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"Why I am defending the farmer tossed out of a Michigan farmer’s market for his traditional views on marriage."

If America prides itself on being the land of the free, then why is it that we abolish people for sharing their view in a public place? A man by the name of Steve Tennes, owns Country Mill Farms in Charlotte, Michigan. The city of East Lansing tossed him and his family out of its farmer’s market when they learned that Steve had posted on Facebook that he still adhered to the teachings of the Catholic Church, that he believes marriage is a sacred union between one man and one woman. Steve also adheres to the Church’s teaching that every individual, as a child of God, has immense dignity and worth and should be treated as such. Thus, he treats all his customers and employees just so. Unfortunately for Steve, His beliefs about marriage were different than the city’s, and because he had the nerve to state them publicly, Steve and Country Mill had to be banished. The article reads, "It used to be a common American value that everyone had the freedom to live and speak without government coercion. But that value apparently does not extend to a person who respectfully expresses one particular viewpoint on marriage in the public square." It seems that the government even affects something so seemingly innocent like a farmers market these days. This article makes you really wander if we are truly free. If one man simply states his beliefs and suddenly he is torn away from his lively hood, what will happen next? Steve runs a second-generation family business, he was a regular farmer just doing his job. His company, Country Mill, grows apples, blueberries, peaches, cherries, sweet corn, and pumpkins. It hosts numerous community and charitable events. And it has sold its produce at the East Lansing Farmer’s Market for many years. In fact, from 2011 to 2016, the city expressly invited Country Mill to participate in the market as an “invitational vendor” because of its exceptional service. Whether religious, agnostic, or atheist, no individual should be forced to choose between the government’s orthodoxy or withdrawing from the public square. That is one of our country’s founding principles. And that is why Steve’s case is so important, not only to Michigan citizens, but to people everywhere. We can only hope that federal courts continue to uphold the right for everyone to speak and act in accord with their conscience without being punished by the government for doing so.

Critique/Commentary

WATCHDOG FINDS ATTICA’S MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT UNIT IS HAVEN FOR ABUSE AND NEGLECT

This article focuses on "Attica's Mental Health Treatment Unit" and what is wrong with their program. To quickly sum up the program, people incarcerated in the RMHU (Residential Mental Health Unit) remain in their cells for at least 19 hours a day. They are to be let out for four hours each weekday to participate in other programming and get one hour for recreation. Though it seems to be a practical solution, I agree with their argument that the RMHU is supposed to be a therapeutic alternative to punitive solitary confinement, but in reality there are many similarities between the two. For one at Attica, they have "Out-Of-Cell Restrictions" that are not respectful or up to code. The article says that when out-of-cell restrictions are in place, prison staff are supposed to provide “alternative mental health treatment or other therapeutic programming.”and their solution is a simple cell-side interview. This is a conversation between mental health staff and the patient at their cell door. This does not qualify as effective mental health care. Such interactions are devoid of privacy and having such conversations through a cell door, and sometimes a shield, are not conducive to treatment. Officers can overhear what are supposed to be private and intimate conversations, the fear of which prevents some individuals from even having conversations at all. This is only one example of the abuse and neglect that is happening within the unit. I agree with the article, Attica's Mental Health Treatment Unit has its faults, and is in need of a desperate change. No one, especially those who have been diagnosed with serious mental illness, should be treated so carelessly and inhumanely.