Case dismissed against township resident arrested for attending public meeting –

Pecatonica, IL. (ECWd) –

As I predicted during the January 2020 Pecatonica Township meeting, all charges against Rogene Hamilton, who was arrested for attending the township public meeting, were dismissed on Motion by the State.

The majority of the Trustees in Pecatonica Township has spent the past year or so making new rules and placing unreasonable obstacles in the way of people wanting to speak at township board meetings. There have been so many rules changes, it is difficult for anyone to know exactly which rules apply, and impossible to determine what penalties (if any) apply to violations of those unreasonable rules.

Supervisor Musso has even spent taxpayer funds on an attorney, John Nelson, to assist in his attempts at trampling on the civil rights of Pecatonica Township residents.  They should demand a refund from their attorney.

In the past several years, this Township Board has arrested meeting attendees three times, and now all three have had those charges either dismissed or were found not guilty.

This board majority needs to abandon their push on restricting speech and meeting attendance, and get on board with the first amendment and voting rights of township residents.

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