Tarrant County alters public speaker rules in effort to keep meetings civil

TARRANT COUNTY, Texas - A crackdown on decorum for public speakers is raising questions about fairness at the Tarrant County Commissioners Court.

A retired state representative and a Baptist pastor received trespass warnings, banning them from county commission meetings.

Former state representative Lon Burnam says he was banned indefinitely after he confronted Tarrant County Judge Tim O'Hare at a meeting in early July.

"I lost my temper that day, and I went up, and I confronted him," said former state representative Lon Burnam.

Lon Burnam

Burnam says O'Hare had abruptly adjourned the meeting on July 2, despite Simmons making an attempt to speak after a round of public comment.

"She represents a half million people so in essence. The judge was denying representation to 1/4 of the county when he denies her the opportunity to speak. And this is not the first time," he recalled. "I approached the bench and told him what I thought about his behavior."

Burnam says there is no recording of the exchange.

"The recordings were stopped, so nobody, actually, most of the reporters were in the hallway," he said.

Burnam says a trespass warning was delivered to his home banning him from Commissioners Court indefinitely and no end date is mentioned.

"To me, a colossal waste of the sheriff's department's time to deliver this, what is probably illegal piece of paper, that’s not actually signed by anybody other than me acknowledging that I received it," he said.

On Tuesday, the court made amendments to public speaker rules during its meetings.

O'Hare noted the sheriff, and not the court has the authority to issue trespass warnings, like the one Burnam received.

"Refusal to abide by the Commissioners Court's order or my order as the presiding judge or continued disruption of the meeting may result in arrest and prosecution under the laws of the state of Texas," said O'Hare on Tuesday.

The county judge said decorum would be strictly enforced, with consequences for people exceeding the allowed three minutes.

Commenters at the meeting addressed the changes.

"I cannot speak for my people by being thrown out of this chamber," said Bishop Mark Kirkland.

"I believe a year-long ban citizen of any citizen speaker is a violation of my own rights under the First Amendment," said Tarrant County resident Julie Griffin.

In the meantime, Burnham says for him, the issue of most importance is what he calls the alarming number of deaths occurring at the Tarrant County Jail.

"I understand why the sheriff doesn’t like me getting up there and referring to him as the Sheriff of Nottingham. I understand why he doesn’t like the fact that I almost always have an additional view of criticism of the way he’s managing his department," he said.

Burnham says he is consulting with attorneys to explore a possible course of action for the trespass warning.