HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — A woman was escorted from the latest Henry County Board of Commissioners meeting, and she and county officials are reflecting on what led up to her removal.
Video captured what led up to Laurin “Brie” Smith being escorted from the meeting.
“These actions do not demonstrate policy and procedure being consistently applied across the board,” Smith said. “These actions do not demonstrate the county’s alleged commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.”
“She was being loud and disorderly, and so we have to maintain order,” Henry County Commission Chair Carlotta Harrell told Channel 2’s Mark Winne.
“It’s not illegal to annoy your elected representatives,” Smith said.
Harrell says at the Tuesday, Aug. 4 commission meeting, she ordered police to remove Smith because she went over her allotted time and off-topic from what she signed up to talk about.
Smith, who says she is a frequent critic of the Henry County administration, said she does not believe she was off topic, and she was there with her 7-year-old son to do her civic duty.
“To me, being involved and asking questions that are public information should not make you a target,” she said.
“We welcome the public to come and speak during public comment, but we want you to be respectful,” Harrell said.
“The First Amendment is what protects us from the government. It’s not the other way around,” Smith said.
“We have rules and policies in place that that, you know, are given to the public when they do sign up for public comment,” Harrell said.
Harrell says she had cautioned Smith earlier in her comments.
Smith said that interruption cost her some of her allotted time.
“If it’s not on the agenda, then no. I am within my allotted three minutes and I wish to proceed,” Smith said.
An attorney who says he handles a number of First Amendment issues in his practice said it appears the board behaved in a permissible manner.
“It appears to me that the Commissioner acted permissible, unless there is evidence that she had one set of rules for her friends and one set of rules for people who criticized her,” said attorney Andrew Fleischman.
“When a city or county has meetings for the public to come talk, they can set reasonable time, place and manner restrictions, how long to talk and what to talk about. And if you break those rules, they can remove you,” he added.
Harrell said Smith also had a brief outburst at a July 27 meeting.
Henry County police Captain Anthony Militello said he helped escort Smith out.
“I did inform her, based upon her previous conduct, that the board at the board meeting on the 27th and after this one, that if her behavior continues to be disruptive, she could possibly be issued a criminal trespass warning from future BOC meetings,” he said.
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