\u201cI should have guessed this would happen,\u201d Lon Burnam said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be interesting.\u201d <\/p>\n
That\u2019s what was going through the former state representative\u2019s mind as four Tarrant County<\/a> Sheriff\u2019s deputies carried him out of the courtroom Tuesday, he said. Burnam, 73, was arrested after being removed from a contentious session of the Tarrant County Commissioners Court.\u00a0<\/p>\n The longtime Fort Worth resident served in the Texas House of Representatives from 1997-2015. Burnam is not inexperienced with handling microphones, and that day, it sent him to Tarrant County Jail.<\/p>\n Sign up for the This Week\u2019s Top Stories newsletter to get the latest stories delivered to your inbox<\/p>\n THANK YOU!<\/p>\n You’re all set.<\/p>\n CLOSE\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n He and dozens of other Tarrant County residents attended the meeting to speak out against a proposed reduction of the county\u2019s polling locations from 316 to 176 ahead of what are expected to be highly contested midterm elections <\/a>in November. Tarrant County, once a conservative stronghold, is now a crucial battleground<\/a> as its population has exploded to become the third most populous county in Texas. While Republican officials argue the proposal will save money, residents said the move unfairly targets minority and low-income communities, with many likening the proposal to voter suppression.<\/p>\n Tuesday<\/p>\n After hours of fiery public comment, Tarrant County Judge Tim O\u2019Hare, a Republican, said he did not agree with the extent of the cuts. The commissioners ultimately voted to table the agenda item, although, by that point, O\u2019Hare\u2019s treatment of public speakers had drawn significant focus<\/a>. His office did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n \u201cHe doesn\u2019t want people to be able to lay out the problem. Here\u2019s the thing: people don\u2019t just come to complain,\u201d Burnam said. \u201cPeople come with suggestions, and they don\u2019t even want to listen to the suggestions.\u201d<\/p>\n As residents held signs with messages such as \u201cVote them out,\u201d each speaker was restricted to a tight, one-minute window. O\u2019Hare quickly told residents \u2014 and Democratic attorney general candidate Nathan Johnson \u2014 to step away from the microphone almost immediately after their time expired. Several deputies stood toward the back of the courtroom to enforce the limits.<\/p>\n Local radio personality EJ Carryon was thrown out after calling the court\u2019s actions \u201cbullshit.\u201d The judge called a recess soon after and ordered deputies to remove Carryon. Shortly after, residents giggled and waved signs of support when another speaker said \u201cYou keep Russia my Texas,\u201d in reference to the common \u201cDon\u2019t California my Texas\u201d slogan. O\u2019Hare ordered the courtroom cleared as residents chanted \u201cshame,\u201d with the remaining speakers forced to wait in overflow rooms before giving their comment to a significantly reduced crowd mostly made up of those who preceded them at the microphone. <\/p>\n Following the clearance, Base Mego picked up the microphone during his allotted time, something which he did without issue at a July 14 meeting and told The Dallas Morning News<\/a> he had been given an ADA exemption because he has autism. O\u2019Hare said, \u201cI don\u2019t know what you\u2019re referring to,\u201d as Mego refused his demands to set the microphone down, and quickly had a deputy escort him from the room. The court\u2019s publicly posted rules of decorum<\/a> do not appear to reference restrictions on how residents handle the microphone.<\/p>\n Burnam, who wore a souvenir shirt commemorating the 1960 civil rights sit-in at the F.W. Woolworth store in Greensboro, North Carolina, said he did not arrive at the courthouse that day intending to engage in civil disobedience. But after seeing Mego denied his apparent exemption, he used his minute to also pick up the microphone and chide the commissioners for ejecting his friend. The judge ordered him removed as well. As deputies approached to remove Burnham, the former state representative lay on the ground until he was carried out on all four limbs.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s one of those things where you can more easily tolerate being treated badly yourself than you can watch somebody else,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s on the spectrum; it takes a lot for him to get up and speak in public.\u201d <\/p>\n He was arrested soon after and taken to the Tarrant County Jail on a charge of disrupting a public meeting, in addition to receiving a six-month ban from meetings. After being released late that night, Burnam said he plans to pursue legal action against O\u2019Hare and has no regrets about his show of defiance. He added that he had attended meetings prior to O\u2019Hare\u2019s tenure, but that things have since changed. <\/p>\n \u201cAs soon as O\u2019Hare is in there, he starts cutting the meeting agenda from once a week to once a month, and he\u2019s cut down the speaking time,\u201d Burnam said. \u201c[On Tuesday] we were only allowed one minute. Well, what can you get said in one minute?\u201d<\/p>\n Recurring issue<\/p>\n Comments at meetings have become increasingly volatile in North Texas. The Frisco City Council is considering loosening restrictions put in place two months ago after months of outbursts directed at Muslim and South Asian communities<\/a>, while Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson had former council member Bob Stimson escorted from chambers after going over his allotment<\/a> by a few seconds in June. A meeting in McKinney earlier this week also grew heated<\/a> as speakers made inflammatory remarks about Muslims in Collin County.<\/p>\n Public comment on agenda items is protected under the Texas Open Meetings Act, although officials have a large degree of autonomy in setting guidelines for speakers.<\/p>\n The Tarrant County Commissioners Court has adopted restrictive rules of decorum for public comment in recent years, with tension often following. In February, commissioners approved new rules <\/a>that restrict time allotments by a 3-2 vote split along party lines. Residents could previously spend three minutes on each agenda item they signed up to speak on, but now they have only three minutes for the entirety of the agenda. The rules also give O\u2019Hare the ability to restrict time allotments to one minute if more than 50 residents have signed up to speak at a meeting.<\/p>\n He defended the rules in February as necessary for the court\u2019s functioning.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019ve seen in commissioners court lately is not fair to all the people who are interested in the issues,\u201d O\u2019Hare said. \u201cThe more civility and order we have, the better this court can serve all Tarrant County residents and every person in this courtroom right now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2025, commissioners also moved to reduce meeting frequency to once-monthly, further restricting opportunity for comment. Previously, they met weekly until December 2023, when meetings began to be held on the first and third Tuesday of each month. Of the five most populous counties in Texas, the Tarrant County Commissioners Court is the only one that currently meets monthly.<\/p>\n Sabrina Ball, a Fort Worth resident and activist, is an organizer for the People\u2019s Commissioners Court. The organization assists residents unfamiliar with meeting rules and online sign-up requirements for public comment, which she said older residents can struggle with. Many residents are first-time speakers, which may contribute to outbursts or unintended rule violations in the courtroom, she said, adding that the court\u2019s restrictions exacerbate the issue.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s intimidating,\u201d Ball said. \u201cAnd then it got worse. Before, you could politely clap. You could snap your fingers, and that made it less intimidating. This has just made it more [intimidating].\u201d<\/p>\n She said the intimidating atmosphere of the meetings has gotten worse since O\u2019Hare took office in 2023.\u00a0 <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s cordial in City Council and Fort Worth ISD,\u201d Ball said. \u201cThe atmosphere is positive, and even if we disagree with people or in a crowd, it\u2019s not explosive. His rules at commissioners court make it hostile.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2024, Fort Worth resident and frequent meeting attendee Jackee Cox told KERA<\/a> that she felt unable to speak freely \u201cwhen under the sword of a possible ban and arrest.\u201d A few weeks prior, the judge notably removed progressive Fort Worth pastor Ryon Price from a meeting for contempt and banned the clergyman from meetings for six months after he went over his allotment by eight seconds. Burnam was also kicked out of the meeting and received a similar ban. Both were slapped with a trespass warning.<\/p>\n \u2018Poor leadership\u2019<\/p>\n