BY ANDY GARDNER
North Country This Week

CANTON -- Citizens who spoke in support of a beleaguered Massena county legislator said they support her right to free speech and said she is a decent person, while others made clear their disdain for the Muslim religion.

Legislator Rita Curran, R-Massena, has come under fire for sharing an anti-Muslim post on Facebook on April 25. The image came from a page called Empire State Conservatives. It shows an airplane flying into the burning World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. It is accompanied by the text “Every time a Muslim stand [sic] up in Congress and tells us they are going to change the Constitution, impeach our president, or vote for socialism, remember you swore you would never forget. They swore they would destroy us from within.” She deleted it the next day after the St. Lawrence County Democrats released a statement condemning the post and calling for her to resign.

The board on Monday night voted down a resolution calling on Curran to resign, mostly along party lines. Prior to the vote, around 40 members of the public offered a variety of opinions for and against Curran.[img_assist|nid=257949|title=John Williams of Massena said he believes Curran 'doesn't have a bigoted bone in her body.'|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=400|height=316]

Prior to the meeting, a few people gathered at the entrance to the courthouse to counter-protest a group of about 50 who marched together calling for Curran’s resignation.

Some of them wore hats embroidered with Pres. Donald Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make American great again.”

Karie Doelger stood outside the courthouse before the meeting with a sign that said “I support Rita + the truth.” She said she thinks Curran resigning would cancel out her vote.

“The whole purpose I’m standing here tonight is what’s going on in there is trying to disenfranchise my vote,” she said. “When you start taking votes away from people, where does that leave us?”

Seth Weiner of Canton said the legislators should uphold the First Amendment and not pass the resolution.

"Residents of this county may be offended. The board may be offended. This is irrelevant,” he said.

John Williams of Massena came to support Curran, as did his 14-year-old granddaughter, Brandi-Marie Williams.

"I don't believe she has one bigoted bone in her whole body,” John Williams told the legislators.

During the demonstration prior to the meeting, the younger Williams said she would vote for Curran, if she legally could.

“I support Rita Curran. If I was old enough, I’d vote for her. She’s a very hard-working person and I like her as a legislator,” Brandi-Marie Williams said.

Others expressed clear disdain for the left side of the political spectrum and Islam.

"The liberals, progressives, socialists, Marxists, Democrats all over our country are trying to shut down those who oppose them by calling them hate speech, discrimination, bias, you name it,” said Bart Bonner, who traveled from Watertown to support Curran. "Tonight, we are concerned about Islamic extremism. No we aren't. The 250 Catholics who were just murdered a week ago [in Sri Lanka] were not murdered by Islamic extremism. They were murdered by the true followers of Mohammed.”

"The Democratic party is infected with the disease of anti-Americanism and is committed to the dissolution of the United States,” said Kevin Beary of Potsdam.

Patrick Green, who identified himself before speaking as a “starving rancher from Lisbon,” tried to link Islam with inherent violence. He said when a Christian “strays from the flock,” others who practice the faith will use missionary work to try to convince them to come back.

"We should read our history and figure out this time Mohammed came into power and what happens ... when these Muslims decide they're going to do something else,” Green said. ”Do they send over missionaries ... or do they resort to violence?"[img_assist|nid=257950|title=Patrick Green of Lisbon supported Curran and said he thinks Islam encourages violence toward dissenters.|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=400|height=286]