\nExecutive Editor<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/DSC05700-300x225.jpg\" "\\"DSC05700\\"")
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I was going to pen a news story concerning incidents related to the title of this missive. But, upon clearer reflection I determined I could not maintain that \u201cthird person\u201d omnipotent voice needed to write an objective news item. \u00a0This is because I am incensed.<\/p>\n
I am outraged and quite incredulous about a conspiracy preventing representatives of the Lehigh Acres Gazette<\/em> from covering local news. Robert J. Anderson, publisher of the Gazette<\/em>, was prohibited from covering a gathering of politicians hosted yesterday, Thursday Oct. 25, 2012, by the Greater Lehigh Acres Chamber of Commerce. Here\u2019s a re-cap of the events leading up to Anderson being Gestapo-like barred from basically doing his job:<\/p>\n ARRESTED? Did Lehigh Acres enter some diabolical time warp sending the community back to Borosch\u2019s native Germany of the 1930s-40s where civil rights were not only disregarded, but abolished? Isn\u2019t it this incredibly ironic? Think about it. A German-born local businessman would trample upon First Amendment rights banning a news organization from attending a function where political candidates running for election on Nov. 6, 2012, were appearing to solicit support.<\/p>\n Why? Because he doesn\u2019t agree with what appears in the Gazette<\/em>.<\/p>\n Curtis, thinking it may be a personal vendetta, asked Borosch if a different representative from the Gazette<\/em> could attend without incident. Borosch said no. Obviously his motivation is not personally influenced, or personnel-influenced. He doesn\u2019t agree with the words that appear in the Gazette<\/em> so, since he owns the building, he believes he has the authority to ban whomever he likes.<\/p>\n Borosch doesn\u2019t like the Gazette<\/em> because it prints words he doesn\u2019t like\u2026or possibly read by local residents. Hmm?<\/p>\n Why would a man who has voluntarily made a decision to live in America feel it necessary to trample upon American freedoms? Perhaps Borosch still doesn\u2019t understand the \u201cAmerican Way.\u201d Maybe he has trouble dealing with adversity, dealing with something, some actions, some words he feels shouldn\u2019t be written, spoken, read or heard. Maybe Borosch doesn\u2019t understand America, hasn\u2019t heard about the Constitution or if he did, why would he flagrantly reject upholding it? This situation reminds me of a quote from one of my favorite movies, The American President<\/em> (1995) where the character of President Andrew Shepherd (played by Michael Douglas) said:<\/p>\n \u201cAmerica isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, ’cause it’s gonna put up a fight. It’s gonna say “You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country can’t just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then, you can stand up and sing about the “land of the free.”<\/em><\/p>\n Obviously the words appearing in the Gazette<\/em> make Borosch\u2019s blood boil, huh?<\/p>\n Freedom of the Press is one of those constitutional rights the Gazette<\/em> personnel choose to exercise.<\/p>\n The U.S. Supreme Court has said newsgathering deserves some First Amendment protection. The First Amendment provides journalists \u201cno greater right of access to property than that enjoyed by the public. Therefore, when an event occurs on nonpublic forum public property or private property, reporters may not have the right to enter if the general public is not usually allowed in.\u201d<\/p>\n Was the general public allowed in at the Greater Lehigh Acres Chamber of Commerce office for the above described event? Absolutely! Was Anderson allowed in? No he was not!<\/p>\n However, earlier in the day, Anderson said he called Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott. According to Anderson, Scott told him not to worry \u2013 no law enforcement action would be taken if Anderson attended the event that was open to the public. He would not be banned.<\/p>\n Fast forward to the evening\u2019s event at the chamber office. Since the weather was inclement, many people, including political candidates, decided to seek shelter inside the office. According to Anderson, as he was about to grasp the door to enter the chamber office, Curtis approached him asking him not to go inside.<\/p>\n Wasn\u2019t Curtis present when Scott told Anderson he would not be barred by law enforcement?<\/p>\n Who controls local law enforcement activity\u2026or, better yet\u2026intimidation?<\/p>\n Does Borosch hold sway concerning local law enforcement activity? Does he have that kind of Gestapo-like power he can summon surrogate goons in the uniform of a Lee County Sheriff\u2019s Department captain to do his bidding when he doesn\u2019t like the words printed by a local news organization?<\/p>\n Does this sound American-like?<\/p>\n Ultimately, although Anderson was not hassled or abused stepping onto Borosch\u2019s property, as long as he limited his presence to the parking lot, the Gestapo was not going to harass him. But, did Curtis acquiesce ultimately fulfilling Borosch\u2019s original dictate that Scott affirmed would not happen?<\/p>\n Borosch has definitely benefited from finding his \u201cAmerican Way.\u201d It\u2019s probably not yours. I know it\u2019s not mine.\u00a0 Without a Free Press\u2026what are we?<\/p>\n Borosch is a successful businessman. Yet, he has used the \u201cRoyal WE\u201d quite often in his history in Lehigh Acres convincing other individuals that he is part of their \u201cWE.\u201d It is more than likely Borosch\u2019s power and money convince people to become part of his \u201cWE.\u201d This way he gets what he wants, such as banning a news organization from gaining access to space where the general public can go. \u00a0Plus, his power and influence \u00a0attracts surrogates like Mike Welch and Gary Bright, who obviously couldn\u2019t find an independent thought even with a fully charged flashlight and an amended road map.<\/p>\n Does Borosch now command the Lee County Sheriff\u2019s Department? I thought Curtis took orders from Scott? Dumb assumption, huh?<\/p>\n It\u2019s not as if Borosch doesn\u2019t like, or always bans all news organizations. My good friend and former colleague, Mel Toadvine, was allowed access representing the Lehigh Acres Citizen<\/em> at the event.<\/p>\n Borosch just wants to ban the Gazette.<\/em><\/p>\n He doesn\u2019t like its words.<\/p>\n \u201cWere it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.\u201d \u2013<\/em> Thomas Jefferson<\/p>\n Although Borosch does not head any government, he sure does act like he is the self-appointed Duke of his own small slice of a dictatorial duchy quite reminiscent of a failed painter who didn\u2019t like certain words during the first half of the previous century in Borosch\u2019s fatherland.<\/p>\n And that guy burned books!<\/p>\n Watch out Lehigh Acres! Someone get down to Gunnery Road and protect the books!<\/p>\n You\u2019ll never know what additional words will piss the Burgermeister off!<\/p>\n Yes, Virginia, this is not a news story. These are my words…ones I’m quite sure Borosch also will not like.<\/p>\n Who or what is next on his list of the disallowed?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Curt Middleton Executive Editor I was going to pen a news story concerning incidents related to the title of this missive. But, upon clearer reflection I determined I could… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":14836,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,4,32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14825"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n