To the citizens of Red Bank, I am "jumping ship" when I vote this Election Day, and I'll tell you why.

Under its leadership, Red Bank is seeing repeated attempts to erase liberty.

To wit, on July 14, 2000, two environmentally concerned Americans were arrested for "having no permit to assemble," while peacefully raising awareness of toxic dumping off Sandy Hook.

There were no charges of violence, disturbing the peace, obscenity or vandalism. Heck, they didn't even litter. They were simply inconvenient. They were arrested.

Referring to this miscarriage, their attorney, Mr. Sellitto, said, "Technically, Red Bank High School would have to get a permit to have a football game."

We are guaranteed "the right peaceably to assemble ... ." But, not here evidently.

Message to the populace: You have no rights in Red Bank.

In 2001, a Spring Street resident, under the mistaken impression that he had the right to free speech, placed a sign on his lawn reading "No Taj Garage" and promptly received a municipal citation.

Message to the populace: You have no rights in Red Bank.

In 2002, there was enacted an ordinance under which you break the law should you have on your property a political sign 14 days after an election.

Question here: What sort of brittle, paranoid ego seeks to remove, with a law, evidence of opposition? When you think that real estate signs stay up for years, the sulking, pouting nature of the regulation suddenly is quite clear.

Message to the populace: You have no rights in Red Bank.

September 2006. Physical contact. Our government, proceeding on its course of slapping down anyone, in any manner it chooses, gave us the spectacle of challenging a member of the opposition, not verbally, but bodily.

Any liberty-loving citizen shudders at what this arrogance might deliver next.

Message to the populace: You have no rights in Red Bank.

I am voting in November while I still have the right.

Tina Kaplan

Red Bank