Stories from Sunday, October 9, 2005

It's an issue that is as old as representative democracy itself. Is a lawmaker (a city council member, county commissioner, state or federal legislator) a delegate or a trustee? There are reasonable people with views on both sides of this question. Some people say that a lawmaker is a delegate, and must always vote the wishes of his or her constituents even if he or she disagrees with those wishes. ...

Well, here we go again. Once again, I express my opinion on a topic of local interest and some folks totally miss my point. I'm speaking about the one section in my most recent column that dealt with the behavior of some citizens during Bell Buckle town meetings...

Me and my big mouth. That's what came to mind when our city editor returned from a county meeting where the mayor passed along an idea. And that's all it was. It's just an idea. It's like an ad for an old horror movie. "It's only a movie. It's only a movie." You were to repeat that phrase when fear wells up inside because of flickering images on the screen...