The March 22 editorial in the Herald-Leader, "Into the Darkness," challenged the wisdom of State Representative Mary Brantley's House bill 1610 and encouraged their readers to write their state representatives to oppose the bill. The bill, if passed, would "Allow local elected officials to meet privately to discuss public business...and would lead to meaningless public meetings where decisions are only ratified but not thoroughly discussed."
I share your concerns and urge all citizens to consider engaging their representatives. Meeting in secret allows our politicians to advance their personal, political, cultural or prejudicial agendas away from the light of day. They are uncomfortable with the glare of public scrutiny or the presence of the press. Often these agendas are not in the best interest of all the people. The people are to be manipulated and ignored, not to be heard from and informed.
At the March 21st City Board meeting, the City Directors that fired Phillip Patterson were once again given the opportunity to explain their actions. Once again, they failed to offer a coherent explanation for why they fired him. They offered us no reason for the termination, offered no insight into their motivation and offered no discussion of how his termination would benefit the community. This action has all the appearance of a premeditated and preplanned move that allowed no public discussion and gave no previous warning of what was brewing. There may be a whiff of arrogance here, "We don't have to answer to you, the public. We know what's best!"
I wonder if we are already "Into the Darkness" in Siloam Springs?
George Benjamin
Siloam Springs