Veto, Dismantle, and Rebuke Oxford, MS City Ordinance 2020-4 enacted March 18, 2020

Veto, Dismantle, and Rebuke Oxford, MS City Ordinance 2020-4 enacted March 18, 2020

Started
May 24, 2020
Signatures: 83Next Goal: 100
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Why this petition matters

Started by Matt Reardon

On the 18th of March, 2020 Oxford Mayor Robyn Tannehill along with the Board of Aldermen unanimously amended General Provision City Ordinance Section 1-8 to "General Penalties, continuing violations, abatement of nuisances, continuing violations; penalties for violations of orders related to emergencies".  In doing so added the following new subsection (c) which reads as follows: 

Any time the Mayor and/or Board of Aldermen shall make any rule, order, or regulation to prevent the introduction and spread of contagious or infectious diseases, to prevent or alleviate eminent danger to the public safety because of freedom of movement of the City’s residents, to regulate the entrances and the way of ingress and egress to and from buildings, in furtherance of a proclamation or declaration of a local or civil emergency, or as otherwise necessary for emergency management purposes, any such rule, order, or regulation shall have the full force and effect of law once recorded in the office of the city clerk. The violation of any such rule, order, or regulation shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $1,000.00 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 90 days, and the cost of prosecution, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the municipal judge, except as provided otherwise by state law. Each day any violation of any such rule, order, or regulation shall continue shall constitute a separate offense.

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I find this highly prejudicial and even constitutionally offensive to delegate complete power to the mayor and/or the board of aldermen alone to create laws that allow for the imprisonment of citizens or for obnoxious fines to be levied simply on the basis of an opinion as stated. The creation of laws such as the aforementioned should be left up to the law makers, not a mayor or her/his board of aldermen. Not only is this clause entirely too broad, but it potentially allows constitutionally protected activity to come under attack, to be suppressed, or even worse to be punished based on personal feelings or political views. We should all know by now dangers to society broad clauses like this pose, which are immeasurable when they chip away at constitutionally protected activity.  We cannot allow one city to set precedence on such a broad, grey matter, causing others to follow suit  The thought of a citizen potentially being jailed and heavily fined for not wearing a mask is obnoxious, a complete overreach beyond the normal duties of a mayor, and quite frankly a theatrical power grab. So for these reasons that could potentially bring about a constitutional crisis (and have a high preponderance of doing so), in turn burdening the state financially in legal defense fees,  I move for Governor Tate Reeves to rebuke this decision and immediately strike it down through the powers delegated to him as Governor of Mississippi.

This argument is based solely on our Freedoms as Americans and protecting our rights today.  We cannot bend or cave in the slightest bit, else it paves the way for our unalienable rights granted to us to be chipped away.  God Bless The USA

-MR

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Signatures: 83Next Goal: 100
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