‘Civil rights investigator’s’ visit to Moultrie sparks backlash

MOULTRIE — A Florida man’s appearance – and subsequent arrest — outside a government building while he was holding a sign that included the “F-word” has sparked a cluster of a situation for this southwest Georgia community.

The disorderly charges filed by Moultrie police on July 3 against Jeff Gray were dropped recently, but as of Tuesday afternoon both the city and police department’s Facebook pages were inactive due to a reported spate of sometimes offensive comments posted on those forums.

“You can consider them gone – for good,” Moultrie City Manager Pete Dillard said Tuesday of the social media pages. “What the law says is you can’t target negative comments. If people are posting negative comments, you can’t take those down. However, you can take a neutral stand and just do away with the whole thing, (with) good comments and bad comments treated the same.”

Gray, 48, told The Herald that he showed up in Moultrie for a pre-Fourth of July “celebration” of civil rights.

“I parked in the city hall parking lot, walked over to the public sidewalk and silently held a sign,” he said during a Wednesday telephone interview.

The sign said “F— City Hall.”

Gray said he received gestures of support and disapproval from passersby. Eventually Dillard and police officials approached, according to accounts.

During that encounter, an officer notified Gray that he needed a city permit to stage a demonstration, according to a letter written by Moultrie Police Department Chief Sean Ladson to Gray in which Ladson explained that police were dismissing the disorderly conduct charge. Gray refused to leave or provide identification during the encounter, the letter said.

Gray said the officer never asked for identification or ordered him to leave.

“I do what I call civil rights investigations,” Gray said. “This was all revolving around Independence Day coming up. (I was) celebrating our rights to exercise our rights – the rights of free speech, to be critical of the government.”

Gray said that police often use charges such as disorderly conduct or resisting arrest to silence people who are exercising those rights or irritating a particular officer.

“In most cases they don’t have the means to fight those charges,” he said. “They (police) get away with it. I call those contempt of cop arrests. You haven’t broken any laws, you just simply hurt the cop’s feelings.”

In a similar operation holding a sign recently in Stuart, Florida, Gray said, city officials said he had the right to hold the sign, but wished he had not made his point using profanity.

He said he was polite and nonthreatening throughout the encounter in Moultrie.

“The ordinance says words must be intended to incite violence,” he said. “I didn’t threaten anybody or challenge anybody to a fight.”

Police arrested Gray, and he was held in Colquitt County Jail for about five hours before his wife drove to Moultrie and posted a $325 bond on the city charge, he said.

Ladson’s letter said a $325 check was enclosed. It also accused Gray of provoking Dillard.

“In particular, it appears that while Officer Johnson had stepped away to speak with her lieutenant, you told Pete Dillard he was a ‘scumbag city manager’ and you also accused him of stealing from the citizens of Moultrie,” the letter said. “It does not appear that you have any basis in fact for those accusations, but rather lodged them for the purpose of provoking and irritating Pete Dillard.”

After Gray placed video of the encounter on his YouTube media channel online, Moultrie government offices were inundated with phone calls, some of them rude and often to clerks and city customer representatives, Dillard said.

“It was a lot of bullying, more than anything else,” he said. “It’s down to a few a day instead of 200.”

Some of the comments were threatening or contained implied threats, he said.

“I had a personal email that was rather threatening,” Dillard said. “They added at the end, ‘Give your regards to Gail,’ which is my wife. I thought that was a veiled threat there.

“We respect the First Amendment, the Second, all 10. We also respect decency.”

“That’s not cool at all,” Gray said of the reported threats. “I did not encourage anybody to call. I never put up phone numbers or email addresses. I don’t have anything to do with that at all.

“I do believe you have the right to address your grievances to the government. I think people should do that civilly.”

Gray said he would not return to Moultrie because he fears he would be arrested again. He did not comment on whether he is considering further legal action, but said, based on Ladson’s letter, he did not think the city learned the lesson he was trying to impart. “I do have an attorney,” he said. “I do have an attorney in Georgia.”

Dillard said the city may consider having a Facebook page again in the future after things cool down, but there are no immediate plans for it. In the meantime it will communicate to the public through the local newspaper.

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