People address the Brattleboro Select Board during a regular meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026.
BRATTLEBORO — As community members at Tuesday's Select Board meeting held "Posted Private Property" signs to show how they plan to keep the "Planet Hank" creator away, one was thrown at the citizen journalist.
Board Chairwoman Elizabeth McLoughlin tried to avoid allowing personal attacks during the discussion about "on-scene media management" by town staff. Prompted by requests to put an ordinance in place, the talk was anticipated to be highly contentious.
"The Brattleboro Pulse" creator Akil Srivastava threw one of the signs at Hank Poitras after commenting about how the town could adopt an ordinance that regulates commercial use of public space rather than banning speech.
"We are trying to regulate Hank's behavior, not his freedom of speech," Srivastava said. "Hank is allowed to film, edit and post whatever he wants for his own political agenda. But he is not allowed to harass, stalk, intimidate, obstruct or exploit people, camera or not."
McLoughlin said, "No personal attacks."
"That was not a personal attack, but this is," Srivastava said, walking toward the back of the room to throw the sign at Poitras. "Hank, you want this? You need it, bro."
Poitras said he's posted more than 1,000 videos and has another approximately 1,000 that haven't been released, and he's never "contaminated a scene" or refused to move back when asked.
"Someone, for gathering news information, can follow first responders and film it and immediately leave," he said.
Town Attorney Bob Fisher said the right to record public officials in public places is protected by the First Amendment as long as it doesn't interfere with emergency personnel.
A bill introduced in the Vermont House of Representatives would create a 25-foot buffer zone similar to those that have been deemed unconstitutional, Fisher said. He advised the town not to adopt the requested ordinance.
"You have no right to privacy in a public place," he said.
Fire Chief Jay Symonds said members of the media always come to the command post at scenes of emergencies and ask the incident commander questions.
"We never let it deter from an operation," he said.
Members of the media step back at a scene if they are asked to, Police Chief Norma Hardy said. Property owners are told they can get a no-trespass order against someone to prevent them from being on or filming on their property, she said.
Emergency personnel try to secure a scene and clear people out once it's determined to be a high-risk zone, Symonds said.
Town Manager John Potter said Vermont League of Cities & Towns, the town's insurer, provides training to town employees on First Amendment rights to help prevent lawsuits.
Martha Bernbaum spoke of a traumatic incident in which Poitras filmed a truck fire on her property.She joined others in holding no-trespassing signs.
Poitras is "constantly degrading our community," Jessica Dolan said, seeing his content as bad for the community and business.
"Frankly, it's negative and divisive," Dolan said.
Hardy said the department doesn't allow or invite media into residences. Owners have allowed for filming to occur inside, which she said has made her feel "uncomfortable."
Responding to concerns that officers tip Poitras off to incidents, Hardy said, "Hank will tell you he has a very expensive scanner and he can basically scan anything even before the calls have even been clearly given out to our people."
Board member Peter "Fish" Case, a radio personality and newspaper columnist for about three decades, said his weekly program "Vermontitude" is aimed at disseminating "decent information."
"I choose not to make my living in this fashion of filming people in vulnerable situations," he said, but his and Poitras' work are both protected by the Constitution.
Case said the media landscape has changed in recent years, as newspapers dwindle and the number of citizen journalists increases.
"If you don't like it," he said, "you don't watch it."
Board member Amanda Ellis-Thurber said she cares about "our digital footprint … and what goes out on the internet that talks about the kind of community we are."
Board Vice Chairman Oscar Heller said he wants to better understand the parameters of filming in private spaces.
"We don't get to pick and choose what the Constitution protects nor should we," he said. "The same rights that protect somebody doing something you might not like here in Brattleboro, for example, are also the same rights protecting people filming ICE in Minnesota or many other things that people want to have a public record of."
McLoughlin said she believes a local hardware store will be selling out of no-trespassing signs.
