I am a Cuban-born, proudly

nationalized American citizen. In March of 1958 I was

trapped in Havana until September of 1959 and experienced

the repression of the Castro regime where exercising your

freedom of speech meant a one-way trip to the firing

squad or unbearable torture in prison. Needless to say,

leaving Cuba on Sept. 22, 1959, was one of the happiest

days of my life. Even though every material possession

was taken away from me, I had finally attained freedom!

On the wonderful day in

1969 when I was granted U.S. citizenship, the Ladies

Auxiliary of the Jewish Veterans of the U.S.A. gave me a

copy of the Bill of Rights. It now hangs proudly in my

office next to my Certificate of Naturalization, and

believe me, I read both often. I take the Bill of Rights

and my citizenship very seriously.

The accounts of the latest

meeting at which Mr. Steve Brown, whom I have never met,

was denied his right to speak, was disgraceful,

especially after allowing the speech by [Peachtree City

Attorney Rick] Lindsey. How can Mr. Lindsey say that our

First Amendment constitutional rights are limited?

I did not see anything in

Mr. Brown's letter that would provide us anything other

than what he found out after his search, and his opinion.

Whatever happened to the right of free speech granted us

the freedom of the press?

As far as the statement

attributed to Mayor Lenox about "this is my

meeting": I must wonder whatever happened to the

concept that elected officials are public servants in a

form of government "of the people, by the people,

and for the people."

I want to thank your

newspaper [for] living up to its name. I want to thank

Mr. Brown and Mr. Steve Fodor for being involved

citizens, and lastly, I want to thank [Councilman Dan]

Tennant for carrying out his campaign promises. We need

more people like you, Dan!

CNN reported in one of their "factoids" that

according to the Freedom Forum, 12 percent of the

American people think we have too much freedom of speech!

Maybe they should try my native Cuba for a while!

Gerard Jansen

[email protected]