I attended my last “public” meeting here in Fruita recently night. I guess my version of a public meeting is out of fashion today. The kind that I recall is the one Norman Rockwell represented in his Freedom of Speech Post cover. One where an average citizen stands and asks his questions or makes his comments.

I have been to three so-called “public” meetings here over the past several months and that is not allowed. Even before you hear what the speakers are going to say you are asked to write down questions and submit them to a review board which decides if they are worthy to be considered. And if they are deemed to be acceptable then a third person, not the person with the question, asks the question.

That may be a way to run a railroad but that is not a way to have an open and good public meeting.  I will no longer be a party to such a farce.

The Fruita Chamber of Commerce carries these tightly controlled monitorings to an extreme and reduces the flow of views from the citizens.

O. BRUCE JONES
Fruita

This entry was posted on Friday, October 10th, 2008 at 8:00 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.