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Posted on 11/07/2001 5:31:50 PM PST by RoyCohn

If assistant police chief Dennis Nail ever wondered if he had friends, he found out Monday night.

Dozens of residents packed the Martinsville City Council meeting room to speak in his behalf against criticism he has taken for a letter to the Martinsville Reporter-Times Oct. 26.

In the process, the simmering anger of townsfolk against outsiders who judge them bigots spilled over — at the same time many of them said they fully backed Nail's verbal attack on homosexuals in his letter.

One councilman, David Barger, said at the end of the meeting that the support for Nail represented the views of "99 percent" of his constituents.

The issue surfaced when Nail sent a letter as a private citizen to the newspaper, accusing some of the nation's TV networks for sympathizing with the Taliban in their reporting of U.S. bombing that mistakenly hit civilian targets in Afghanistan.

But the veteran police officer, who is the department's liaison to the city's schools, went on to say he was sick of kids not being able to pray in school lest "Hadji Hindu and Buddy Buddha" be offended.

It offended him, he said, to see every TV show featuring "queers" and portraying it as acceptable.

The letter brought a couple of protest letters to the Martinsville newspaper. Mayor Shannon Buskirk and Police Chief Frans Hollanders said that while they told Nail that he should choose his words more carefully, no discipline was necessary because he'd written the letter as a private citizen.

But media coverage of the incident outside Martinsville was more than many townspeople could take, and Monday night they vented their anger about it and their support for their assistant chief and his views.

It began, though, with a plea from a man who grew up in Martinsville and now lives in Indianapolis that the town quit feeding its negative reputation.

"I'm just disgusted; I'm ashamed," John Zody said of Nail's letter. He said it just fueled all the outside perception of Martinsville as a town of prejudice, hurting it elsewhere.

"This is regional, folks, it's not just Martinsville," he told the audience. "The message we're sending here is that we're excusing it."

He asked for a resolution by the council calling on Nail to apologize — but it appeared only one member ever even might have voted for one.

"We do have an image problem," council member and school teacher Sheldon Buskirk said at the conclusion of public comment. He said he always considers that what he says will be viewed in light of his position as a teacher and council member.

"We need to think about what we say before we say what we think," he said.

But overwhelming sentiment was that Nail was not only right to say what he thought, but what he thought was right.

Raymond Means said he'd read the letter and called it "one of the finest articles I ever read in my entire life, outside the Bible."

He drew loud applause when he declared that rather than homosexuals needing protection, "We and our children should be protected against homosexuals.

"It will never be accepted in Martinsville. It will never be accepted in Morgan County," he predicted to more applause.

Another man suggested it would be a good idea if "all homosexuals and their sympathizers should be put on a boat and sunk."

Pastor James Brown of the Union Christian Church in Paragon said Nail spoke for the nation's heritage.

"This nation was founded not on Islam, nor on immoral people, but on the word of God," he said, holding up his Bible and warning the council that to censure Nail would would bring "the wrath of God" upon Martinsville.

Resident after resident rose to laud Nail as a wonderful Christian man. Words like "trustworthy," "honest" and "God-fearing" were used repeatedly. One man called him "a man's man" who didn't try to be "politically correct."

One woman said if all the kids he has affected for good were there, the room couldn't hold them.

Another woman called him a "soul-winner" and "prayer warrior" and warned, "If you reprimand him for anything, may God have mercy on your souls."

Several defended Nail's exercise of his First Amendment right to speak as a private citizen, one man noting that usually it's the police who have to be verbally abused "and just take it."

And almost everybody said they were proud of Martinsville and its values and were sick of hearing what others think of them. Several said they don't think much of Bloomington or Indianapolis.

Finally Nail himself spoke, thanking people for their support and saying the only thing he regretted was "bringing heat on my chief and my mayor."

But he would not take back his words, he said, because someday he will stand for judgment before God "and I'll have to answer to Him" if he doesn't stand up for God's word.

Nail's daughter, Sharisse Nail, rose after her dad to say what happened to America on Sept. 11 was no accident.

"Open your eyes, America," she said. "This wasn't a surprise. It was coming our way. Abortion. Queers."

Mayor Buskirk didn't pull any punches, either, saying he was infuriated by a recent radio show from Columbus before Nail's letter, mocking Martinsville as the home of bigoted expressions.

"The liberals can say anything they want, but let the conservatives say the first thing …" he said.

"I've never apologized for being from Martinsville," he said to loud applause.

When it was over, lone protester Zody was even more distressed than before.

"All I've heard tonight is more hate," he told the gathering.

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