit we're going to have to find other places for what if he wants to stand though what if he wants to stand though if he wants if he can he can stand if he wants but what if he wants to sit all right I'm not answering these questions why don't you get over closer and say that bu go [ __ ] yourself you okay so you do intend to try to bully if you're told to whether it's the law comes down that I have to tell people to check in then that is what I'm going to do I'm going to do my job this would work a lot better if we took turns speaking you let me finish and then I let you finish and then you let me finish so the question was now knowing that it is not the law do you intend to try to bully and force people to do something that you know is not law go ahead have you guys ever wondered what happened to the legendary Chuck Norris well I recently saw a video he made and I was shocked he's in his 80s now still kicking butt working out and staying active what's even more shocking is that he's stronger can work out longer and still has energy left for his grandkids he did this by making just one change and he says he still feels like he's in his 50s his wife even started doing this one thing and she says she's never felt better she says she feels 10 years younger her body is leaner and she has energy all day Chuck made a video that explains everything make sure you watch it by going to Chuck defense.com sljames or by clicking the link below in this video this will change the way you think about your health once again that's Chuck defense.com sljames and click the link in the description below to watch the video now the legendary Chuck Norris is a whopping 81 years old and yet he has more energy than me he discovered that he can make dramatic changes to his health by simply focusing on three things that sabotage our bodies as we age watch his method by clicking the Link in the description below that's Chuck defense.com sljames hey everybody it's James Freeman out here at where we at towns and Massachusetts and we're going to a select board meeting a special town meeting what's uh so special about it well they they want to take more money from the citizens and then they want to use that money to pay for something that doesn't benefit the citizens because they lost a million dollars that was in a special fund so the citizens could avoid this same mess uh we we don't want them to over no no override we don't want the citizens to have to foot the bill they want to take more imaginary money that doesn't exist so that way they can so they're taking a page out of the book of the federal government exactly okay they're doing it very well all right and this is busier than it normally is oh yeah this is how how many people are normally at a typical meeting 50 how many do you think are here tonight that we're expecting over 100 okay I mean there's this this sits 50 over here and it's all up and down the street and people are parking next door so they're showing up to speak for what's going on okay thank you excuse me sir excuse me excuse me you must sign in what's that you you must sign in what is it you have to sign in for town meeting either you're a registered voter you can sign in with the pull pad or you're a visitor and you have to sign in using visitor pass you have to sign something to go to a public meeting yes really yes no thanks it's the law it's not the law he excuse me you need to sign in as a as a visitor please you can't be in this area it's a public meeting it's a public area please leave me alone you have can you please leave me alone you have to sign in I'm trying trying to I'm trying to work here excuse me I am working here also can you stop I'm trying to work I am working here also okay go up there and work no you go out so that's against the rules and you can't sit with us right now it's a public meeting open to the public I don't have to you have to sign in in order to be in this room and you have to sit up front so that you do not vote you can't s with us I don't have to sign anything it's a public meeting I will get you're going to need some folks hopefully run around with the microphon gentl to yes you are open meeting it is an open meeting but it is required to sign these visitors cool thanks appreciate you [Music] e [Music] that's [Music] who's that Josh the lady that was yelling at me she's the town clerk she's uh usually very very nice I think they're all bent out of shape because of the turnout of this thing she was turning tell us we had to sign in have you ever heard that before so yeah they were asking him i' I've have I mean I've heard of plac is doing it I just explain to her that there's no law compelling them to sign it's um because there's so many people here they're just trying to differentiate citizens versus guests it doesn't matter it's irrelevant they and that's what I told they extort all of us they they they exist at the expense of people who not just live in the town but the entire United States through federal grants and funding so it doesn't matter where we're from it doesn't but for the record I'm from China hi are you folks here um citizens of the Town residents of the town what's that are you a resident of the town did you I'm sorry what was that are you a resident of the town oh I don't answer questions thank you though okay so I'm going to take it that you're not a resident it's okay if you want to record the meeting however unless you're a a registered voter in the town you can't vote are you folks yes registered voters I i' ask that you try to sit someplace or but anybody can speak uh no yes yes you might want to check up on the law cuz you're about to land yourself a lawsuit tonight so go check it go talk to your lawyer be recognized okay go talk to your lawyer sweetheart yeah yeah okay um there you a voter I am all right see if you can find a place cuz I I'm we're probably going to be doing counts okay but we initially will do a Voice vote and I just want to instruct your sir if you're not a registered voter you can't vote sure sure there's no thank you all right okay you Town register voters in town okay um then you can vote and you go to toward the meeting but as long as there's no disruption of the meeting okay like the woman up there was doing are you going to every single person and telling notru the meeting listen I'm running for office in this town I love this town but I'm not going to take any coordinated direct what's your name I'm John Barrett I'm the town moderator I have to make sure that the people aren't attorney voting I am met you're an attorney I'm an attorney yes oh God where did you get your law degree a Cracker Jack box so I don't need to listen I know you're just get you're just trying to provoke where did you get it from you just come up to me and told me that there's no public comment from on that then so you came up to us engaged Us in conversation and then accused us of provoking you do you see where that's backwards feel free to turn around and walk away at any moment feel free to you I was just trying to instruct you folks that as only ones that you said that well because nobody else is recording the meeting as far as I know and I'll make an announcement anybody that want the town recording remote we're I'm here to take part in what's going on for the town town that I'm running for office for so let's just do this I didn't come up and speak to you you came up and spoke to me let's end the discussion we're going to take place and take part of this meeting okay okay so you're a voter you should sit in one of the seats I'm going to stand right here at BR stand been in the car all day I've been working trying to bring change you can stand I know I can I'm going what if he wants to sit though if he wants to sit we're going to have to find other places for them what if he wants to stand though what if he wants to stand though if he wants if he can he can stand if he wants but what if he wants to sit all right I'm not answering these questions Super Cuts did a great job by the way who the hell is that guy I have no idea what a piece of dog [ __ ] where did he get his law degree Jesus Christ these lawyers are idiots is there is there no requirement for an attorney in this listen I been in here a year and I haven't seen them just approach someone you guys weren't talking to anybody have not said w words I don't know why they're he's targeting you I said two things going to happen after this meeting you're still going to be my friend and I'm going to be unelectable so I'd like to thank you for both I tried my best but Josh from the moment I walked in here they came up and you're just giving me the stupidest [ __ ] I do I'm running for office here in town sorry yeah I did I'm on the ball you live do what's your [Music] name don't you get a little closer and say that [ __ ] yourself I want to ask everyone has uh an ability to have a seat if not we will have to open up another room um there are I think you see yourself in the balcony um at least there's three up there uh so you might want to go upstairs F will I know we have some folks here uh filming the event other than our town cable services and it's okay for them to do that um and if you are recording the event uh that's fine your cons right to do it however uh you cannot disrupt the meeting so and if you're not a registered voter in the town you can't vote so I'd ask that you respect the uh uh tradition and the our town meeting privilege by voting only if you are authorized to do so I know you guys are wondering so I'll tell you now yes the meeting was boring AF the government talked about how they wanted to take more of the people's money to line their own pockets and the people talked about how they're sick and tired of being extorted but the following day we went back to City Hall to follow up with the people that tried to bully us and to giving our IDs and signing in to be able to observe a public meeting hey hey how are you good how are you good what's your name Jessica Jessica did I meet you yesterday you did you got a couple minutes um yes okay um so yesterday when I came in you were trying to tell me that I have to sign in to uh attend public meeting is that right that's how it's that's what I was told that's how it's always been done we asked Town Council Town Council said it was a public meeting and anyone can join so so you previously you've made people sign in to public meetings yes because that's how that was told to me that's how it's been done here and you told me that many years you told me that it was the law oh apparently I was wrong okay so it's not a law at all apparently not Town Council says that you were able to be there and do what you did so that's good enough for me all right um so you guys won't be doing that to anyone anymore right I don't know that for a fact we're waiting on Town Council so to get further information I am not in the capacity to make an authorized decision on that well I think that you just clarified to me that you understand now that it is not the law that people have to sign in yep do you intend to try to still try and Bully and force people to comply with something that's not what I am told to do and that is all okay so you do intend to try to bully people if you're told to whether it's the law comes down that I have to tell people to check in then that is what I'm going to do I'm going to do my job this would work a lot better if we took turns speaking you let me finish and then I let you finish and then you let me finish so the question was now knowing that it is not the law do you intend to try to bully and force people to do something that you know is not law go ahead no I'm not going to do anything that I'm told not to do I'm just doing what I am told to do right I I apologize maybe I phrase that wrong now that you know that it is not the law that people have to sign in if you're told to try to bully and force people to sign in knowing that they don't have to do you intend to do so because you were told to do so no you're not going to do that no because I don't I don't consider bullying anybody I was told that make sure that everybody signed in so I was making sure everybody signed in I saw you walk past all three tables that were checkin because this is how town meeting works you have to be a resident in order to make a vote at Town meetings so we're not it was told to me in the past that we weren't supposed to everyone was supposed to sign in and all the visitors sit up front so that the visitors to town are not making the choices for the town residents okay that they do not have a voting voice in town meeting okay that makes sense but obviously we you know someone went went off the rails somewhere in deciding that you get to shut down and and regulate who can and can't come in um so I think maybe I'm not being clear or maybe you're not being but you won't ever do that to anybody again even if you're told to do it is that right that is correct because to me now I understand it was told to me the law so the law is unless they can provide some other information that they have since changed the law then I will comply with the law whatever the law is I will comply with the law Okay do um I like for people to understand why we do the things that we do because a lot of people kind of just do things and they don't understand why um do you understand why we can't restrict people from coming in or force them to sign yes I realized it's a public meeting but I didn't know if things were different because it's an actual town meeting versus a public you know Conservation Commission meeting type of thing okay because it's done a little bit differently okay hi all right um I don't know if I had anything else did you have any I just was like thought like maybe you guys were told something because it was weird we're there was Josh you know to show support for him we obviously wanted to film it and it was just weird to me that we've been all over you know I've been from east to west coast City Halls everywhere and it was the first time where it felt like you know everyone in the room kept looking at us like we were there for a nefarious reason and it's not that this has never happened in Townson before this is the first amendment Auditors are all new and so to a small town this is all new and people don't know certain things and don't know you know you say First Amendment Auditors too and I think that's what a lot of people are are looking at but what is a First Amendment audit to you and it's there's no right or wrong wrong answer I'm curious though what does that mean to you first amendment audit um I don't feel like I should get my person opinion on this because I'm here as an official Well's okay I guess officially I guess officially then to the town what is a First Amendment audit what when so what it looks like to the people that work here in this town you guys come around with the cameras and make sure that we're doing our job okay in a transparent fashion okay um and and that's why I ask because I think that's what a lot of people see it as um but I don't think it even needs to be called the First Amendment audit really uh because there are a lot of people come in and record their own before I ever knew what this thing was that has a term First Amendment audit I personally always recorded like 10 years ago always recorded my interactions with my government and so I feel like everybody who exercises their rights gets labeled as a First Amendment a no they're just a human exercising their human rights and and the only reason I say that is because a lot of time I mean we're hoping that more and more of these people that they don't need to have this wear this label that hey you are this thing no you're just a human that needs to and we all need to keep our government accountable so I come from a law enforcement that's I'm 35 and that's the biggest thing I was told in training you know we had our belt M body can and the whole thing was like hey this is so we can protect you if you're ever in a situation where a constituent or a person that you're serving as a police officer peace officer whatever you call it says that there was a confrontation and says that you said something that you may or may not have said there's that camera I mean you can say there's always he said she said and then what actually was said and it's it's a inexpensive insurance policy to make sure that everybody's being honest with each other and not saying one thing to one person and then going to another person and saying another kind of like that old game of telephone you know what I mean right right absolutely is Kathy here she's not oh where is she she's off this afternoon okay um I received information I don't know if it's accurate or not that you guys were under the impression that there might be uh protesters that may even escalate to violence at last night's meeting were you guys I was not told that you weren't told that nope okay I was not personally told that was anybody I I don't know you'd have to ask everybody else but me personally I'm speaking from just my was not told cuz that's what I kind of felt like when we came in is that like the tension was there like we were there to do something bad and and then I think once most of the people that I interact like I talked to you and that other girl about the Reed house and everything else and enjoyed the conversation you know that's part part of the reason why I do enjoy this cuz you go to these small towns and meet a lot of cool stuff and a lot of cool history especially in this region of the country but it seemed like after that everybody's nerves kind of I could like you know when you're in a room and then it's like the proverbial elephant in the room and you can feel the tension MH it was just weird that it was that right out of the gate there was no small toy politicky stuff all right well I really need to see you've been to a lot of towns yeah but never have I experienced that you know what I mean and I'm talking been to some small towns or even going in like we were talking about last night in some of the parishes that we go to where you're like man everyone in this room is related to each other not in like a nitpicky way but nepotism is so thick in some of these small where it's like the mayor's Brothers with the sheriff or the C you know what I mean it's and that can be dangerous too y so so we are only in town for one more day and we have other stuff planned tomorrow and I really need to talk to Kathy because um sure I'm I need an apology sure she she's in tomorrow I don't we're not going to be able to come down here tomorrow we've got other whoops it's my first time uh surely not um yeah we're not going to be able to come down here tomorrow can she meet us somewhere can can you contact her and tell her hey we can either meet down here or we can go meet somewhere else I just I just want a couple minutes that we can clear things up because I got to publish and I'd rather publish with uh you know every all these loose ends tied up and you know the audience knowing okay she's she's sorry for what she did rather than you know it gets published with that's people's final uh impression of her is that she's going to come up and yell at people for you can't be in this area if no it's a public meeting it's a public area please leave me alone you have can you please leave me alone you have to sign in I'm trying ma'am I'm trying to I'm trying to work here excuse me I am working here can you stop I'm trying to work I am working here also okay go up there and work no you go out right now it's a public you me open to the public I don't have to you have to sign in in order be in this room I know that she's doing something this afternoon which is why she's not here I mean I can absolutely give her a call and see if I don't know what she's doing or where she is but if she can come down or maybe she's not available I don't know or we can meet her somewhere too and I got and I got no problem meeting anywhere that's more most com comfortable for her whether it's you know so Kathy never did come and meet with me to give me an apology or even so much as give me the courtesy of a phone call we were later told that Kathy was under the impression that there may be violent protesters attending the meeting that night and that this was the reason they were sending people around to confront everyone in the meeting that they didn't recognize every town employee that we talked to denied this but if it were true that they were expecting violent people to come why would Kathy walk up to people that she believed may have violent outbursts and act like this no you go out right now it's a public meeting open to the public I don't have to you have to sign in in order in this room as you saw she was completely unwilling to speak with me after this incident but who knows she may speak with you if you reach out