ATTN GULLS: Here's What The City Of Salisbury Doesn't Want You To Know

Well Gulls, summer is here at last. Now, if you are departing into the working world for good we wish you the best of luck; thanks for reading, go with God, the force be with you...all that. However if you are only leaving for the summer and plan to return to college in the fall, The Other Salisbury News has an urgent message for you:

The City Council (with the exception of 2 members) believes in a "Zero Tolerance Policy" which means that if they had it their way, there would be no drinking, no smoking (of anything), and no parties on or off campus, ever. Here is the important part- while you are all gone this summer, the City Council will try to write and pass as much legislation as possible to bring their "Zero Tolerance Policy" into effect.

They are waiting for your absence to strike. For years Councils have counted on our ignorance (reinforced in many ways by our seasonal presence here) of City affairs to slowly whittle our rights down to the tiny nub we are currently working with; you think it is an accident that almost every city cop gives all of us a hard time? Think again my friends- orders are coming straight from the top. A system is in place (and the more we learn about it, the more disgusted we become) which enables Salisbury's finest to round us up like fish in a f****n barrel and theres not a thing we can do to defend ourselves. Well guess what Gulls? It's about to get a whole lot worse.

In the coming months we expect to see a lot of back-room proposals on the table. Our guess is that, like the Noise Ordinance and the Crime Free Lease Addendum, these bills will shave away our rights by expanding the conditional jurisdiction of law enforcement and the scope of city power through the limitation of housing authority;they hate landlords and they hate students so they are really hitting 2 birds with one legislative stone.

Remember Gulls- when the City screws over your landlord they are screwing you too: in Salisbury, property rights are the equivalent of privacy rights; students don't own property but the City still wants to eliminate our rights to privacy so what do they do? They cut out the middle man- literally. Think about it, under your lease you are legally accountable to your landlord right? Well what do you think the City is doing when they mandate laws which over-ride your lease? They are removing your (and your landlords) legal entitlements by basically legislating them out. We know. Its f****d up. But this is Salisbury.

Every year the city gives the cops more fodder to legally target us. And guess when they do it? Summertime. Last year, the housing component of the Neighborhood Legislative Package (Safe Streets back then) surfaced in August. So keep your guards up Gulls, and keep checking the Daily Times and The Other Salisbury News for updates this summer. Don't let them get another one over on you. We will do our best to keep you informed, but we can't be everywhere- you've got to speak up and make the city hear you or by next fall, you may not be allowed to speak at all. Word up. Have a great summer everybody!!