Residents may voice their concerns for our elected council members to perform their duties free from intimidation, harm, and threats of extremism and insurrection by emailing Mayor Skip Henderson directly at SkipHenderson@columbusga.org, while cc’ing their respective city council members on the email.
COLUMBUS, Ga. — “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.” — Albert Einstein.
In an email that also contained enough key language to likely charge the writer with several other serious crimes, local racial extremist Wane Hailes published his plot to enact an illegal robocall scheme funded by ‘donations’ from the public.
Contributing to Hailes’ plot in any way could land anyone who donates or supports his efforts as an accomplice to a crime.
The plot sought to have a telecommunications company make a series of 2,000 robocalls to harass our city’s elected officials using undue political pressure.
Hailes also went on to state that his goal was to “force council to vote” along his own preferred racial lines; that is, Hailes’ stated objective was to force black city councilors to vote in-line with what Hailes himself dictates all black people must vote for.
Besides the obviously-racist and despicable nature of Hailes’ plot, he likely incriminated himself under Georgia state law.
By stating his malicious intent in writing to purposefully harass city councilors, Hailes’ words do not meet the requirements of constitutionally protected free speech under Georgia state law.
Instead, Hailes’ malicious intent and written admission to purposefully harass elected officials through repeated messages meets the criteria for Harassing Communications; a crime in which each individual instance of the harassing communication carries its own additional charge.
Georgia State law recognizes constitutionally protected free speech broadly, and almost always weighs in favor of the individual speaker — though there are clear limitations. That limitation lies on the ability to prove what is known as “actual malice,” which is a legal term that means the person had an intent to cause harm to their victim.
Given the fact that Hailes published his intent openly, his illegal plot to use robocalls to harass elected officials into voting along racial lines he himself dictated does in fact meet the criteria for “actual malice” and is not constitutionally protected free speech.
The blatantly-racist scheme may also set the precedent for Hailes to be charged with several other rather serious crimes under Georgia State law.
Within the email, Hailes also stated that his followers should gather “in large numbers” during the next city council meeting so that they can “force the city to vote.” Hailes described how his followers should “not accept seven individuals making decisions,” referring to city council members who do not vote along racial lines how he wanted them to.
The wording of Hailes’ instructions to others could likely constitute several very serious crimes.
Should Hailes’ incitement amount to anything more than words by his followers, Hailes could face enough criminal charges to face decades behind bars.
Those potential charges could include:
Like the narcissistic idiot he is, Hailes was then dumb enough to give a public news interview in which he provided video evidence of himself openly admitting to his plot on camera.
Residents may voice their concerns for our elected council members to perform their duties free from intimidation, harm, and threats of extremism and insurrection by emailing Mayor Skip Henderson directly at SkipHenderson@columbusga.org, while cc’ing their respective city council members on the email.
Facts are stubborn things — and we’ll keep publishing them, whether city officials like them or not.
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