Free Speech Rally gathers support for bloggers targeted in lawsuit

SALINE COUNTY,AR - It may look like abar full of booze, but people gathering at the mysaline.com free speech rally mean business.

"Your skin had better get thick or you better get out of this game," said Saline County Circuit Court Clerk Dennis Milligan on local city politics.

At Thursday's free speech rally, mysaline.com supporters spoke out against a lawsuit targeting members of the social networking site for posting, "false and defamatory" remarks against Bryant city council members Brenda Miller, Danny Steele and Adrian Henley.

"It's just opinion that they're putting online," said mysaline.com founder Shelli Russell. "It may be an opinion that you don't like but that doesn't mean that they're not allowed to say it."

City and county leaders are now joining in to support the anonymous bloggers' First Amendment rights.

"That's what this country was built on," said Milligan. "It's the First Amendment and by golly I stand to uphold that as an elected official until they tear me out on my death bed."

The council members' attorney says anyone showing up for this rally, "must not understand that libel and slander aren't protected by the First Amendment," although she still won't reference any specific blogs as a reason behind the lawsuit.

"They may have jobs that could be at stake, they may have neighbors who may not like what they say and I would like for them to stay anonymous," said Russell.

And with support for the bloggers growing by the minute, both sides expect this lawsuit to go to court.

All three Bryant aldermen are up for reelection this year.

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Free Speech Rally gathers support for bloggers targeted in lawsuit