Although I am not a Town of Potsdam resident, I am what would now at least be considered a long term resident and property owner in the Village of Massena, where the current Potsdam Town Supervisor, Mr. Miller, also simultaneously holds a full-time position as the Massena Village DPW Supervisor. 

Not sure how Mr. Miller manages to juggle both positions effectively, but perhaps if he truly feels, as he stated in his release to NCN, that he and other Potsdam Town Board members have had to, “put up with phone calls, voicemails, and emails” and that it has “been a nightmare for me and the rest of the Board”, then respectfully, perhaps Mr. Miller might consider stepping down from either one of these two positions. 

“Putting up with” phone calls, voicemails, and emails from one’s constituency, is part of the Job Description of a Town Supervisor and Board. 

I am in no way condoning what the particular Potsdam Town Board Member apparently stated on social media regarding the assassination attempt on former President Trump. At best it was tasteless. I don’t like it at all, and if one of my children had done so, for example, they would have been given a strict lesson on civics, civic duty, and what the ramifications of making such ignorant, thoughtless statements can be. A visit from the Secret Service perhaps?  

And as can probably be gleaned by some of my previous submissions, it’s my position that Trump embodies everything that can possibly be wrong with a person, all stuffed into one human being. No Fan. But I don’t want to see the Former President murdered. I would like to see him expire of old age, but in Trump’s case, preferably from within a prison cell. 

That all being said, the First Amendment does not exist in order to protect popular speech.  Sorry. The First Amendment exists in order to protect unpopular speech. The only way to defeat bad speech, or even hate speech, is with better speech. Either vote her out, or put out your own, better speech. That’s how it works. 

In the meantime, if what someone says on social media so upsets you, I would submit, get off of social media. It’s not necessary. It’s a complete waste of time, as well as mental health, and it’s actually really, and I mean really, easy to do so. People have forgotten. I’m in my 50s and have never had a social media account in my life. Yet somehow, I miraculously manage to wake up each day, survive, and thrive in this modern world just fine without it.  

Virtue Signaling is not “Virtuous”. It’s Self Promotion. 

Leland Farnsworth
Massena