OUR TURN: Judge’s ruling is victory for open government
Chalk one up for open government and the people’s right to know.
A federal judge last week upheld the constitutionality of the Texas Open Meetings Act in a case filed years ago by members of the Alpine City Council.
The plaintiffs, who included Alpine council members and public leaders from 11 other Texas cities, claimed the Open Meetings Act violated their First Amendment right to free speech because it prevents them from making decisions on official business out of the public eye.
In essence, they said the Open Meetings Act muzzled them.
What utter nonsense. They tried to use one of the country’s most highly cherished laws that protects free speech in a bid to stifle open government. Is the irony lost on them?
Luckily, U.S. District Judge Robert Junell saw it that way, too.
According to his decision, the state Open Meetings Act protects “the compelling interest of governmental transparency.”
This was a case that never should have gone to trial. It was a waste of taxpayers’ money.
Even worse, it only goes to prove that while some politicians will pay lip service to treasured American values, they don’t necessarily believe in them or practice them.
The Open Meetings Act was created as a criminal statute with fines and even jail time to ensure government remains open and transparent.
The people deserve to know what their elected leaders are doing, how they’re voting and why they make the decisions they do.
The open meetings statute is a security measure that guards against back-room deals; awarding contracts based on favoritism and nepotism; and creating a shadow government where decisions are made outside of public view.
This ruling by the federal judge should serve as a wake-up call that time-honored traditions of open government are the law of the land.
Big Brother replaces age of innocence
Can anyone remember a time when we didn’t need security cameras and police patrols at a high school campus?
Sadly, those days are probably gone.
Given the past decade’s harrowing episodes of school shootings, texting and sexting scandals and the rise in bullying and teen drug abuse, the days of cherubic students in letter jackets overjoyed by the sock hop remain relegated to the rose-tinted past.
Now comes the news 16 security cameras have been installed at Marble Falls High School during Spring Break to provide better security for staff and students.
It seems even the small, bucolic setting of Marble Falls isn’t without its potential risks. School officials said they have wanted the cameras for years.
Principal Eric Penrod says the cameras also will save teachers some trouble by helping pinpoint the exact students behind a disruption, rather than dragging two dozen teens to the head office for an exercise in “he said, she said” every time there’s a fight in the hall.
Too bad officials feel students of today can’t be trusted to just tell the plain truth — or stay out of trouble.
But maybe that kind of innocence always has been a myth, and it’s time to face facts: Better safe than sorry, even if it takes Big Brother.