Recent power plays by a few Putnam County leaders make it clear that they have little understanding of Freedom of the Press.
When America’s Founding Fathers made The First Amendment part of the United States Constitution they did so with the clear intent that the press will be able to keep a watchful eye on government officials and activities.
When The First Amendment says "No law" it means exactly that: "No Law!"
However here in Putnam County Superintendent of Schools Harold "Chuck" Hatfield recently improperly denied the press access to Winfield High School during a lockout. And at Hurricane City Hall an attempt was made to extort money from PutnamLIVE.com to allow us access to public records.
While Hurricane caved in and released the records, Hatfield stomped on the public's First Amendment right to a free press.
Worse than Hatfield denying access to the press, the only independent source that could assure parents and society that the students were treated properly, was the Board of Education members that, in lock-step, backed Hatfield.
Deborah Phillips, Jack Coyner, and Sam Sentelle, all told me that the press had no business being on the campus during the lockdown. Phillips, Coyner, and Sentelle are all wrong. Not partly wrong, completely wrong. And completely out of touch with the First Amendment. Not only that, they violated the oath they take to uphold the United States Constitution.
Phillips invited me to take the Board of Education to court-after the fact. She is kidding herself! Demanding that we go to court later will only cost the district thousands of dollars in legal fees for a lawsuit it is destined to lose-long after Hatfield violated the First Amendment.
And this isn't the first time that "Chuck" has choked over a First Amendment issue. Several years ago PutnamLIVE.com was denied a copy of the Poca High School student manual. When we complained to Hatfield, he refused to resolve the issue in a timely manner.
With all of this in mind, the so-called "leaders" of the Putnam County Schools need to spend a semester studying the First Amendment. If they aren't willing to study this extremely important constitutional right, they need to step aside and let someone else lead our schools.
