The National Comedy Center boasts an exhibit of George Carlin’s work as well as a blue room that explores profane aspects of comedy.

Of course, Carlin’s famous “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television” monologue from 1972 was poking fun at the idea society has determined some words – like one rhyming with truck – should never be used in public and certainly not on television.

That means it’s a good thing City Council meetings are live streamed – because at least one of Carlin’s seven words you can never say on television have made appearances at council meetings in the past two weeks.

As The Post-Journal reported last week, a discussion over the homeless veered into Carlin’s most famous bits of philosophy before city resident Trace Minavio was told his time had expired. On Monday, city resident Tom Andolora decided to have his own Carlin moment before the council.

“Some of the Republicans on this council, the mayor, the director of development, became a defensive pack of wild dogs that attacked this citizen,” Andolora said. “He only used the ‘f’ word out of frustration because you would not let him speak. And so what if he went over 5 minutes? So what if you had to give him two minutes extra time. You shut him down. Cursing is protected speech. The word Trace used last week is speech I would not use in a public forum, but I will say the word now and you are going to sit there and you are going to say nothing because if you stop me and you ask me to sit down, I will file a lawsuit against the city tomorrow. So get ready, Chief Jackson, prepare the room council members. You can clutch at your pearls and gasp, but you cannot stop me.”

Andolora’s comment – and use of one of Carlin’s seven words you can never say on television – prompted a bystander to respond to Andolora by calling the city man a colorful word for an area examined by proctologists.

CRUX OF THE ISSUE

The legacy of George Carlin was a sidelight for Andolora, who has taken to his group Facebook page in recent weeks claiming his home has been cited for code violations in retaliation for his criticism of city officials. City resident Thomas Park and Minavio attended Monday’s meeting in support of Andolora. Discussion on Andolora’s Facebook page has prompted some in the city to propose finding contractors to help Andolora fix the code violations.

“What I want to say to people of the city listening is, if someone in this town doesn’t like you they can anonymously report you for your home for vindictive reasons,” Andolora said. “Because the complaint against me was reported anonymously it could have been filed from anywhere. It could have been from a computer in this building. It could be from a computer in the Department of Development.”

While there typically isn’t much give-and-take between council members and the public during a voting session, two council members brought up Andolora’s comments during the new business portion of Monday’s meeting – and both said Andolora is wrong when he says the complaint against his home came from anyone tied to the city. Councilman Jeff Russell, R-At Large and Public Safety Committee chairman, and Councilman Russ Bonfiglio, R-At Large, both said they know that no member of the council nor any member of Mayor Kim Ecklund’s administration had anything to do with the anonymous code complaint regarding Andolora’s home.

“I would like to make a comment,” Bonfiglio said. “Mr. Andolora, I don’t know you. I don’t dislike you. I don’t know where you live. What I do know is no one up here turned you in. I personally know who turned you in. I will not give his name.”

“It was anonymous,” Andolora replied. “How do you know that?”

“Because this person specifically told me,” Bonfiglio said. “That’s why. He told me one on one and I’m not going to tell you unless he doesn’t care. I want to let you know it’s no one up here. I didn’t ask him. He just blurted it out to me. I don’t know where you live. Blaming us for that is wrong and I just want to make that correction. Like I said, I don’t dislike you. I don’t know you. It was not us.”

Russell followed by saying he had a similar, independent conversation that confirmed Bonfiglio’s account. Russell also said, as a council member, he wouldn’t stand by and allow a citizen to be bullied.

“You may feel that way and you may have these feelings of persecution and grandeur, I don’t know,” Russell said. “I can assure you I would not tolerate you being targeted in this community by anyone on this council or this administration because it’s about having morals and having values and ethics. But I will say this to you, because you opened the door. I think you bring some of your own problems upon yourself. I truly believe that the internet at times is evil. And yes there are keyboard warriors. And that’s why I’m not heavily on social media.”

“I don’t have any delusions of grandeur,” Andolora said. “My page is a public page where anybody is allowed to go on and give their opinion about what the city of Jamestown is doing. There is no feeling of grandeur. I don’t feel I’m better than anybody else in the city. I just know what is going on in my life. And since you all have a big secret, you all know about this person, why don’t you let me know?”

Much like the name of the anonymous source who helped fuel the Watergate investigation, the person’s name remains a secret.

DOLCE ON DISCOURSE

The recent flare-up over the end of comments on the city’s official Facebook page, curse words and Andolora’s accusations of being targeted over his public speech led Council President Tony Dolce, R-Ward 2, to discuss how he wants to see the council move forward in the future.

“At the beginning of the meeting I thanked everybody for coming,” Dolce said. “I know sometimes meetings get tense and contentious. I try very well to keep things even. I want to give the public the opportunity to speak and people to listen and then answer questions at the end. There is a certain protocol we’d like to keep.”

Typically, public comments in a work session or committee meeting include more of a give-and-take, if the public so desires, while comments during a voting session are simply made with a response given later in the meeting under new business. While the last two weeks have been the exception rather than the rule, Dolce said he wants to keep discourse civil. Limits on free speech during government meetings are typically looked down upon by courts unless a speaker is making threats toward another person.

Dolce reiterated a message relayed by council members last week, that there are plenty of ways to address the council in addition to commenting during council meetings. Council members have public email addresses, typically have their phone numbers available to constituents, respond to personal messages and are available for private discussion after council meetings.

“Even if we don’t agree on things, we want to have civil discourse and at least give people a chance to speak their minds and have decorum in a public meeting,” Dolce said. “At least in my time here we’ve always been pretty good. It’s all over the place in different cities and different towns where they just want to yell and scream and fight and actually getting into fights. We don’t want to have that. It doesn’t solve any problems. It’s not going to help anybody. This is live streamed. It’s taped. We’d like to keep it as civil with civil discourse and as much decorum as possible. I respect your opinions. We want as many people as possible to come to the meetings to speak their minds. They should have that right. They do have that right.”