I realize that not many people read The Signal very much anymore. It is known that as the population of the Santa Clarita Valley has grown the readership of The Signal has actually declined.
That said, it is absolutely outrageous that The Signal would publish a column in which the author doles out a threat. If you missed it yesterday, The Signal published an article entitled “Why Would They Want Home Rule”. The column was authored by Darryl Manzer and basically threatens to bring firearms to our next Town Council meeting. The exact quote from the column is as follows: ….I could gather those guys together again and get some horses to ride to your next “town council” meeting, with the same firearms”.
In recent weeks a commercial airliner made an emergency landing and a passenger was taken into custody for merely mentioning a bomb on the plane; it was a threat. A school in Kansas took a posting by a student on the internet seriously enough to have him and several other students arrested because it was a threat. I view the statement above by Darryl Manzer the same way, it is a threat. In today’s environment such comments can no longer be taken lightly or ignored.
So for The Signal to publish that threat is completely irresponsible on the part of the editorial and managing staff. Just when you thought that The Signal couldn’t sink any lower it is clearly hitting a new low for this advertising circular that has been passing itself off for a newspaper.