The city of Southmayd.

[bubba84]

Was in the small town of Southmayd on saturday for a baseball tournanment. Noticed the exterior of the city hall/municipal court building was posted 30.06 and 30.07.

This is the email I wrote to the entirety of the city’s administration.

“Good Evening,

I was in Southmayd over the weekend for a baseball tournament and noticed that your city hall, which also houses your municipal court, had 30.06 and 30.07 postings to the right of the entrance doors. These signs are illegal, please remove them. The recent ruling by a Texas appellate court and subsequent affirmation from the Texas Supreme Court states that government agencies cant post ".06/.07" notices on entire buildings only the portions of which are used by the courts. Pursuant to Senate Bill 273 passed by the 84th Legislature, I am advising you of this violation and asking that it be corrected. Also in accordance with this legislation, if you fail to comply within 3 business days, I will forward the violation to the Attorney Generals office. Thank you for your time.”


My entire family has been employed in LE in North texas since 1978 and together we have cumulatively over 125 years of service. I sent the email and 22 minutes later got a text from my sister who is a dispatcher asking what dealings i had with Southmayd. Apparently the Chief got my email and asked her if we were related. We have a fairly uncommon last name.

I told her to have him let me know if/when the signs are removed.

[Flightmare]

Fast turnaround time. Keep us informed and let us know how this turns out. Thankyou for keeping an eye out for fellow LTCs.

[TreyHouston]

I hope that wasn’t an intimidation attempt !

[Iunnrais]

Do we have links to those court cases? I'd like to send them to a friendly neighborhood sheriff in my home town where the county buildings are posted.

[bubba84]

https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/ne ... al-freedom

[bubba84]

This is the response I got this morning from the city secretary.

I am not sure if the Mayor, David Turner, has reached back out to you in regards to the email, so I wanted to follow up.



“I spoke to Chief Ferguson with the Attorney Generals office to get more information in regards to your email. I’m speaking for the City of Southmayd, we never meant to hinder any citizens rights by posting the signs. If in fact, the signs are against the law we will definitely take them down and hang them where it is lawful. He informed me of information I was unaware of but definitely needed to know. He is having an attorney reach out to me to make sure the information given was in fact true.



Thank you for reaching out to us. I will make sure we get this taken care of ASAP.“

[Jusme]

Sounds like they are at least open to your information. Better than most.
In Johnson county, annex, there are only signs posted on the JP courtroom door, and temporary signs posted in the area, where polling takes place, during elections. The county clerk, constables office etc, are not posted.

Glad you took the time to provide them with the info, it may simply be a case of not being informed, and no one pointed it out.

[clarionite]

Sounds like they are at least open to your information. Better than most.
In Johnson county, annex, there are only signs posted on the JP courtroom door, and temporary signs posted in the area, where polling takes place, during elections. The county clerk, constables office etc, are not posted.

Glad you took the time to provide them with the info, it may simply be a case of not being informed, and no one pointed it out.

In Boerne they had signs up, and when I asked about it was told that I didn't know what I was talking about, that the entire building was off limits because of the court room being upstairs. This was 3-4 years ago. The same officer tried to tell me that any property the city owns was off limits. Including the city parks.

I was in there last week and there's a note below the 30.06 and 30.07 stating that those signs only apply to the second floor where the court rooms are. So, someone actually made some progress with them.

[bubba84]

The city secretary seems to be less confrontational than the Mayor.

The wording of his email, to me, seems standoffish and indignant to the fact that I am challenging his signs. This is the email I received from him.

"Thank you for visiting Southmayd and contacting us. I am actively reviewing your request. It would be helpful if you could elaborate why you think we are in violation and how the law pertains to us based on the configuration of our property, the offices that are within that property, the hours that those offices have and keep during normal business hours to conduct the services needed to provide a court system in a small town such as ours?

I would also like you to know that we have contacted the attorney general's office to assist us in making an informed decision on what the law allows us to post based on our situation.

Sincerely,
The Honorable Mayor of Southmayd,Texas
David Turner



My response to his email was the entirety of the appellate court opinion explaining why they overturned the Waller county case and their reasoning. It has also been 3 business days since they were first notified of the violation and even though they have contacted the AG office voluntarily, I have submitted the complaint online to the AG's office.

[Boxerrider]

what the law allows us to post based on our situation.

Sincerely,
The Honorable Mayor of Southmayd,Texas
David Turner

This part gets to me, and it is prevalent in similar situations we see here. My interpretation is not, "the greatest amount of freedom allowed by law," but, "the least amount of freedom allowed by law". I don't consider that very honorable either.

Good on you for moving forward!
Jeff

[Jusme]

what the law allows us to post based on our situation.

Sincerely,
The Honorable Mayor of Southmayd,Texas
David Turner

This part gets to me, and it is prevalent in similar situations we see here. My interpretation is not, "the greatest amount of freedom allowed by law," but, "the least amount of freedom allowed by law". I don't consider that very honorable either.

Good on you for moving forward!
Jeff

That and the " we are just a small town" plaint, that he hopes excludes them from these big city laws.
Keep us updated, hopefully, if we get enough changes enforced, it will prevent other cities from doing the same thing.

[bubba84]

Oh, he’s big mad...


“Thank you for you response. By my count I had until this evening to make my decision on whether or not to take the signs down in question. I received your correspondence on Tuesday morning at approximately 9 am, regardless of when you sent it. I had 3 days (because I looked it up) to respond to your request. That means if I choose to take the signs down, I had until Friday June 28th until the close of business until I fall out of compliance with your request sir. I tried to respond to you with one day left to discuss the matter. You have made that a mute point by turning me into the Attorney Generals office already at this point. We don't seem to need to have any further correspondence at this time. The Office of the Attorney General of The Great State of Texas and my attorney can at this point advise me.

I had wanted to discuss and to elaborate on how I feel about this matter is that you are trying to apply a law that does not apply to our cities property. I don't believe you have ever stepped foot into our municipal building. As you walk into the door you immediately turn left and you are staring at the court appointed cashier to pay for your ticket or court costs when entering the building. The only public areas in that building that do not have court business going on are the two bathrooms to your immediate right. These are state mandated bathrooms that must be in the public building and made available to the public. You have to pass through the general court room area to get into any other parts of the building. The other areas include an office for our part-time CPA and a kitchen area that you must enter through the common court room area to reach. So in my interpretation of the law after speaking with the AG's office is the signs are posted immediately outside of where the court room business takes effect.

While your intentions are good, if those signs were taken down that gives the criminals the right to carry guns into our courtroom area. I'm not worried about the law abiding citizens such as yourself sir. I'm worried about the ones that are getting speeding tickets, receiving citations for having illicit drugs, and being upset while having to pay for these fines. That does not keep our appointed Judge or the office staff that serve the people safe. If the signs come down who will provide security to those staff members that will now have to interact with the public armed? Do I then need to train and arm my staff to stay safe right here in our small town? Gun rights need to go both ways. They need to protect those that are lawfully carrying and they also need to protect those that are just trying to do their jobs so they can return to their families every evening, sir.

Again since you have already informed us that you have contacted the AG's office with a complaint prior to the deadline. I no longer have any reason to correspond with you any further on this matter.I will await the AG's official response to make my decision on how to move forward.

Good day sir“

[Grayling813]

While your intentions are good, if those signs were taken down that gives the criminals the right to carry guns into our courtroom area. I'm not worried about the law abiding citizens such as yourself sir. I'm worried about the ones that are getting speeding tickets, receiving citations for having illicit drugs, and being upset while having to pay for these fines.

So he believes that 30.06 and 30.07 signs apply to everyone and not just LTC holders? He sounds like a “rights for me, but not for thee” politician.

[Jusme]

Those signs prevent criminals from carrying guns into the court rooms? Must be some pretty amazing signs!! I need to find out where they purchased them then I could prevent all crime with magic signs!!


Good luck OP, sounds like the mayor has anger, and maturity issues. What he doesn't realize, is that if the entire building is for court rooms, or court business, then he is in compliance. There is no need to get so angry, unless he is afraid they will make him move signs and just put them on the court room doors.
Still want to know how those signs stop criminals though.

[dhoobler]

Someone should explain to him the difference between "mute" and "moot".