By DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary

Second of a 3-part series

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 2015) — In Pt. 1 of this series, THE PLANET shared a behind-the-curtain look at what the Dalton Lions Club — actually, one toothless Lion, Dan McGinnis — did to impose censorship over the entire town.

McGinnis strong-armed the director and trustees of the Dalton Town Library, getting them to cancel a showing of the animal-rights films produced by HBO, Apologies to the Elephants. The tango, of course, takes two, and the library cannot count its capitulation to a bully as among its finest hours. The Lions “publicity director” comes from the Joseph Goebbels School of Public Relations: Crush any opposition not willing to stand up for itself, the classic method of “triumph” for all bullies.

Let us remind you of what is at stake here.

First Stakes: Animal Rights

First, the immediate issue is the fate of the Lions-sponsored Dalton Circus. Last year, the Lions booked the Kelly Miller Circus based in Higo, OK. The circus, founded in the 1930s, is a remnant of The Great Depression. It’s not Clyde Beatty, Cole Brothers, Ringling, or Barnum and Bailey. The Kelly Miller Circus is a one-ring, low-budget spectacle that regrettably includes wild-animal acts.

Every thoughtful, intelligent person knows that animals plucked from the wild to perform in circuses are subjected to a life of abuse, misery, and torture. Animals such as tigers and elephants are chosen because they are intelligent. As such, they have complex, emotional lives. Being forcibly taken out of their natural environments to live a life in chains, cages, and abuse inflicts nothing less than psychological trauma and physical torture.

That might be fine for the rednecks in Hugo, OK, and elsewhere, but THE PLANET would like to think that we in the Northeast have grown beyond that. Dalton’s protest of the circus says as much. The Dalton Lions, however, stuck in the past and out-of-touch with 2015, don’t get it.

The referendum on Monday, May 4, 7 p.m. at Wahconah Regional High School would ban the use of wild animals for entertainment purposes. This is Dalton’s chance to show it’s not a one-toothed hill town run by hillbillies. Rather, by approving the new bylaw, the town will declare itself to be enlightened, well-informed, advanced, and broad-minded.

Second Stakes: A Serious Constitutional Issue

Second, the issue is about every citizen’s constitutional rights. By what right does one ignorant man representing a small private group demand that a public library not show a film that is free and open to the public? Our public libraries are among the last bastions of intellectual freedom and as such one of our most important safeguards of liberty, justice, and truth.

Strategically, Monday’s vote will be about this question: Does the town of Dalton repudiate strong-arm tactics that suppress the right of citizens to access information and thereby their rights of free speech and assembly? A “yes” vote Monday will send a strong message to anachronistic lodge fellows that 34 trogs cannot privately Lord it over 6,700 Daltonians?

Third Stakes: It’s NOT About PC

Third, this vote is not about political correctness. This is about recognizing an enlightened truth pertaining to the worth of all life, in this case especially animal life. They cannot speak, but they are intelligent. We must therefore speak for them and lodge the protests they think and feel but cannot articulate.

Wording of the Proposed Bylaw

Here’s what the town will be voting on come Tuesday, May 4. It’s article 22 of a 23-item agenda. Just a question: Was the article put at the end of the meeting to suppress the vote?

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BYLAW LANGUAGE 

     “  Display of Non-domesticated  Animals for Entertainment”

  (a)  No living non domesticated animal shall be displayed for public entertainment or amusement in circuses, carnivals, traveling events or other similar entities on property owned by the town of Dalton, town owned property under lease, or private property. As used in this paragraph, “displayed” shall include, but is not limited to, animal acts and performances, and competition, and rides.

(b) This article shall not apply to domestic animals including, but not limited to, dogs, cats, horses, donkeys and farm animals.

(c) This shall not apply to exhibits deemed educational by the MSPCA.

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In support of the bylaw, the Berkshire Voters for Animals (BVfA) had scheduled a free showing of An Apology to Elephants set for Monday, April 27 at 7 p.m. That’s when the Lion’s Club sent in the goons. Three days before the screening, Marnie Meyers of BVfA got a voice-mail notice from the library canceling the film. Here’s the transcript of that notice, which Meyers supplied exclusively to THE PLANET:

“Your film and meeting Monday night has caused concerns by Dan McGinnis (Dalton Lions Club Publicity Chairman) and The Lions Club.  He has been very vocal with me and Ken Walto (Town Manager) and has even gone to the Selectboard Chairperson (John Bartels) with his objections.
Upon the recommendation of the Selectboard we feel we must cancel the meeting as we need to avoid any perception of the library supporting or assisting a controversial cause.  We regret this, obviously, and are sorry for such a late date but the problem has just come to a head and developed during this week when the Library Director (Rob Difazio) is away on vacation.  So I’m the one who has to bring the bad news and I certainly sorry about it. I will not be available until tomorrow morning any time before 11 if you want to call and discuss it further but I’m afraid our decision is final. Sorry about that.
Goodbye.

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Dalton Goes to the Polls to Tell ‘The Suits’ to ‘Stuff It’

The voice-mail was left by one of the seven library trustees, who didn’t give his name. THE PLANET has learned its was not DiFazio who left the voice mail. He was in South Carolina at the time. Moreover, the BVfA praised DiFazio for being the one who booked the film in the first place and for his support.

Don’t you just love the part about how “sorry”  the caller is of the decision, one that is “final” — that is, “It won’t do you a lick of good to call me, because we crumbled before Mcginnis’ threats.” How’s that for a stand-up action? Also, not leaving a name and keeping it anonymous adds a cute touch.

That’s how The Suits like it: anonymous, with lots of built-in “plausible deniability” — except that They didn’t reckon on THE PLANET being contacted. “They” wanted all this dirty dealing done in the dark. But now that we have put it under the spotlight, the informed electorate in Dalton must hit the polls in droves Monday and give the thugs what for.

Tomorrow, Pt. 3 shares comments from the town manager, the library director, and the BVOA. We have invited the Lions and McGinnis to comment. So far, we have heard nothing from them.

Are you surprised?

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