WCMessenger.com: Citizens deserve better from Rhome leaders

Rhome is the center of attention in North Texas and, possibly soon, the state.

But not for good reasons.

A town located at the cusp of the Metroplex growth headed into Wise County should have a lot to look forward to - new residents and commercial growth just to name a couple of things. The city already has a highly rated school district in Northwest.

But instead of looking forward and planning a glorious future for the city, some city leaders seem more concerned with fighting among themselves and stopping progress at all costs. In the process, they are driving away city employees and upsetting the citizens they were elected to serve.

Just take a look at the now infamous 22-item agenda that was to be considered in a meeting Saturday, April 26. How many items deal with moving the city forward? By my count, maybe three: parks, curb and gutter for Main Street and beautification committee. That last item seems a bit ironic when it is on the same agenda with items such as discussion of the firing of former Police Chief K.C. Schoenthal, possible termination of city secretary Ramah Burns, personal attacks on former Police Chief Rick Roebuck and death threats made against council member Brandon Davis. There is nothing beautiful about any of those items.

Davis is the same council member who has accused the Messenger of giving favoritism to the mayor. It is why Davis and fellow council member Patty Robison have proposed an ordinance which would require the mayor and council members to not comment to the Messenger on city business before the entire council knows about it.

There are only two major problems with that. One, of course, is that it violates the United States Constitution's First Amendment right of free speech. You can't restrict a person from talking to the media, or anyone else, without substantial justification.

One example of justified restriction is a gag order issued to jurors in a criminal or civil case. In Rhome's case, the justification seems to be council members Davis and Robison don't like that the mayor makes comments to the media without talking to them first.

And that brings me to the second, and most important, issue. The mayor and council members are elected to serve the citizens of Rhome. The citizens deserve to know what is going on in their city in a timely manner. It is why the Messenger has invested so much time covering the issues affecting the city. Shutting out the newspaper will do nothing but further erode communication between city leadership and citizens. If the council can only talk about an issue after they meet, where does that leave room for input from citizens?

Instead of worrying about who the mayor is talking to about city issues, maybe some council members should spend more time listening to citizens about city issues. They might learn about some things that are actually important to citizens.

I'm a member of the Rotary Club, and we have a 4-Way Test - an ethical guideline we use in our professional lives. It says, "In all the things we think, say and do: 1. Is it the truth? 2. Is it fair to all concerned? 3. Will it build goodwill and better friendships? 4. Will it be beneficial to all concerned?"

Rhome's leadership might want to keep those four questions in mind as it relates to the citizens of the city they are supposed to represent.

Knox is the editor of the Wise County Messenger. You can reach him via e-mail at news@wcmessenger or call him at (940) 627-5987.