Don’t say it couldn’t happen here

Published 9:41 am Friday, June 27, 2008

Will it ever happen here?

Naw, everyone says. No one would point a gun at a government official.

But it happened in Little Falls up in central Minnesota. The owner of a strip club pointed a handgun at county commissioners and made demands before officers shot him.

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And a shooting took place in February in Kirkwood, Mo., where six people were slain at the city council meeting.

The usual loudmouths at the Albert Lea City Council meetings seem harmless. It’s all an act, people tend to say. But one of them has been known to show up with alcohol on his breath. And the people who excuse such behavior have never held elective office.

The council welcomes dissent for the sake of healthy discourse, but it must civil. The regular agitators tend to get angry and yell. They seek to push the envelope of the public forum and seldom display courtesy.

On one hand, their behavior discourages good folks from speaking up for fear of seeming too much like them, and on the other hand, their behavior sets an atmosphere for disorderliness — one in which who knows what could happen?

Everyone favors people getting to speak at a public forum. There’s no argument about that. Mayor Randy Erdman’s efforts to run more orderly City Council meetings, such as having a police officer present, should be commended. It is good for participants in the meeting, and it helps our city’s image to outside interests when public meetings are professional and organized.

Erdman wishes to continue to research and implement steps to improve the way the meetings are run. We ask that the public support his efforts.

Here is one idea: Move the public forum to the beginning of the meetings, and have them start at 6:45 p.m., not 7 p.m. It would give attendees the option of coming for the public forum or skipping it. Then the council at 7 o’clock can get down to the city’s business, not silly arguments over such things as outdated charters and streetlights.