Week of April 3nd-7th, 2017
Greetings from the folks at Montague Community TV! Pictured here is some new programming to watch out for--Riverculture's Green Screen Poets 2017! This short video, featuring artistic videography by Bret Leighton, places poets performing heart-felt and powerful spoken word poetry in front of ethereal video collage. Poets featured include Jamila Gore, Nina Lagual, Kent Alexander, and La-Ming Dolan. It can be seen this week at MontagueTV.org or on our TV station Monday at 7:31 AM and Thursday at 4:38 PM. This video was created by Turners Falls RiverCulture for Music and Diversity III on March 25th, and the videography was done by Bret Leighton. Thanks to La Mariposa Collective.
Speaking of, La Mariposa is offering two six week Spanish classes starting Sunday April 9th, including a beginning Spanish class from 10am-12pm (register at https://goo.gl/forms/9mEVv6RyErslYqSm1) and an intermediate class from 12:15pm-2:15 pm (register at https://goo.gl/forms/Kzj4G983COiFrQ4h1) for just $66 each. This is a great language learning opportunity!
This week we'd like to highlight the latest from the Gill Selectboard. On March 20th, heated discussion took place regarding the decision on whether to give Gill a Sanctuary Town designation. The policy, proposed by Seth Montgomery and Rachel Abernathy, would limit Gill Police from enforcing Federal immigration orders that seek "excessive or unnecessary detention." Community members spoke on both sides of the issue, with a variety of opinions. To see their comments in more detail, you can find the 3/20/17 Gill Selectboard Meeting at /p/76/Latest-MCTV-Videos, or read a detailed account of the discussion in the March 23rd edition of the Montague Reporter. The following summary is relayed from that article, written by Kent Alexander.
Some community members' concerns included the question of whether the federal government could take away funding from the town for such a policy, an idea which was suggested to be misled on the basis of 10th Amendment rights. On the flip side of the conversation were questions about whether police enforcing federal mandates would put trust between the community and the police at risk. While community member Gary Bourdeau proposed "sanctuary residencies" rather than a sanctuary town, Michi Wiacnko made a passionate case for the Sanctuary Town status by challenging people to "remember the past, rescuing African slaves and assisting Jewish people fleeing extermination were once considered to be illegal actions."
Board chair John Ward clarified that while in a city like Holyoke, it is the mayor's decision of whether or not to set a policy limiting police enforcement of federal mandates, the Gill Selectboard has the power to make this kind of decision. Selectboard member Snedeker made a motion to adopt a policy modeled after Holyoke's executive order, which was seconded by Crochier, and further discussion has been tabled until the April 18th Selectboard meeting. The next Gill Selectboard Meeting will be held Monday, April 3rd.
Something going on you think others would like to see? Get in touch to learn how easy it is to use a camera and capture the moment. (413) 863-9200, infomontaguetv@
Posted: to General News on Sun, Apr 2, 2017
Updated: Sun, Apr 2, 2017