I have read some troubling things this past week about the arrest of Steve Allgood at Tuesday’s city council meeting.

These comments compare Allgood to Norma Rae and my first statement is bound to anger some people.

I don’t see Norma Rae as a folk hero. I see her movement as helping to lead to the decline and the abandonment of the textile mills here for cheap overseas labor.

Sure, the working conditions of the mills may have been deplorable but where are they now? They are gone, jobs are gone and many people have relocated to find work.

Just like Norma Rae was not a folk hero, Mr. Allgood is not a folk hero. Mr. Allgood Tuesday had his chance to speak and squandered his moment, interrupted the meeting and was asked to leave.

There was no miscommunication. Mr. Allgood addressed his concerns about the frontage issue, stating his problem with it and council adjusted the frontage standards, allowing merchants to now display their goods seven days a week and use half of their frontage to do so.

It was a fair compromise and Mr. Allgood barely mentioned in his allotted time his concerns about the prohibition of items such as upholstered furniture, mattresses, electronics, animals or livestock and appliances.

It was only after the unanimous vote by council that he tried to and he was out of order. Mayor Emery Doughtie did the correct thing by tapping his gavel and telling him he had his chance.

Mr. Allgood exercised his right to free speech then he tried to take advantage of it after the fact by interrupting the meeting. There was never any debate at any time on the prohibition of the items mentioned above. The main concerns on the sidewalk display ordinance were the number of days goods could be displayed and a lesser debate on the frontage issue.

When Mr. Allgood refused to shut up, Deputy Chief Adam Bondarek stood up and the rest becomes hazy as I went to the nearest exit to document this with my camera.

In an interview with the mayor this week, Doughtie says the arrest is a police matter. “I leave that to Chief Hinton on how to handle each situation.”

The mayor said he doesn’t want to be in the position to micromanage people. “If he could have backed up he could have redone the situation,” he said of Allgood.

City council meetings are business meetings, the mayor said. “I don’t think people realize how important these meetings are. As mayor, you have to have order and not lose control of the meeting. I had to tap my gavel. I think we’re being very lenient to allow people to speak.”

I believe this, too. Free speech does not mean you are given the right to say something during a public meeting any time you feel like it or break the order of the meeting.

Free speech in these forums means following the proper procedure. Council has been very accommodating to allow people to speak, having a spot on the agenda for people who have signed up and for unscheduled comments. Mr. Allgood had every opportunity to use these forums to discuss the prohibition of certain items. Instead he waited until after a vote was taken, caused a disturbance and suffered the consequences by being arrested.

There is such a thing as civil disobedience and we wholeheartedly support that notion but all Mr. Allgood did was interrupt an otherwise orderly meeting when he has had every chance to discuss the issue that bothered him most.

While Rosa Parks quietly sat in the front of the bus, Mr. Allgood sat in the back of the room and disturbed what had been an orderly meeting where previous speakers were cordial and shared their opinions with civility.

We agree with the mayor, who told us, “I think we set a good precedent and we’re going to continue to do it.” — Lance Martin