A unilateral decision by Colorado small town mayor Shane Fuhrman to suspend the custom of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance during board meetings was met by the only patriotic response possible: attendees stood and defied him to recite the pledge anyway.
Fuhrman, the mayor of the 550-person mountain town Silverton, made the announcement at a board meeting on June 14, which is Flag Day, the Sun reports.
Speaking at the committee meeting, Fuhrman said: “Due to the direct and indirect threats, inappropriate comments in and out of our public meetings, and general divisiveness and issues created in our community, we will not be reciting the Pledge of Allegiance during Town of Silverton trustee meetings.”
Fuhrman did not elaborate on the nature of the threats or comments that prompted him to remove the pledge, which he added would be removed from agendas and protocols “until such time that we could discuss this at a board retreat or workshop.”
However, shortly after, during the meeting’s comment period, one woman stated: “I would like to make one comment. I would like to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.”
Her statement spurred a group of standing people at the meeting loudly reciting the pledge anyway.
Their actions led Fuhrman to say: “I’d note that that’s out of order.”
“We did have a one-strike policy. I’m not going to ask everyone to leave tonight, but if something like that happens again we will,” he continued.
Footage of the June 14 incident was shared to Twitter on June 18 by U.S. Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, who slammed the mayor’s actions.
“It’s hard to put into words what kind of anti-American disgrace this is,” read the caption. “Mayor Fuhrman should resign and purchase a one-way ticket to China where he won’t have worry about hearing the pledge!”
Silverton has run into controversy regarding the Pledge of Allegiance in the past.
In 2018, a former trustee member almost pressed harassment and menacing charges against a resident who verbally attacked him for not standing during the Pledge of Allegiance, according to a report in the Durango Herald at the time.
The pledge has also caused controversy of its own in Washington, DC.
As Breitbart News reported, in February the House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) shut down Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-FL) request to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of committee hearings.
Gaetz, during a hearing on new House rules, put in his plea however the idea was dismissed by Nadler as “unnecessary.”