A Jeffersonian In East Texas

Recent developments in the Smith county jail, “Jailzilla” saga and the “Commissioners Gone Wild” comic drama give rise to numerous questions.

Some of these questions are legal, and I do not know the answers, but I will raise them anyway in the hope that someone will.

• The admission that the plans for the latest Smith county jail proposal were prepared in secret, as I understand, is equivalent to an admission of guilt. This law allows for both civil and criminal penalties for violation. In a county bent on maximum penalties, in a state bent on maximum penalties, can we expect maximum penalties for those involved in this crime and cover up?
• Can we expect resignations to occur soon?
• What will become of this jail proposal, or any jail that might be built as a result of this proposal, now that we know that the plans were formulated in violation of state law?
• Will there be an investigation to see what other open meeting and open records laws were violated?
• What other issues, projects, proposals, contracts, or other matters could have been done under cover of darkness, and behind closed doors, and will there be an investigation including an audit?

This situation is the worst sort of behaviour in public officials, secret meetings and cover ups strike at the very heart of why the open records and open meeting laws are in place.

Let’s be clear on one thing:

There is no risk to the deputies of Smith county, or to the people if the floor plans to the new jail are released as the Texas attorney General has said they must. I am certain that Mr. Good will not turn the plans over to the mafia, or for that matter to anyone else. This is a legal matter, to prove a legal point, and the ridiculous demagoguery should stop!

I have become even more ashamed of the county commissioners (I didn’t think it possible to be more ashamed) for attempting to use such fear tactics.

The real reason for standing in the way of this order, is that it will prove without a doubt that the county officials who participated in the clandestine meetings to plan the new jail project, did so in willful violation of the law! It is my understanding that if they did indeed file finished plans with the State Jail Commission (what good would unfinished plans do) on the date in question, that having the floor plan is just a legal formality. The law has been broken, and further legal actions should be taken!