A Colorado mayor who banned the Pledge of Allegiance at town trustee meetings was met with defiance from those in attendance.
“Due to direct and indirect threats, inappropriate comments in and out of public meetings, and general divisiveness and issues created in our community, we will not be reciting the Pledge of Allegiance during Town of Silverton trustee meetings,” Silverton Mayor Shane Fuhrman announced before Monday’s meeting.
Fuhrman’s surprise announcement was met with immediate resistance from Silverton trustee Molly Barela, who criticized the mayor’s “unilateral” move.
“We already discussed this as a board, and any other unilateral decisions we need to know about?” Barela asked Fuhrman.
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“If you’d like to find somewhere in the code, something that doesn’t permit me to do this, then I welcome that discussion at our next meetings,” Fuhrman responded.
But Barela didn’t back down, continuing to lecture the mayor for making the move without board approval.
“It’s been done for a long time. We all took an oath, and we, as a board, we decided it would be done,” Barela said.
The public comment portion of the meeting then began, and a woman used her turn to speak to instead start reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Within seconds, most of those in attendance at the meeting also stood up and joined in reciting the pledge, including at least one trustee.
Fuhrman attempted to interrupt the group, but his attempts just made people recite the pledge louder. He then threatened the group by warning them that they would be removed from future meetings if they pulled a similar stunt.
The pledge has become a controversial topic at Silverton’s board meetings in recent years, most notably during a 2018 incident in which a trustee didn’t stand for the pledge. That trustee was later berated by a member of the public, who said, “It infuriates the hell out of me that you don’t have the courage or the consideration to stand when we do the Pledge of Allegiance.”
The man added that “somebody’s gonna kick your butt up and down Greene Street,” prompting the trustee to respond that the man made a “threat to my personal well-being … he is done.”
“Oh, you’re full of crap,” the man said while walking away.
Monday’s incident brought the pledge back into the spotlight in the town, with Barela noting the board had already decided on the matter.
“Back in April 2020 when the newest board members were seated the mayor brought it up that he didn’t want to do the Pledge of Allegiance anymore because it’s not really a thing, it was a 4/3 vote that we continue to do it,” Barela said in a statement.
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“Members of the public have told them that they should be ashamed of themselves. I personally didn’t like his unilateral decision, when we as a collective group had already decided over a year ago to continue to do the pledge, I don’t know if it was premeditated to have it done on Flag Day,” Barela continued. “Shane Fuhrman has made this first amendment right issue. To tell members of the public they are not allowed to say the Pledge of Allegiance during public comment and threaten to have them removed that it was a one strike in you’re out policy violates every single one of their first amendment rights.”
