LETTER TO SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT JOSEPH JOYNER ON ATTACK ON RECORD CARTOONIST ED HALL

December 2, 2008

Superintendent Joseph Joyner
St. Johns County Schools via fax to 547-7515
St. Augustine, Florida

Dear Superintendent Joyner:

1. Will you please E-mail me to EASlavin@aol.com copies of all E-mails and other documents regarding the November 23, 2008 HallToons cartoon published in the St. Augustine Record, including your E-mails to staff and communications with Philip A. McDaniel and the St. Augustine Record? F.S. 119.

2. Did you or anyone acting in concert with you ever suggest or ask that cartoonist Ed Hall be fired or disciplined by the St. Augustine Record for his November 23, 2008 cartoon?

3. Do you condone anyone who may have done so (e.g., Philip A. McDaniel)?

4. Were you aware that Ed Hall has been indefinitely suspended by the Record?

5. Did you or anyone else consider the November 23, 2008 cartoon to be aimed at St. Johns County Schools? If so, why? Please provide all documents pursuant to ¶ 1.

6. Do you understand the cartoon to portray a generic Florida school superintendent?

7. Will you call/write the St. Augustine Record and ask for the immediate reinstatement of Ed Hall and reject any retaliation against him for First Amendment protected activity?

8. Does our School Board insurance cover the cost of punitive damages in civil rights and tortious interference with contractual relations lawsuits? Does your own insurance?

9. Has the School Board counsel ever given you legal advice on this situation or any training on First Amendment rights? Please supply all documents pursuant to ¶ 1.

10. If you learn that your actions under color of law as the St. Johns County School Superintendent – and/or those of others acting in concert with you -- have had the effect of causing the indefinite suspension of Ed Hall by the St. Augustine Record, will you:
A. Apologize publicly (before or after pickets arrive)?
B. Acknowledge the higher power of the First Amendment as controlling legal authority?
C. Issue a statement supporting artistic freedom for political cartoonists?
D. Reach into your pocket and compensate Ed Hall for any lost income until his reinstatement?
E. Include a summary of this event in the "Character Counts" curriculum as an example of why thin-skinned public officials who violate First Amendment principles need to have their consciousness raised -- and why students and other American citizens must be constantly on guard against violations of First Amendment values?
F. Invite Ed Hall to speak to arts and political science classes?
G. Propose a whistleblower and employee rights policy, as the Commissioners of the Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County adopted on November 20, 2008?

Finally, as to items 10 A-G, if not, why not?

Thank you.

With kindest regards, I am,

Sincerely yours,




ED SLAVIN
Clean Up City of St. Augustine, Florida
www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
Box 3084
St. Augustine, Florida 32085-3084
904-829-3877 (o)
904-471-9918 (fax)