Over 100 people gathered at Eagles Landing State Park on Sunday, October 18, 2020—proclaimed Melissa Jean Schlag Day by Haddam town government—to celebrate Melissa’s extraordinary life and irreplaceable friendship.
News/Media Coverage of Her Passing
- The Hartford Courant “Remembering Melissa Schlag, a public servant who understood paradox” by Barth Keck
- The Hartford Courant, Melissa Schlag, former Haddam first selectwoman who knelt during Pledge of Allegiance, dies at 46
- Middletown Press “Late Haddam politician Melissa Schlag recalled as ‘rare, rare gem'” by Cassandra Day
- WFSB Eyewitness News 3
- In Remembrance: Our Colleague and Friend Save the Sound CT
- In Memoriam Melissa Jean Schlag by friend Tanja Moriarty, given at Melissa’s Celebration of Life at Eagles Landing State Park , also published in Haddam Bulletin, December 2020 issue.
- Friends of Kuiaski Preserve
Posthumus Awards & Letters
Melissa Jean Schlag Day dedicated by Town of Haddam on October 18, 2020
Environmental Champion 2020 named by Rivers Alliance of Connecticut
Executive Director Alicea Charamut presented this award to Melissa Schlag at the River Alliance’s annual meeting with the following introduction “Advocate, journalist, editor, designer, public servant, valued colleague in conservation and the environment, and friend. We are deeply sad that this award must be given posthumously, but we never expected to prematurely lose those we value so highly. Melissa was an essential member of our environmental advocacy community. Her talent for communicating often very complex ideas and issues assisted in the advancement of too many policies to name. She was also a dedicated public servant and principal leader.”
[Continued from Page 1) Melissa Schlag’s Legacy| CT News Junkie article, Sept. 2025
more divided and more rancorous. Indeed, the very issue for which she initially protested – the surreptitious actions of an American president – has only grown since he was elected again in 2024.
The First Amendment is at the heart of the situation. Free speech and expression are guaranteed, regardless of whatever – or whomever – they criticize. A democracy that does not allow such freedoms is no democracy at all, thereby permitting leaders to act without oversight.
The recent Jimmy Kimmel saga illustrates this issue demonstrably. On his late-night show last week, Kimmel said, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA Gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.” Nothing funny, just political commentary. Many conservatives vehemently criticized Kimmel for disrespecting Kirk, and Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr had this to say: “We can do this the easy way or the hard way” — an apparent threat to revoke the licenses of the ABC affiliates that ran “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” ABC summarily cancelled the show, although there is talk now that the action was temporary.
On the surface, it’s a case of an employer exercising the right to fire an employee for just cause. But behind the scenes, the situation gets murkier.
Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas likened Carr’s words to a threat from the mafia: “I got to say, that’s right out of ‘Goodfellas.’ That’s right out of a mafioso coming into a bar going, ‘nice bar you have here. It’d be a shame if something happened to it.’”
For his part, President Donald praised Carr’s remarks: “I think Brendan Carr is a great American patriot. So I disagree with Ted Cruz on that.” No surprise, considering Trump’s history of animosity towards media outlets: “Trump and his businesses have been involved in 34 media or defamation lawsuits since 2015,” according to an Axios analysis.
Most recently, Trump sued The New York Times for defamation, an effort that was thrown out of court last week by Judge Steven Merryday, who said, “A [legal] complaint is not a public forum for vituperation and invective – not a protected platform to rage against an adversary. A complaint is not a megaphone for public relations or a podium for a passionate oration at a political rally.”
Nevertheless, Trump has succeeded in coercing other media outlets to settle defamation lawsuits out of court. With its media merger with Skydance scheduled for FCC review, Paramount cut its losses and agreed in early July to pay Trump $16 million after the president sued the media company. At issue: the airing of an edited interview of Kamala Harris on 60 Minutes that allegedly “tipped the scales in favor of the Democratic Party.” Never mind that edited interviews have been standard fare for news programs almost since the invention of TV. The FCC approved the Skydance merger with Paramount in late July.
In similar fashion, ABC decided late last year to pay $15 million to Trump’s presidential foundation instead of facing a defamation lawsuit for anchor George Stephanopoulos saying Trump was “liable for rape” when he was actually “liable for sexual abuse.” Even as many legal scholars said ABC had a good chance of winning the case against Trump, the network paid up because “perhaps they didn’t want to be actively litigating against a sitting president.”
It’s no secret that Trump’s team aggressively attempts to suppress negative commentary. Late last week, Politico reported that journalists could access the Pentagon building “only if they agreed not to publish certain information.” How should any American citizen who recognizes these egregious attacks on the First Amendment respond? Will people merely stand down, or will they embrace their constitutional right and speak out against it?
If she were still with us today, Melissa Schlag would undoubtedly opt for the latter. She would pen op-eds, march in protest, and kneel during the Pledge of Allegiance at town meetings. As I wrote in 2020, sometimes “loving one’s country entails more than standing at attention or saluting a flag. It requires action – often unpleasant and infuriating action.”
Melissa Schlag understood that paradox. America desperately needs its citizens to follow her example.
Friends of Melissa Schlag 