\u201cI have been speaking up my entire life,\u201d Former State Representative Lon Burnam said.<\/p>\n
TARRANT COUNTY, Texas \u2014 \u201cSometimes you have to pay a penalty for being in activism. I shouldn\u2019t have to be paying this penalty,\u201d said former State Representative Lon Burnam.<\/p>\n
Burnam\u2019s attorney is fighting to keep him out of jail after his arrest during a heated Tarrant County Commissioners Court meeting last month over proposed changes to voting locations.<\/p>\n
Burnam was arrested after defending another speaker who picked up the microphone during public comment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he picked up the microphone and turned around because he has issues. He\u2019s on the spectrum. He needs respect,\u201d Burnam said.<\/p>\n
County Judge Tim O\u2019Hare then ordered Burnam to put down the microphone.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Burnam, you are disrupting the meeting again. I have asked you to set the microphone down. Please remove him,\u201d O\u2019Hare said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe county judge does not like that I continually challenge his failure to address numerous issues in county government,\u201d Burnam said.<\/p>\n
Burnam showed WFAA his jail ID card after being arrested and charged with hindering proceedings by disorderly conduct and disrupting a meeting, two misdemeanors.<\/p>\n
The Class A Misdemeanor charge of hindering proceedings by disorderly conduct carries a maximum punishment of up to 365 days in jail and a fine of up to $4,000. The Class B Misdemeanor charge of disrupting a meeting or procession carries a maximum of 180 days in jail and a fine of up to $2,000.<\/p>\n
Burnam has also filed a federal lawsuit against O\u2019Hare and Tarrant County, alleging his First Amendment rights were violated. The lawsuit was filed Sept. 11 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hope, at the end, for me, is that either the court or the DA, or a judge, or jury, will determine that there\u2019s just not enough there, and that this case will go away,\u201d said Tiffany Burks, Burnam\u2019s attorney.<\/p>\n
Burnam says this is not the first time he has been removed from Commissioners Court. Last year, Burnam says he was removed from Commissioners Court for defending Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons. She responded to his August 4th arrest.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would just tell Lon, I\u2019m sorry. Because not only is, was he ejected, but now the whole legal process that he\u2019s engaged in,\u201d said Commissioner Alisa Simmons.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I ask you to move away from the microphone, please do not continue to try to speak,\u201d O\u2019Hare said during another Commissioners Court meeting.<\/p>\n
To keep order during Commissioners Court meetings, O\u2019Hare has repeatedly explained the rules governing public comment and ordered speakers away from the microphone when he says they are disrupting the meeting. The county\u2019s rules of decorum include restrictions on disruptive or unruly behavior and allow speakers to be removed or temporarily barred from meetings for violating the rules.<\/p>\n
In a separate lawsuit filed Sept. 9, Burnam seeks to have O’Hare removed from office, alleging he used the authority of his office to suppress protected speech and exclude members of the public from open meetings. Burnam said he was targeted by O’Hare for his point of view.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“(Burnam) has attended multiple Commissioners Court meetings,” the lawsuit states. He has personally observed (O’Hare) interrupt, admonish, or remove speakers who criticize (him) or the Court. In (Burnam’s) observation, (O’Hare) has administered public-comment rules harshly and inconsistently, creating a reasonable fear that criticism may lead to expulsion, exclusion from later meetings, or arrest.”<\/p>\n
O’Hare called the Sept. 9 lawsuit a political stunt.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Now, two months before Election Day, he wants a judge to overturn an election and couldn\u2019t even clean the AI links out of his pleading. This is a sad political stunt. It won’t work.”<\/p>\n
WFAA also asked O\u2019Hare to sit down for an interview about Burnam\u2019s actions and arrest during Commissioners Court. O\u2019Hare declined to do an interview, but his spokesperson Ruth provided a statement that WFAA also shared with Burnam\u2019s attorney:<\/p>\n
Lon Burnam showed up to Commissioners Court with plans to disrupt the meeting. He refused to follow the duly adopted rules of decorum, which he has done repeatedly. He then refused to leave and dropped to the floor, so deputies had to carry him out. Now, two months before Election Day, he wants a judge to overturn an election and couldn\u2019t even clean the AI links out of his pleading. This is a sad political stunt. It won’t work.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the political stunt isn\u2019t by Lon. I think the political stunt is by our current county judge,\u201d said Burks.<\/p>\n
Burks also told WFAA that neither she nor her legal team used AI as a tool to help in Lon Burnam’s defense.<\/p>\n
Win or lose in court, Burnam says he remains committed to speaking out.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been speaking up my entire life,\u201d Burnam said.<\/p>\n
Burnam says he\u2019s an activist for life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI have been speaking up my entire life,\u201d Former State Representative Lon Burnam said. TARRANT COUNTY, Texas \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151],"class_list":["post-438891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arlington","tag-arlington","tag-arlington-headlines","tag-arlington-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}