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6 Tuesday <strong>March</strong> <strong>12</strong> <strong>2019</strong><br />
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi<br />
WESTERN NEWS<br />
<strong>News</strong><br />
Bumper stickers shift spat up a gear<br />
FREE SPEECH: Halswell resident Greig Russell was removed<br />
from the Halswell Community Group Facebook page when he<br />
posted a mobile number online. PHOTO: MARTIN HUNTER<br />
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OUTSPOKEN Halswell resident<br />
Greig Russell has always believed<br />
in the power of free speech.<br />
After being removed from a<br />
community Facebook page in<br />
Halswell of nearly 11,000 members<br />
for posting a mobile number<br />
online, the 40-year-old steel<br />
fabricator has taken a stand on<br />
people having the right to speak<br />
their mind.<br />
Mr Russell set up his own<br />
community Facebook page called<br />
Halswell Community Page Uncensored<br />
after falling out with the<br />
administrators of the Halswell<br />
Community Group page.<br />
Now bumper stickers with<br />
#bringbackgreigrussell and<br />
#LETSMAKEHALSWELL-<br />
GREATAGAIN have begun to<br />
appear around the suburb.<br />
Mr Russell said the idea is to<br />
spread the message of free speech.<br />
The bumper stickers have appeared<br />
on the back of cars, on<br />
children’s school bags and even<br />
on community food shelf the<br />
Sharing Shack in Halswell.<br />
Halswell Community Project<br />
chairwoman and one of the administrators<br />
Chrys Horn said Mr<br />
Russell won’t be added back into<br />
the group until he can prove he<br />
can behave on the page.<br />
“If he has merchandise he<br />
Greig Russell Chrys Horn<br />
obviously doesn’t know when to<br />
stop . . . our Facebook team still<br />
feel fairly harassed, we have now<br />
quietly got rid of him,” she said.<br />
Mr Russell said everyone, part<br />
of a community, has got a different<br />
opinion and it wasn’t right for a<br />
group of administrators to decide<br />
what people should see or read.<br />
“In a roundabout way, you<br />
could say it is an abuse of power<br />
because they are dictating to<br />
others what they can and cannot<br />
read about the community.”<br />
But Dr Horn said the group<br />
could not be seen as dictators.<br />
“We have a responsibility to<br />
manage this page and people are<br />
voting with their feet in terms<br />
of participating on it . . . nearly<br />
10,000 people are active on it.”<br />
Mr Russell was removed from<br />
the Halswell Community Group<br />
when he posted a mobile phone<br />
number online.<br />
He had helped a group of men<br />
stranded in Greta Valley with a flat<br />
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tyre by allowing them to borrow<br />
his spare. One of the men gave him<br />
his phone number and promised to<br />
return the spare tyre the next day.<br />
But nothing eventuated and Mr<br />
Russell’s calls were blocked.<br />
To pressure the man, he asked<br />
members of the Halswell Community<br />
Group to phone the<br />
number and ask for the wheel’s<br />
return. It was returned after<br />
several weeks.<br />
Dr Horn said: “It is not legal to<br />
post somebody’s phone number<br />
and to get complete strangers<br />
to ring them up on your behalf<br />
when there is no evidence that<br />
what you said is what went. That<br />
is harassment.”<br />
Mr Russell said it was not<br />
harassment, it was asking for a<br />
favour from the community.<br />
Since starting his own Facebook<br />
page, Mr Russell, who has lived<br />
in Halswell, has been asked by<br />
several residents to run for mayor<br />
for the elections in October.<br />
“I am seriously thinking about<br />
putting my name in the ballot<br />
. . . Tim Shadbolt does it, he is all<br />
right. I like him,” he said.<br />
Dr Horn said while she<br />
wouldn’t vote for Mr Russell,<br />
he would be very good at<br />
campaigning and if the public<br />
wanted a mayor who knew how<br />
to make a “loud noise,” he could<br />
do it.<br />
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