Community Corner

Government Workshops about Corporate, Citizen Rights

First workshop May 10 at Kent Free Library

Free workshops for “American Democracy: Reclaiming Citizens’ Rights” have announced three upcoming dates for citizens of all ages offering sessions to help people understand recent conflicts between corporation’s rights and individual citizens’ rights.

The workshops also aim to teach citizens how to reclaim lost rights to local control.

The first workshop is Thursday, May 10, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the .

Sponsored by ConcernedCitizensOhio and led by two retired teachers, the workshops are designed to meet the current demand for information about the rights that citizens and local officials have lost to corporations, especially the oil and gas industry, in the last decade.

“While we were raising our kids and working fulltime, none of us really realized what was happening,” says George Sosebee, retired head of the social studies department of Hudson High School in Hudson, OH. “We now find ourselves waking up to rights lost, property values under attack and the very water we drink and air we breathe threatened. And our local officials have been literally stripped of their power to protect either us or themselves. Even zoning boards aren’t allowed to restrict such businesses as the oil and gas industry.

“Right now, many people fear the negative impacts of fracking,” Sosebee added. “But fracking just brings this dangerous loss of citizens’ rights front and center. The fact is that any environmental hazard could be initiated in our townships and cities, right in our backyards, and residents can’t say 'No.'”

The free workshops are each one session, and they are nonpolitical, nonpartisan participation discussions of the actual rights of citizens based on the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of Ohio, and other legal documents. The and restore human rights currently before the and a similar resolution before the Shalersville Township trustees will be studied closely as well. Materials will be provided for free.

Dates and times set for the work shops are Thursday, May 10, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Kent Free Library; and two Tuesdays, May 29 and June 5, both from 6 to 8 p.m., at the Reed Memorial Library in Ravenna. Workshop sizes are limited, so anyone interested in registering for a workshop should contact Concernedcitizensohio@gmail.com. Members of the will receive two credit hours in exchange for attending.


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