BELCHERTOWN Joe Arpaio, former sheriff of Arizonas Maricopa County who has styled himself Americas Toughest Sheriff, will be a guest speaker this weekend at a Second Amendment rally in town. <\/p>\n
Arpaio, who turns 85 this week, will speak at Belchertowns 4th Annual Flag Day Second Amendment Rally, which starts at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Swift River Sportsman Club. <\/p>\n
Dave Kopacz, organizer of the rally, said Arpaio will probably speak around noon, though the official schedule for the event is still in the works. <\/p>\n
Arpaio is a Massachusetts native, born in Springfield. He became nationally known in the last 15 years for his hardline stances on immigration, for battling findings of racial profiling in his sheriffs department, and for his campaign to prove that President Obamas birth certificate was forged, which he continued to wage as recently as last fall. <\/p>\n
After 24 years in office, Arpaio lost his latest re-election bid in November. His trial in federal court on a criminal contempt charge in connection with racial profiling is pending. <\/p>\n
The Belchertown rally will also feature several other speakers, including Jeanette Finicum, the widow of Robert LaVoy Finicum, one of the occupiers at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon who was shot and killed during the armed standoff in January 2016. <\/p>\n
Kopacz said he sees gun rights and property rights as connected. He believes the issues surrounding federal land use that came to a head in Oregon are similar to issues surrounding land trusts in Massachusetts. <\/p>\n
We want to make sure we connect and parallel that with what is going on here, he said of the Oregon occupation. <\/p>\n
Local Second Amendment activists will speak at the rally, too. Kopacz said both national and local speakers are important for the event. <\/p>\n
I use the national guys to bring in the crowds, and the local guys to put them to work after, Kopacz said. <\/p>\n
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Here is the original post: BELCHERTOWN Joe Arpaio, former sheriff of Arizonas Maricopa County who has styled himself Americas Toughest Sheriff, will be a guest speaker this weekend at a Second Amendment rally in town. Arpaio, who turns 85 this week, will speak at Belchertowns 4th Annual Flag Day Second Amendment Rally, which starts at 10 a.m. Continue reading
\nJoe Arpaio, former Arizona sheriff, to speak at Second Amendment rally in Belchertown - Amherst Bulletin<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"