Fencing in a yard seems like a simple project, right? Just hammer in a few posts, attach yourfencing, and there you go. Well, thats one way of doing it ... but its not the smartest.

Careful planning will save you tons of time, money and hassle once you actually install your fence. I talked with Joe Raboine, Director ofBelgard Residential Hardscapes, about what you must research before fencing in your yard, and a few things to watch out for.Bottom line, warns Joe, is to "make sure you dont do anything that will cost money later ... or have to be replaced!"

Laws and regulationsEnsure your plans comply with local regulations. Your homeowners association is the place to start; most require an architectural review before approving new fence plans. Interestingly, Joe points out, "The city will usually defer to the HOA."

If a permit is necessary for fence installation in your town, have that in hand before work begins. And find out whether underground utility pipes or cables run where you plan to dig.

Property lineDetermine your exact property line so you dont accidentally install the fence on your next door neighbors turf. Refer to theplat map(if its less than 5 years old) or hire a surveyor. Local law might specify an additional setback of several inches to one foot.

Ground conditionJoe comments, "Soil can play a big part in your fence planning. With new construction, you want to make sure the soil has settled. Otherwise, it should be thoroughly compacted.

"Beyond that, depending on the region of the country, you may need to reinforce the fenceposts. If the soil is very solid, like a heavy clay, often you can just pack itaround the posts. But when its really sandy, you may have to useSonotubes filled with concrete to keep the sand from collapsing while youprepare to set the posts.

"In some areas, youll run into bedrock or boulders, which may require drilling or bringing in special equipment. When youget fencing quotes, discuss how thats going to be handled."

MaterialsModern fencing options include natural wood, composite, vinyl, aluminum, steel, chain link, wrought iron and bamboo. (Read more aboutfence materials here.)

Four essential factors will help narrow your choice:1. Purpose: privacy, secure children's play area, keeping animals in (or out), etc.2. Budget3. Taste and style4. Amount of maintenance youre willing to put into the finished product: eg.painting a wood fence

To illustrate: Thoughchain linkis a cheap way of fencing in a yard, it may clash with the style of your home ... and doesnt quite cut it as privacy fencing or a noise barrier.

LandscapingPlan a fence that will work with your landscape and hardscape (existing or future). Consider whether youd like to bring in heavy equipment, perhaps to pour aconcrete patio. That should obviously be done before you have the fence installed.

Talk with your lawn sprinkler company to decide whether equipment will have to be repositioned. You do not want your new fence to be in the path of the lawn sprinkler spray.

OpeningsHow many gates will you need? Count on installing two minimum or possibly more - for example, if your driveway will pass through the fence. At least one opening should be wide enough for outdoor necessities like garbage cans or snow blowers.

Special featuresFence columns are trendy these days, according to Raboine, for decorative purposes and to hold lighting. Joe advises you to plan the lighting design out carefully with your fencing company for the best-looking results.

Also popular are trellises or vertical gardens incorporated into the fence. This not only softens your fences appearance, but also supplies you with freshvegetablesor flowers. Especially suitable for new houses with smaller lots.

Fencing in a yard - must-know numbers- Cost of fencing in a yard:$1-45 per linear foot depending on type of material (not including labor).- Cheapest fence material:barbed wire and electric (invisible) fencing both start at $1 per linear foot.- Priciest fence material:composite such asTrex ; upscale styles cost as much as $45 a linear foot.- Average cost offencing permit:$40.- Average cost of land survey:$500.- Fence height:generally 3-foot limit for front yard; 6 feet elsewhere on your property (pool fenceshave special regulations). Sometimes theres a 30-inchminimumheight. Confirm with your local building authority.- Fencepost spacing:maximum 8 feet apart.- Posthole depth:at least 3 feet in cold climates (6 inches below frostline).- Gate width:36 inches for a person walking and/or using a mobility device. 48+ inches for lawn equipment.- One-call numberto phone before digging:811.

Laura Firszt writes fornetworx.com.

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What you need to know before fencing in a yard - Gadsden Times

A string of artful flags, created by the children at the Riley School and representing positive messages of hope and love, is currently on display at the top of the Harbor Park in Rockland.

Last week students at the Rockport independent school, ages 2-15, and their families, worked from home with guidance from Riley Art Facilitator Alix Martin.

A prearranged scheduled day was arranged to pick-up art materials at the Riley campus. A day off from Zoom classes was planned to create the art at home with family.

On Friday, May 8, the flags were taken back to school and shared with others in a car parade with children displaying their flags, around the loop of Riley School driveway. Teachers and staff, dressed in festive clothes and face coverings, stood along the edge at a safe distance cheering them all.

Traditionally, the school celebrates a week dedicated to the arts during the month of May, with workshops and studio visits, culminating in a performance style finale.

The arts are an important part of the curriculum at Riley and some children may have up to four art classes a week. Classes are mainly driven by students interests and with the encouragement and guidance of Alix Martin.

Children often work with clay, build outdoor sculptural pieces, set up an area for figure drawing, hand sew clothing and work in individual notebooks. Often large collaborative projects are created. And there is an increasing element of art and poetry.

Martin envisaged this project as a, band of signal flags in this storm, creating sparks of light amidst these shadowy days.

Head of Riley School Becky Clappthanked the city of Rockland, especially David Gogel, who is director of Rockland Maine Street, and Riley parent for cooperation in finding a place for displaying the flags for the community to see.

In addition to designing a flag, the children were asked what they were grateful for and how art can make the world a better place.

ART MAKES THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE BECAUSE

It brings joy. It makes me feel peaceful. Elyse Coleman, age 9, Owls Head

It makes me feel like I can do something and its calming and its peaceful. Julia Staples,age 9, Appleton

You can make whatever you want. Ramona Simons, age 5, Rockland

It is so cool and you can do it in so many ways. BC, age 6, Tenants Harbor

I like art because I can express my feelings better...I think you can do a lot of stuff with art...without art I couldnt build all the things I build. Maddox, age 9, Rockland

There are lots of things...I have so much things I am grateful for. I am grateful for all the people in my whole entire family. Ossian, age 5, Rockland

I am grateful for art. Ian MacDonald, age 6, Rockland

Art makes the world a better place because it takes your mind off things. It is relaxing and enjoyable. You can put your thoughts and creative thinking on paper or other things. Rosalie Murphy, age 11, Camden

The Riley School guides children to become independent, lifelong learners and innovative thinkers. Founded as a progressive, ungraded elementary school in 1972, Riley recognizes each childs unique learning style. The individualized curriculum challenges children to express themselves and develop their own intellectual and creative capabilities through experimentation, discovery, and vigorous engagement.

Accredited by the New England Association of School and Colleges and the Maine State Department of Education, Riley School enrolls children K - 9thgrade, and 24 yrs for the Wade Acres pre-school program. Applications are currently being accepted for the 2020-21 school year. For more information visit http://www.rileyschool.org and call the office 207-596-6405 to schedule a visit.

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'Band of signal flags in this storm' decorate downtown Rockland fence - PenBayPilot.com

Keep your family and pets safe with a fence from Coastal Fence and Railing. We are a family-owned business with over 20 years of fencing experience within the Cape May County area. It is important to secure and protect your two-legged and four-legged family members.

Our professionals at Coastal Fence and Railing can help you choose what type of fence you will need depending on who you are trying to keep in or out of your fence. For example, we can offer a lower picket fence to protect smaller children and dogs or a privacy fence may be a better option for those older children and bigger dogs. We also offer safety hardware that is more difficult for children and dogs to open themselves. We have many different styles and options to fit residential and commercial requirements. We can offer your family a beautiful vinyl, wood, or metal fence. At Coastal Fence and Railing we also can keep your deck safe with our options of vinyl, glass, and metal railings.

At Coastal Fence and Railing, we have fencing and railing to keep everyone in your family safe especially your kids and dogs. Come visit us at Coastal Fence and Railing, located at 7 Bayshore Road in Green Creek. For more information, call 609-741-4264 or visit http://www.coastalfenceandrailing.com

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Building a Fence with Coastal Fence and Railing Is a True Investment For Your Family's Safety - Cape May County Herald

MONTCLAIR, NJ -The Montclair Planning Board had a very light agenda at its virtual meeting on May 18, devoting the bulk of the time to continuing and concluding the application for a wall and a fence along the edges of the green space behind the Fullerton condominium apartment building.

The Fullerton Condominium Association, which owns the green space, had originally envisioned a fence around the property and a retaining wall along Seymour Street, with the fence running along the top of the wall, but suggestions and skepticism from board members at the Planning Boards April 20 meeting led landscape architect Barry Yacker to come up with a different proposal a fence along the edge of the property adjacent to the Plymouth parking lot and a retaining wall along the edge of the property adjacent to Seymour Street, with thick ground cover behind the wall instead of a fence on top of it.

The Fullerton, which faces Roosevelt Place and sits along the corner of Roosevelt Place and Seymour Street, is built into a hill with two stories below the ground floor on its eastern end, a basement and a mezzanine. The topography of the green space on its northern side has a slope where pedestrians trespass to get between the Plymouth parking lot and Seymour Street. Sometimes trespassers have been known to urinate on the property. This project is an effort to correct that situation.

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Patricia Davis, the president of the Fullerton Condominium Association, said that previous efforts to curb trespassers taking shortcuts between the parking lot and Seymour Street, such as plantings and signs, had been destroyed, and she added that the property was becoming hazardous for the condominium association to maintain. She said that the revised plan will have the fence along the parking lot, as well as new landscaping on the green space and a four-foot retaining wall. (The original proposal had called for a three-foot wall.) The wall would prevent rainwater running off onto the sidewalk along Seymour Street and the pedestrian walkway to the Fullerton buildings rear elevation.

Board member Carmel Loughman said she wanted to make sure that the revised plan addressed the condominium associations issues. Davis replied that it did, and she added that the association was prepared to come back at a later date in the event that the plan turned out to be ineffective. The plan as revised eliminates the need for variances.

Yacker then testified and filled in the details of the plan. He explained that a six-foot fence would be installed along the perimeter of the parking lot, set back one foot from the Belgian-block curb on the lots edge. He said that the one-foot distance would help prevent motorists from driving into the fence. The fence, which runs to the propertys northeastern corner, is to be made of aluminum, and its western end would tie in with an existing six-foot wooden fence behind the Fullerton near its northwestern corner. The retaining wall, meanwhile, would run along Seymour Street and turn toward the northeastern corner of the building along the pedestrian walkway that leads to the back of the building. Two gates would be installed one at the northeastern end of the building where the new retaining wall along the walkway would join with an existing wall and another at an entrance to the rear of the property closer to the western end of the building, where the aluminum fence would tie in with the wooden fence.

To ensure that no one can sit on the top of the retaining wall, Yacker has proposed pyracantha, or fire thorn, bushes just behind the walls edge. The pyracantha bushes would discourage trespassers with its prickly thorns, and its white blossoms in the spring would provide aesthetic relief, as would the orange berries the plant generates from summer through the fall and into early winter. Right in front of the wall, Yacker plans to plant a mix of japonica and a variety of hastas to discourage people from climbing into the property. According to the plan submitted to the board, the japonica stays green throughout the winter to make the bed of plants look interesting all year. Boxwoods and day lilies would also be added, along with pachysandra to stabilize the ground, and there will be a mulch path between the plantings and the fence to allow residents to plant flowers of their own.

Were trying to do what the board is recommending as well as follow the guidelines of the town, Yacker said, and do whats right for the homeowners.

Loughman wondered about the wall tying in with the chain-link fence along the property line between the Fullerton and an apartment building at 11 Seymour Street. She asked how the wall would be worked into the chain-link fence and the smaller wall along the adjacent property to look aesthetically pleasing. Yacker said the post at the end of the existing chain link fence would likely have to be reset, but he hasnt talked to anyone in the residents of the neighboring building.

We havent approached our neighbors about it yet, Davis interjected. We plan to share with them the plans that we have and see if they would be willing to help us with the improvement of that corner of the property.

Board Vice Chair Keith Brodock known to be particular about keeping plantings to native plants only asked if native plants that could provide the same functions as the pyracantha bushes could be used instead. Yacker said that he thought the pyracantha would be fuller and thicker, and Loughman concurred that it was a good choice despite Vice Chair Brodocks possible objections, but the vice chair in fact had no such problem with Yackers choice of plantings.

Board member Anthony Ianuale asked if the green space would be flat when the area behind the retaining wall would be filled in. Yacker said it would be flatter, but there would still be a slight slope toward the retaining wall. Ianuale also pointed out that pachysandra might not make the green space usable for the residents and suggested that the area could be made more open for possible residential uses.

They havent decided yet what they want to do with the area use-wise, Yacker explained. If they want to put a garden in or have a little seating area, they could do that. It would just mean rearranging the pachysandra.

Board Chairman John Wynn said the new plan was a good revision that enhanced the neighborhood. He proposed that the plan be approved subject to conditions with the condominium associations next-door neighbors at 11 Seymour Street. The condominium association would have to report back to the board based on dialogue with their neighbors if there is a problem, but he didnt see a problem arising. Robert Griffin, the condominium associations attorney, asked if it were possible to avoid another full board hearing if there were any objections from the neighbors; Chairman Wynn said that the revisions committee could work it out, and Griffin promised to keep in contact with Planning Board attorney Arthur Neiss. The board approved the application unanimously.

The meeting ended with Planning Director Janice Talley reporting that she had correspondence with the master plan subcommittee about making changes to the master plan in order to integrate proposed pedestrian-safety recommendations into the Complete Streets implementation plan. While that committee is looking into that issue, no action has yet been taken.

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Montclair Planning Board Approves Wall and Fence for Fullerton Condo - TAPinto.net

Sanding with a 60- or 80-grit abrasive in a 6" random orbit sander is a necessary preparation step before finishing outdoor wood. Steve Maxwell

If your home has a wooden deck, a fence or both, and you intend to refinish them this season, you need to be aware of what I call the fence-and-deck nightmare. This happens when you become dissatisfied with the stain or sealer you applied, try something new, then find that it went wrong or doesnt last. Finish it again are just three short words, but they sure can do a number on your leisure time and mood. You can almost eliminate the risk of fence-and-deck finishing nightmares by following three key steps.

Step 1: Know Your Finish

Finishing outdoor wood so it looks good and lasts long is more difficult than it seems, in part because so many outdoor wood finishing products fail too soon. Sometimes even reliable outdoor wood finishes still fail prematurely if the surface prep isnt done right or if application conditions are wrong. Thats why you should never let hope get the better of you and try some new-to-you finish without testing. Just because you feel good about it or your brother-in-law used it, or its on special, is not sufficient. Aim to find a finishing regime you can trust, then stick to it. If you insist on using something untested on your deck, consider yourself forewarned.

After I explain the maintenance responsibilities that go with various fence and deck stains, many homeowners are happy to opt for something as simple and informal as possible. If that sounds good to you, Ecowood Treatment is something you should know about. Its my favourite low-key outdoor wood finish because its so efficient. Mix up the Ecowood powder with water in a pump-up weed sprayer, then spray the solution onto new, uncoated outdoor wood, once and only once. Beginning in a few minutes and continuing for months, Ecowood gives the surface an even, grey weathered appearance. Better than natural weathering that can be ratty and uneven, you can cover a lot of wood in a short time with no chance ever of peeling or finish failure.

Visit baileylineroad.com/36956 for a time-lapse view of Eco Wood Treatment darkening happening on a project of mine. (Link for an online version of the story: https://baileylineroad.com/eco-wood-treatment-video/ Anchor text: Eco Wood Treatment)

Translucent film-forming deck finishes like this Sikkens DEK look fabulous for two to four years. Stripping back to bare wood after this is usually necessary to renew finishes like this. Steve Maxwell

Step 2: Get Realistic

Even the best outdoor wood finishes involve compromises of some sort. Theyre far from perfect and you need to understand the compromises. Transparent film-forming deck finishes make your wood look as nice as furniture, but sooner or later theyll all peel, requiring complete stripping and sanding before recoating. Wood-darkening chemical treatments, by contrast, wont ever peel, but they also dont stop surface cracks from forming on your wood. If youre a deck first-timer and have no experience maintaining a deck, be sure to make up samples of your outdoor finishing repertoire so you know what they look like before you apply anything to your final project.

Step 3: Prepare for prep

There is almost no outdoor wood finish on the planet that performs optimally without at least some surface preparation. Even new wood needs to have mill glaze removed to prevent or delay finish peeling. Assuming your wood has a moisture content less than 16 per cent (gotta have this for most finishes so check it with a moisture meter on a fresh-cut board), then pressure wash followed by sanding with a 60- or 80-grit abrasive does the most to optimize the absorption of finish into the wood. And the better the absorption, the longer the finish will last, all else being equal. The problem with prep is that it takes time. You can easily spend more time preparing outdoor wood than actually applying a stain.

Fences, decks, gazebos and other outdoor wood projects are popular with us Canadians because they help make the most of our short summer season. Learning to finish these efficiently is a big part of getting down to backyard summer fun, nightmare-free.

Steve Maxwell has been finishing outdoor wood since 1980. Visit baileylineroad.com/deck-stain for some of the most detailed and complete deck finishing information online anywhere.

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Maxwell: How to avoid the fence-and-deck nightmare - The Sudbury Star

April 17, 2020 10:39 AM

David Mann

Posted: April 17, 2020 10:39 AM

Updated: April 17, 2020 10:43 AM

FINLEY, Wash. Deputies say a teen driver crashed through a fence in Finley and ditched her car last night, allowing several cows to escape their enclosure.

A couple deputies said they came across numerous cows walking on Perkins Road near Dague Road, according to the Benton County Sheriffs Office.

Though roaming cows are not uncommon in rural Benton County, deputies said these particular cows didnt escape on their own.

Further investigation led the deputies to find an unoccupied Ford Mustang that had taken out part of a pasture fence.

The driver was later identified as 19-year-old Dacia Roberts. She was arrested on suspicion of minor in possession or consumption of alcohol, negligent driving and hit and run.

The owner of the cows put them back in the pasture for the night and made temporary repairs to the fence.

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Teen crashes through fence in Finley and ditches car, allowing cows to escape - YakTriNews KAPP-KVEW

Relax with Sheep is actually a single, shorter documentary that loops around six times. The original video was shot in March and edited by Tim Kennedy, a filmmaker who is often commissioned by Napa Valley wineries, breweries and restaurants. Mr. Kennedy handed in his edit at a relatively taut one hour and change. Turning that into an epic longer than Matthew Barneys River of Fundament was the idea of Douglas Shafer, the vineyards proprietor. Mr. Shafer said the goal was to create something like those never-ending yule-log videos, but with sheep.

When the longer version was complete, he asked Andy Demsky, who handles public relations for the winery, to put it on YouTube to share the pastoral beauty with viewers during the upheaval and uncertainty in the world right now, as the introductory text puts it. Uploading the file took three days.

Credit for wrangling the hundred or so sheep goes to a local firm called Wooly Weeders, which drove them to the 50-acre hillside property, packed inside a multilevel trailer, then set them loose to control the unwanted vegetation that grows in early spring, before the dry season sets in and Napas hills turn brown.

Youd usually go in with tractors and mow, Mr. Shafer said. With the sheep we have to do that a lot less, so its less gas. On the hillsides weve got these terraces thats always a challenge. You have to use a machete or that type of thing, its tough. But the sheep can stand on any incline at all and munch away.

Its true. Nothing gets between the sheep and their grass. Ive never given much thought to the mental capacity of sheep. I suppose if I had, I would have said they were not among the leading intellectual lights of the animal kingdom.

After watching Relax with Sheep, though, I am in awe of their attention spans. In awe, and a little jealous. The truth is I havent made any headway on Fassbinder or Proust or any of the other stuff because I cant seem to concentrate lately. I spend my days talking to restaurant people who dont have restaurants to go to. Its been a month since theyve seen a paycheck.

At night, when I could be reading a fat novel, I have the attention span of one of the bumblebees that you can hear on the soundtrack of Relax with Sheep, the pitch of their buzz Doppler-shifting down the way the ambulance sirens outside my windows do every few minutes.

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Dont Fence Me In: The Comforts of a Sheep Video - The New York Times

Posted: Apr 17, 2020 / 01:49 PM CDT / Updated: Apr 16, 2020 / 04:58 PM CDT

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If you have a trellis or fence that needs vine covering, there are several vines from which to choose, and after some consideration, Cross Vine might make the top of your list.

Cross Vine, botanically known as Bignonia, is a native vine to the southeast. It uses claw-like tendrils to climb, and can climb to 30, 40, or even 50 feet long. It is a fast growing vine, but it isn't invasive and can easily be controlled.

Cross Vine features bright orange flowers that bloom in April and continue sporadically until late summer. The long, deep throats of these flowers will attract hummingbirds throughout the season.

This vine does prefer full sun, but you can often find that it will grow in a bit of shade. In addition to its attractive flowers, Cross Vine is a semi-evergreen plant in the winter and has a little bit of a purplish leaf that holds on in the winter.

This is one of the easiest vines to grow, so look around and see if you can find a place for it in your yard.

Have a gardening question? Fill out the form below to ask the folks at Bennett Nurseries.

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Cross Vine is a top pick to cover your trellis or fence - whnt.com

Earlier this spring, FENCE offered a special program on how to attract and protect the beloved Eastern Bluebird.

The presenter, Joe Sanders, is a local expert on this most beautiful native bird species. Following his talk volunteers at FENCE decided to spring into action using the knowledgeshared at the program sponsored by the Kirby Fund of the Polk County Community Foundation and FENCE.

There is lovein the airat FENCE.It involvesBluebirds!

FENCE is excited about the cheerful song of our bluebirds! With nesting season currently underway, FENCE is happy to announce the installation of several new nesting boxes. Bluebirds stay in North Carolina year-round and males begin to search for nesting sites in March, usually natural cavities or in nest boxes. Males are known for their brilliant blue color, rusty breast and white belly. Females have similar coloration, though their coloration appears duller.

Bluebirds feed almost exclusively on insects, though they are also known to eat the berries of dogwoods, hollies and elderberries. Bluebirds were once considered rare due to competition with more aggressive species and habitat loss. Their populations have been recovering significantly in recent years, largely through conservation efforts and the help of homeowners in creating nesting boxes specifically tailored to the species.

Interested in welcoming bluebirds into your own yard?

Consider constructing a box or planting native plants! Elderberry is an excellent choice for attracting and providing for bluebirds. Boxes should have a fixed floor, approximately 55 inches, and four walls. An entrance hole should be approximately 1 inches, though no larger to avoid invasivebirdspecies that will outcompete the bluebird, like the European Starling. Be sure to include ventilation and drainage holes in each corner of the box. An additional note, perches are not recommended for bluebird boxes. Boxes can be mounted on wooden, metal or PVC poles, approximately 5 feet high.

Male bluebirds begin to locate nesting sites as early as March and as late as June, so it is best to have new boxes installed by February. When selecting sites for box installations, keep in mind that bluebirds are known to be territorial during nesting season and typically will not build within 100 yards of another bluebird nest. Select a site that is near an open area that also has spots to perch nearby.

Already have bluebird boxes installed?

Monitor the boxes weekly. A bar of soap can be rubbed on the underside of the roof to repel wasps and other species. If you find a nest keep in mind that bluebirds construct nests using a combination of dried grass and pine needles and that their eggs are blue in color.

For more information, visit http://www.FENCE.org.

Submitted by Tracie Hanson

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FENCE is putting words into action - The Tryon Daily Bulletin - Tryon Daily Bulletin

With respect, the far-reaching nature of this overly restrictive curfew appears to be a gross and ill-advised overreach of government power and an extreme AND illegal violation of basic civil rights.

If it was just used to enforce the termination of large gatherings, parties, etc., thats one thing. A good argument can be made that local and state governments can employ such temporary powers to ensure public health and safety in extreme circumstances.

Even so, I would remind yall that Gov. DeSantis rightly gave religious gatherings an exception superseding the initial actions of Sheriff Chronister because the governor considered the more broad constitutional considerations of violating Freedom of Religion thats enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.

Still, Sheriff Chronister, rather than making more of an effort to work with ALL religious leaders about social distancing during services and other religious meetings, decided to instead use his intimidating deputes to barge in like a rampaging army for a Godless dictatorship.

The sheriff no matter how well-intentioned MISUSED the weight of the government power entrusted to him to make church arrests. Meanwhile, he also used the powerful lever of law enforcement to bully other congregations into submission across the county.

There were MANY alternatives. How about making a full-court-press at video conferences to work with AS MANY RELIGIOUS LEADERS AS POSSIBLE before rushing in like a bull in a china shop?

Wouldnt that be good community policing and community relations?

This also applies to the CURFEW. City and county officials, if they were really honest with each other, should conclude that they did NOT make the maximum effort to truly think this out.

Come on. You can get arrested now for walking your dog after 9 p.m. or jogging by yourself or a properly separated exercise partner before 5 a.m.?

Its really come to this?

How about also making more of an effort to use every available option to stress the importance of social distancing during gatherings of more than 10 people? People are at home, yes, but these days there are SO many ways to reach them from social media to texting to working with local media.

Heck, even the pull-back by the Tampa Bay Times on how many days it prints the paper might actually represent a communication OPPORTUNITY.

Perhaps local governments could pay to use their print and delivery capacity (OR, it might even be funded with enough advertising) to use a specially printed smaller-than-normal newspaper (or at least create government pages online) to deliver a consistent, unified message county-wide.

Local government could use this approach to periodically inform, re-emphasize key messages AND also as a significant forum for citizen feedback.

I fully realize that journalists are normally averse to working with the government. Freedom of the Press as enshrined in the Constitution has always meant a fundamentally adversarial relationship.

Still, its worth at least exploring. Yall may even be able to obtain some state or federal funding if such an endeavor could be characterized as valuable now AND as an experiment for future crises.

These are clearly different times. Perhaps a temporary media-government arrangement shouldnt be so easily dismissed without exploring.

It might even include online video presentations, interviews with health, law enforcement officials and experts from across the local spectrum (hospitals, universities, corporations, etc.)

These would be done by local reporters at local TV stations that would also be easily available for smartphones and other devices. The stations could air content by their own reporters but also make it available for such a centralized effort to disseminate news.

There are many, many potential solutions to this problem. Yet it seems the curfew-oriented committees first instincts were to flex the broad, powerful muscle of government instead of the making attempts at more civil persuasion endemic of a democracy.

Their heavy-handed actions feel more like what youd see in Communist China or some other despotic nightmare than the United States of America.

Government, whenever possible, should ALWAYS try its best to work with EVERYONE. (Exceptions might include instituting Marshall Law during war or other extreme emergencies).

The government should ALWAYS err on the side of civic persuasion and, more importantly, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW to convince the many and diverse communities within our county about the highest and best interests of our entire population.

Instead, it appears that the local governments knee-jerk reaction no matter how well-intentioned was to forcibly mandate sudden change by using the intimidating force of government and gun-carrying law enforcement officers to ram such extreme changes down everyones throats.

To someone who didnt sit in on the curfew decision, it appears to have been made without ANY minimal constitutional considerations.

For instance, consider Commissioner Les Millers statement in Mondays Tampa Bay Times and the apparent concurrence by Sheriff Chronister (who tried to downplay the government overreach as mostly informational), and others who voted for the curfew.

To even consider arresting people and putting them in jail for up to six months, not to mention the fine, for merely walking their dog by themselves after 9 p.m. or jogging alone OR in small, socially distanced groups before 5 a.m. is absurd on its face.

There can be no other interpretation that such macro enforcement is a GROSS, inane and illegal violation of civil rights, let alone common sense.

I dont know the sheriff or Commissioner Miller personally, or for that fact of the matter, Tampas mayor or anyone else on this decision-making government body.

That said, your overly broad application of the curfew against the responsible and law-abiding citizens of the city and county is just plain wrong.

Its fundamentally un-American.

In fact, yall ought to be ashamed of yourselves for committing such an outrageous violation of the public trust.

Since youre asking for my input, I would urge yall in the strongest terms to IMMEDIATELY correct whatever misconceptions and conclusions about your motives that many citizens have come to.

You must emphasize that people can still jog and walk their dogs and still shop at convenience stores and express that your constituents still possess ALL of the individual and small group FREEDOMS that our constitution guarantees.

Yes, people are dying from the coronavirus.

But MANY MORE PEOPLE DIED to fight and uphold these sacred civil rights.

You should honor this noble sacrifice by generations of

Americans by bending over backwards to apologize as you emphasize that this curfew ONLY applies to groups larger than 10.

Moreover, you ought to further emphasize your adherence with the Governors exception granted to religious groups.

Such beliefs and faiths are often deeply held and VERY important to the mental health of large populations within the people you serve.

City and county officials should recommit themselves to talk and communicate by every means necessary to arrive at reasonable accommodations with religious groups while also stressing the overall necessity for good health practices.

WORK with people instead of trying to wield the heavy club of an oppressive government.

Well get through this crisis eventually and emerge stronger than before.

But the time to mend fences is definitely NOW.

More here:
Tampa, Hillsborough County and Sheriff Must Mend Fences on Curfew - Elemental