Covington VA –-(Ammoland.com)- We had a great turnout at the James City County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday night!
BackGround: Before it was taken down at the direction of the county administrator, Deeds posted a statement on the Sheriff’s Office website, which is hosted on a county server, saying that he and his deputies would not “take any action to aid or abet any encroachment” on citizens’ right to bear arms.
Gun owners with their “Guns Save Lives” stickers dominated the meeting, making up about 2/3 of the attendees.
The two police officers in the room were pleasant, polite, professional, and didn’t bat an eye at all the armed citizens.
Video of Comments is found here: https://tiny.cc/t7emuw
What was particularly nice was that the Board went to public comment almost immediately. It took quite a while for everyone to speak, even with a 3-minute limit.
Some of those who spoke did an absolutely spectacular job! One person said that the Board could prove their individual support for the Second Amendment by immediately reinstating Sheriff Deeds’s statement on the Second Amendment to the County’s web site! Why didn’t I think of saying that? 
No one spoke in support of the County censoring Sheriff Deeds.
After being verbally pummeled by the citizens attending the hearing, the Board finally responded.
The most outspoken supporter of the Sheriff and the Second Amendment was Board member Mary K. Jones. She first read a statement on the issue from the Sheriff (who was out of town, attending a meeting in Salem). She then took the Board to task for not voting sooner to reinstate the Sheriff’s statement. She stated that she wanted to take a vote on doing so immediately.
Board member James Kennedy said that he would indeed vote on the issue if Ms. Jones pressed forward on her request. He said, however, he would prefer to have a meeting with the Sheriff to clarify the Sheriff’s message and then decide on posting the possibly clarified message on the web site. He also said that the Board really needs to set a policy on such matters in writing and then adhere to it. The intent was to avoid purely political statements and keep the web site factually oriented.
Mr. Kennedy also suggested that perhaps the Sheriff could just set up his own web site with his own funds and then he could post what he wanted.
The other Board members liked the idea of meeting with the Sheriff and then voting to post his message and also to set a policy on such things.
Ms. Jones was disappointed in the delay, but ultimately agreed to wait for a meeting with the Sheriff. The Board agreed that such a meeting was to be held ASAP, probably at their first meeting in April.
James City County residents and gun owners, Sue Sadler and her husband, Keith, requested that I share this message with all those who came to support liberty tonight:
“On behalf of the Constitution loving citizens of James City County, please accept our deepest appreciation for helping us on the issue of our Sheriff. VCDL is an outstanding organization with its members rooted in the love of our country and our Constitution, and the comments made tonight were amazing. If you would pass on our heartfelt thanks to everyone we would be very grateful.
I’ll be sure to keep you posted on how the ‘work session to talk about the policy’ goes.
Just what we need, another policy that counters the Constitution! I think you can see the fight we constantly have here.
Thanks again for everything!”
I would like to thank Board member John Fenter, EMs Doug Peterson, Chuck Williamson, and Greg Trojan, and all the other members who came to show support when called. It’s YOU, our members, who make this group second to none!
I will report back as soon as the Board of Supervisors meets with Sheriff Deeds and they make their decision on posting the Sheriff’s message.
I am hoping for another good turnout in Bedford on Thursday (March 28th 2013 at 7 PM at the main library) for my talk at a Bedford Tea Party meeting on how to protect your rights in these troubled times.
About:
Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc. (VCDL). VCDL is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization dedicated to defending the human rights of all Virginians. The Right to Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right. Visit: www.vcdl.org