"NORTH MIAMI IS A HAITIAN CITY AND WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO RUN IT!"

Marcellus and his entourage were doing a great job of acting like a bunch of little boys who'd just been told that they couldn't go outside and play ball until they'd finished all of their homework.

In the top photo attorney John Dellagloria is presenting his case that Marcellus wasn't qualified to run for the council seat because there was evidence that he hadn't actually lived in the city long enough. The case was already filed in the circuit court and Dellagloria argued that Marcellus couldn't be seated until the court rules in about six weeks. His client, candidate Michelle Garcia, is sitting behind him wearing a grey suit.

I can usually take a sharp photograph at slow shutter speeds, in this case 1/8 of a second, but when I have shouting irate arm waving guys dancing two feet away from my feet it isn't very easy. If you look closely though, you'll see that it's mostly the people that are blurry, even the woman across the aisle, because they were moving too fast. The ceiling, chairs, etc. are fairly sharp.

When Marcellus's attorney started to argue his side of the case it was mostly that Marcellus should be seated now and the judge could later remove him, but that ignored the fact that any of his votes on council items would become null and void if the judge removed him. That would cause a lot of havoc, requiring everything to be done over again, and perhaps trigger some lawsuits in itself.

Several other people came up to the podium claiming to be co-council, but with no proof to back up the claims, and did their share of shouting. There were times where the mayor had a problem getting the audience to calm down and stop screaming and chanting. Overall, their main argument was that white people are a bunch of racists and hate Haitians. Thankfully we had a good police presence. Chief Shannon and his men excercized restraint and didn't make any arrests. The decision was made to let the court decide. The incumbant councilman, a Haitian, will retain his seat until the judge decides who will be the replacement.

I doubt that the bailiff at the courthouse will put up with that kind of behavior. They'll make arrests. Last I heard it's official: NORTH MIAMI IS AN AMERICAN CITY.