Georgia woman wages single-handed fight for open government
Source: Associated Press
Kate Brumback, Associated Press Updated 4:01 pm, Friday, February 24, 2017
ATLANTA (AP) When Nydia Tisdale turned her camera on a north Georgia city council meeting, the mayor ordered her to stop recording and had a police officer forcibly remove her and the camera.
Two years later, as she filmed a Republican midterm election campaign rally, a sheriff's captain led her away shouting, her arm pinned behind her back, as candidates and spectators looked on.
Armed with a video camera and a thorough knowledge of her legal rights, the 53-year-old self-described citizen journalist has made it her mission to promote transparency in local government.
Tisdale goes to city council meetings, county commission meetings and events where politicians are speaking. She uploads the videos, or "nydeos," to her website. She doesn't interview people or provide commentary, preferring to simply document.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Armed-with-camera-Georgia-woman-fights-for-open-10956738.php
benld74
(9,889 posts)BumRushDaShow
(127,314 posts)the City Council meetings (held on Thursdays) are broadcast on a local cable channel set aside for them.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)Judi Lynn
(160,219 posts)IronLionZion
(45,261 posts)This is a great idea! One has to ask why the local government doesn't want it recorded. And keep asking until you get an answer. This is awesome.
Glitterati
(3,182 posts)I am from the hometown where this woman started her "career."
She's nothing more than Bev Harris with a camera, a grifter.
Everything she does is based only on how much money she can grift from state/county/federal governments.
Do NOT support this woman.
THIS man is her mentor. (In the story it says he "retired" from his blog.........he turned it over to this woman):
The judgment is Milums fourth related to blog posts.
A 2006 Forsyth County Superior Court ruling ordered Milum to pay $50,000 to local attorney Rafe Banks III.
A jury found Milum had libeled Banks on his Web site in 2004 by accusing the lawyer of delivering bribes for drug dealers to judges.
According to the Media Law Center, Milum was the first blogger in the country to lose a libel suit, a case that received national attention.
In October 2007, a Superior Court jury ruled against Milum for malice and ordered him to pay former Forsyth County employee Joseph Gooden $100,000 in damages and $50,000 for attorneys fees.
The lawsuit was filed against Milum in 2005 for alleging on a Web site that Gooden accepted bribes and extorted money from county vendors.
In 2012, he was ordered to pay $25,000 in punitive damages to Matt Murphy, a former Forsyth County planning commissioner in what was also a default judgment.
Milum said or implied that plaintiff Murphy engaged in public drunkenness and participated in obscene behavior in a truck outside Milums home, according to the complaint.
http://www.forsythnews.com/archives/18062/
mr_lebowski
(33,643 posts)SAD!
Oh well, I'm okay sticking w/Obama, Carter, Big Dog, Gore, Bernie & Elizabeth as my 'heroes' (along with with many others of course ... Dalai Lama, Mandela, Ghandi, Michael Stipe, Bono, Prince, etc) ...
Glitterati
(3,182 posts)The guy is a serious wackadoodle.
While this woman is a little smarter than he is, she's nothing but a right wing grifter.
She is NOT on our side - she has no "side" except the side of her pocketbook she plans to drop some more taxpayer dollars into as she sues every county/city/state in her sights.
mpcamb
(2,855 posts)this story?
Murphy,
local attorney Rafe Banks III.
Milum
former Forsyth County employee Joseph Gooden
Nydia Tisdale
?
Glitterati
(3,182 posts)not that it's any of your business, but just a taxpayer tired of paying this grifter and seeing my taxes go up because of it.
NutmegYankee
(16,178 posts)And then taxes wouldn't go up.
Glitterati
(3,182 posts)same kind of person here.
She walks in and provokes looking for a payday.
NutmegYankee
(16,178 posts)You didn't counter my point that heavy handed actions by local governments are what raised your taxes.
Glitterati
(3,182 posts)You just choose to ignore it.
Moving on.......
Glitterati
(3,182 posts)She lives in the county south of me (Tom Price's district, BTW) yet does all her filming in my county. Why? Because it's considered one of the richest counties in the country.
Her most recent episode has her actually facing criminal charges for her behavior.
She went to a local pumpkin farm where a Republican campaign event was going on - from the Governor to local yokels running for dog catcher. Basically, all the Republican big wigs running for statewide re-election.
So, the owners of Burt's Pumpkin Farm (the local venue) asked her to stop filming. She ignored him.
Then, his private security officer approached her and asked her to stop filming and she ignored him, too.
Turns out the security officer is a local off duty cop. So he proceeded to forcibly remove her from the property after repeated requests that she leave private property were ignored.
She punched him, kicked him, screamed and screeched and then claimed he sexually assaulted her.
She's been charged with assaulting a police officer.
It's all about who has the most money, how much of a scene she can make, and if she can provoke someone into being her next lawsuit victim.
mpcamb
(2,855 posts)Glitterati
(3,182 posts)just a few weeks prior, she had filmed the local Republican debate for County Commissioner (all Republicans running) and selectively edited the footage to make her preferred candidate look better.
The Republican party was thoroughly pissed off over it and asked her to leave the function.
Shortly before that she had caused another scene at the Republican Women's luncheon at a local restaurant and sued them too.
mpcamb
(2,855 posts)They gotta make a living somehow...
Glitterati
(3,182 posts)She uses the AG of the state to make her claims and then forces a settlement.
Her first court appearance is going to be on the criminal charges and she is being represented by a DEM activist attorney pro bono.
BTW all these meetings she films are available to the public within 24 hours on the county website, provided by the County/City. Anyone who chooses can watch every excruciatingly boring minute of public meetings. They have been available to the public for years.