City official berates man
Sunday, March 30th, 2008Source: TheNewsTribune.com (Original Article)
Councilman and former Mayor Bruce Rath said he regrets using the foul language, and other leaders said they didn’t agree with it. But council members and the current mayor said there was no infringement of state open meetings laws because the encounter took place before the meeting formally started.
On audio files obtained by The News Tribune last week, Rath, a councilman since 2004, is clearly heard berating Steve Lind, an Eatonville resident who posts meeting recordings and commentary on his Web site, www.s-lind.com.
Rath peppered Lind with intimidating language after the councilman arrived about 10 minutes late to a March 12 utilities committee meeting. He told Lind not to take his picture or post anything he said on the Web anymore. He called Lind profane names and twice threatened to “tangle” with him if he continued to post pictures and recordings.
At one point, he threatened to take Lind’s audio recorder and digital camera and throw them across the room.
“Anything I say you need my permission to put it on there or you’re going to get tangled with, buddy,” Rath said.
“You want to find out the hard way, we’ll go the hard way.”
In all, Rath swore at Lind 11 times, with Lind saying little and getting interrupted when he did speak. The exchange lasted about one minute, 45 seconds.
When Lind told Rath he had a right to record public meetings under state law, Rath told him he’d “better look at his state laws again.”
Rath said Friday that Lind was recording the meeting before it was formally called to order, which he’s confident state law doesn’t allow. He said he regretted swearing at Lind, but doesn’t regret telling him to stop recording.
“I told him how it was,” Rath, 56, said in an interview. “He just goes to meetings and harasses people, and I’d just Romantic Getaways had enough that day. Nobody can …continue reading