American Notes: Freedoms

By any measure, Michael Sebetich seemed like an upstanding citizen. But this week the 48-year-old ecology professor at New Jersey's William Paterson College will stand trial on charges of disorderly conduct. His crime? Reading a copy of the New York Times at a city council meeting in Hawthorne, N.J. In October, Sebetich learned that a spectator had been ordered to stop reading at a meeting chaired by councilman Stanley Domalewski. Says Sebetich: "It upset me very much that anyone could take away that freedom from a U.S. citizen." He proceeded to wage a silent protest by attending a council meeting and reading the Times in the back of the room. After a warning from Domalewski, Sebetich was carried out by two policemen and arrested. Although 900 citizens of Hawthorne have protested the arrest, Domalewski is unbowed. "It's not appropriate to flagrantly read a newspaper and snap the pages at a meeting," he says. What's next -- locking up people for yawning when an official makes a boring speech?