Several hundred people crammed into the American Legion building in Hudgins Tuesday night to hear a presentation on what featured speaker Michael Coffman termed "a network of control (that is) forcing us down the road to totalitarianism."

The heavily-publicized meeting, titled "Your Property Rights & Liberty," was sponsored by the Concerned Citizens of the Mid Peninsula Committee, a group that claims that local planning officials are unwittingly doing the bidding of the United Nations, attempting to establish global governance under the guise of sustainable development.

The large crowd that turned out included a number of local candidates and officials, who were recognized by committee member Tricia Stall at the start of the program.

Among those in attendance, she said, were Keith Hodges (GOP candidate for 98th District, House of Delegates), Linda Wall (independent candidate for 59th District, House of Delegates), county supervisors O.J. Cole and Neena P...