{"id":57929,"date":"2025-09-07T19:31:05","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T23:31:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=57929"},"modified":"2025-09-07T19:31:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T23:31:11","slug":"letter-to-the-editor-animal-rescues-volunteers-you-have-free-speech-rights-shelters-cannot-silence-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2025\/09\/07\/letter-to-the-editor-animal-rescues-volunteers-you-have-free-speech-rights-shelters-cannot-silence-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter to the Editor: Animal Rescues &amp; Volunteers &#8211; You Have Free Speech Rights  Shelters Cannot Silence You"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By Vicky Quintanilla<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" data-dominant-color=\"564233\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"526\" height=\"789\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/541778745_10162302252759132_8529447734898466256_n.webp?resize=526%2C789&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-57930 not-transparent\" style=\"--dominant-color: #564233; width:407px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/541778745_10162302252759132_8529447734898466256_n.webp?w=526&amp;ssl=1 526w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/541778745_10162302252759132_8529447734898466256_n.webp?resize=200%2C300&amp;ssl=1 200w\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What happened in Los Angeles 17 years ago<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u27a4 2008: Rescuers exposed filthy, abusive shelter conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u27a4 County retaliated by suspending adoption\/rescue rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u27a4 With <a><\/a>the No Kill Advocacy Center, they sued under 42 U.S.C. \u00a71983. In Nguyen v. County of Los Angeles (2008\u20132009), the court agreed that suspending volunteer\/rescue privileges in retaliation for speech violated the First Amendment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u27a4 Result: Rights to rescue and volunteer restored, setting precedent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What Section 1983 Means for You<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u27a4 Right to speak out: Criticizing a government-run shelter is constitutionally protected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u27a4 No retaliation allowed: Officials cannot ban, block, or deny access because of speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u27a4 Evidence doesn\u2019t need a confession: Retaliation can be proven if access is withdrawn soon after you speak out and no valid reason is given.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u27a4 Loss of benefits = harm: Volunteering, adopting, or pulling animals are \u201cbenefits.\u201d Even if not rights, the Supreme Court says they cannot be taken away because of speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u27a4 Threats count too: Being told \u201cyou\u2019ll be banned if you speak out\u201d is retaliation\u2014it chills speech and supports a claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Why This Matters<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u27a4 Rescues and volunteers are the eyes and ears inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u27a4 If silenced, animals have no voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u27a4 Section 1983 is a federal tool to fight back and restore access<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What Polk County Animal Control, Florida, has done is much worse \u2014 a phone ban, rescue ban, volunteer ban, drive-through adoptions, \u201cBad Dog\u201d sign, gagging contracts, record delays, and more. What the Polk County Board of Commissioners has done is stand by, protect the Sheriff, and strip citizens of their voice, censoring our speech instead of protecting the animals and the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"16\" width=\"16\" alt=\"\ud83d\udd17\" src=\"https:\/\/static.xx.fbcdn.net\/images\/emoji.php\/v9\/tb3\/1\/16\/1f517.png\"> Full article: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nathanwinograd.com\/section-1983-to-the-rescue\/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAYnJpZBExeVQ1ejhXemlhcjF6SmZCOAEe9kwVk7B-Tas7rKT3h97kCfPXWcuyecOiB9rhrBPDcmX60U61oTV4AVctKX0_aem_6uKNRqASKrdgFihKQ8YFxw\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.nathanwinograd.com\/section-1983-to-the-rescue\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Vicky Quintanilla What happened in Los Angeles 17 years ago \u27a4 2008: Rescuers exposed filthy, abusive shelter conditions. \u27a4 County retaliated by suspending adoption\/rescue rights. \u27a4 With the No&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57930,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNVwvMDlcLzU0MTc3ODc0NV8xMDE2MjMwMjI1Mjc1OTEzMl84NTI5NDQ3NzM0ODk4NDY2MjU2X24ud2VicD9maXQ9NTI2JTJDNzg5JnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiTGV0dGVyIHRvIHRoZSBFZGl0b3I6IEFuaW1hbCBSZXNjdWVzICZhbXA7IFZvbHVudGVlcnMgJiM4MjExOyBZb3UgSGF2ZSBGcmVlIFNwZWVjaCBSaWdodHMgIFNoZWx0ZXJzIENhbm5vdCBTaWxlbmNlIFlvdSIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiaGlnaHdheSIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.iPyGbUP2Ahy302etCVzqOebF6YxlWMe0S9vFK_M1kZ0MQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":57930,"url":"http:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/541778745_10162302252759132_8529447734898466256_n.webp","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-letters"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57929"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57931,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57929\/revisions\/57931"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}