LOOKS LIKE JOE RUBIO IS NOT THE ONLY ONE IN TROUBLE FOR SPEAKING AT CITY COMMISSION MEETINGS!

Martial law in America? That’s the claim being made by Ed Foster, mayor of the town of

Quartzsite, Arizona after a secret meeting in which the town council reportedly secretly voted 5-0 to declare a state of emergency.

Quartzsite, Arizona Mayor Ed Foster Says Town Under Martial Law After State of Emergency Declared

Illegally arrested for exercising her First Amendment Rights... (Photo: Desert Freedom Press)

According to the Arizona Independent, local reporter Jennifer Jones, who owns and runs the Desert Freedom Press newspaper, attended a council meeting on June 28. When it came time for the “call to the public” portion of the meeting, Mayor Foster, who presided over the meeting, yielded the microphone to Jones. But Jones, who is 45, has a history of speaking uncomfortable truth to power, barely began speaking when some council members ordered police to arrest her. Despite protestations from Jones and Mayor Foster that she had done nothing wrong, she was unceremoniously hauled off in handcuffs, in blatant violation of her First Amendment rights.

It’s not the first time that Jones has been arrested. Since starting the Desert Freedom Press, she’s been arrested four times on 12 separate charges. During one of those arrests, police brutality resulted in her hospitalization and the use of a sling. Incredibly, when Mayor Foster once attempted to prevent her arrest he, too, was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.

Jones’ multiple arrests could have something to do with the fact that she has exposed corruption among the town council and police chief Jeff Gilbert.

What’s on earth is going on down in Quartzsite?

Much of the problem has to do with the town’s police. According to the Arizona Republic, Mayor Foster has called Chief Gilbert “a thug.” Just last month, 10 members of the Quartzsite Police Department issued a vote of no confidence in Chief Gilbert as a result of ethical and legal violations. And despite town policy that mandates administrative leave for officers under investigation (which Gilbert is), council members have refused to place him on leave.

Now comes an escalation to what Jones is calling martial law. According to the Desert Freedom Press and the Activist Post, Quartzsite Police Sergeant Xavier Fausto, dressed in full tactical gear, demanded that Mayor Foster get in a car and attend a secret council meeting. Foster refused and instead drove himself to the meeting, where he declared it was an illegal gathering and was locked out.

“About noon today, the town council, at the request of the police chief, it appears they declared an official state of emergency,” Jones wrote. The reporter says she fears for her safety. “They’ve got their tactical gear on, the police chief and his sergeant,” she told World Net Daily. “I don’t know what that means. I need to get the word out in case they come here. I am very concerned for my safety.”

Mayor Foster also calls the situation in Quartzsite “martial law,” but Vice Mayor Barbara Cowell says the term “does not accurately characterize the action.”  
I’ll ask once more: what on earth is going on down in Quartzsite?