Published: March 21, 2008 12:05 am            

This meeting is adjourned ... early

Joking turns to scolding turns to hurt feelings before Payne Springs calls it all off

PAYNE SPRINGS — A good crowd showed up on a stormy night for the Tuesday Night Fights at city council.

On the agenda was consideration for hiring a new police officer. They still have just one, and his car — the police car — is going into the shop for the next couple of days, so no one will be monitoring traffic.

He joked that it might be a good time to speed in Payne Springs. Could’ve been trying to set up speeders, who knows?

The meeting didn’t go the distance this time, so the crowd filed out about 9 p.m. with many items still waiting to be discussed.

Mayor Michael McDonald took the opportunity to scold fellow council members by telling them there were no applications for the ads the city ran in nine newspapers because of what he considered shabby treatment of Payne Springs police officers in the past.

Once council member, Carl Powell, decided the council shaming had gone on long enough. He told the mayor he couldn’t prove any of the stuff he was saying, then made a motion to adjourn the meeting immediately.

McDonald asked for a second, got it, then apologized to the crowd for their having driven out on a bad night and not been able to see the full agenda addressed.

Then he called for a vote, and all members unanimously voted with Powell.

“That’s the loudest ayes of the night,” the mayor said before ending the meeting.

Before that, though, Linda Carr, a former city secretary in Payne Springs, used the citizen’s comments portion of the meeting to tell council members she wanted a written apology from them, and that if she didn’t get it, she was going to sue them for defamation of her character.

She quoted several passages from law documents and scolded the council members for not being willing to look her in the eye.

So Councilman Lynn Sorrell, with the ever-present toothpick in his mouth, began staring straight into Carr’s face. He didn’t say anything, and seldom does, but he did stare, for whatever effect that might have had.

The mayor seemed to join in the staring too, but the rest of the council continued to keep its collection of heads bowed.

Pastor Jack Bragg of Lighthouse Baptist Church told the crowd he loved them, each and every one, during the citizens comments, then promised them that he and his flock would be organizing protests and making placards to fight the upcoming alcohol election any way possible. Legally, of course.

That sounded more like tough love to several in the audience, many of whom told the pastor they resented him turning the booze election into a debate on morals — that it was really about economics.

Others gave the pastor a fine round of sporadic, but enthusiastic applause.

After the police chief gave his report and answered questions on the condition of police vehicles, some crowd members wanted an explanation of what was going on with only one police vehicle in a town of 27 miles, one that is going into the shop for repairs at that, leaving the chief sidelined for two days.

The new chief told the crowd the city actually has four squad cars. Three of them, he said, have blown engines and the rear end is out of a fourth patrol car.

At that, the chief, who works some day shifts and some night shifts, still managed to write 21 citations last month. He gave 35 warnings, stopped 102 people, worked two accidents, answered 38 calls, assisted the Henderson County Sheriff’s Department on 15 calls, made 14 arrests, 13 of the misdemeanor variety and one felony.

Chief Shane Renberg mentioned that he had a vest to protect himself, but that it was a cheap one he bought for himself three or four years ago. A man in the back of the room said a bullet would go right through such thin protection.

The mayor told the crowd the council had chosen not to address such issues.

One member of the crowd said he hoped Renberg didn’t wind up getting killed before next month when the council would have a chance to approve, or disapprove the purchase of a vest capable of stopping bullets.

Carr warned the council that there is a safety issue involved in all of this, safety not only for the officer, but for the residents of Payne Springs.

Since the meeting adjourned early, the council never got around to hiring, or refusing to hire, a second police officer.

The council did approve last month’s budget which showed the city in pretty good shape financially.

        

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