Mary Streeter—private owner of what most people mistakingly think is the official public Amherst Town Meeting listserve—warned me on May 29 after I asked His Lordship to schedule an election to replace Selectboard partner in crime Anne Awad.
“Discussions of a person(s) will not be tolerated on this listserv. This is the only warning that will be given before removal from this group.”
And yeah, I was sorely tempted to “reply all’ with a smart ass comment thus guaranteeing my banishment from the herd. But I controlled the urge (my martial arts training) and did nothing.
Until yesterday morning, when I tried to send the listserve the Springfield Republican article about the residency fiasco embroiling Ms. Awad and husband Robie Hubley
My Yahoo account returned the following:
We are unable to deliver the message from amherstac@yahoo.com
to amhersttownmeeting@yahoogroups.com.
So then I tried sending via my AOL account (figuring she’s not the very tech savvy and may not have banned both addresses) but soon received the same error code.
Looks like I’ve been given yet another “time out”. Although last time Mother Mary said it was a limited ban. This time nothing. Expelled, perhaps, forever. Banned in Amherst--the town that cherishes freedom of speech.
Funny how an exceedingly minuscule group of malcontents complain about the Amherst July 4’Th Parade banning anti-war propaganda. But here we have a deliberative, legislative body where the only thing silent is the “h” in Amherst and I’m kicked off without warning.
Well, I did get a warning…sort of. But then banning me anyway is sort of like a cop firing a warning shot--into the back of a perp’s head.
