Charles County leaders concerned over social media posts
CHARLES COUNTY, Md. (FOX 5 DC) - Charles County law enforcement is involved after people made social media posts that county commissioners found threatening, including the posting of their home addresses.
Some in the county are furious about the decision to delay stage 1 reopening until the end of May. It was a 3-2 vote, with commission president Reuben Collins, Thomasina Coates and Amanda Stewart voting to delay reopening until May 29.
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A man posted home addresses for the three commissioners on Facebook on the county government page as people discussed the vote.
“It was collectively using the address and certainly very arresting comments using terminology that certainly suggests possible violence,” said Collins.
The sheriff’s office calls the posts alarming, but said there was no direct threat of violence. A spokesperson said they are working with commissioners to ensure their safety.
“It’s really concerning to my wife and, you know, I keep my father who is 90 years old,” said Collins. “I have two sons and a daughter.”
FOX 5 spoke by phone to the man who posted the addresses, CJ Clyde Griffin. He said it had nothing to do with violence and he was encouraging people to protest outside elected leaders’ homes.
On Friday, dozens of protesters gathered in La Plata.
”We’re just trying to get somebody to understand how it really is affecting us in our life and how we really can’t provide for our families,” said Kayleen Edwards, who attended the protest.
CORONAVIRUS IN DC, MARYLAND AND VIRGINIA
Edwards owns an estate liquidation business and is among those who can’t understand why the county isn’t reopening when other counties with a similar rate of coronavirus cases are moving forward. Commissioners have said they want to be cautious especially considering the proximity to Prince George’s County, which has the most cases in Maryland.
But some have a hard time when they see the traffic at the big box stores that have never been forced to close.
“I’ve seen hundreds of hundreds of people go into these places,” said Edwards. “And I guess my thing is, as a small business owner, we have a fraction of those people and we’re being told that we can’t operate our business.“