ARANSAS PASS, Tx — Everyone is talking about the Aransas Pass city council meeting on Tuesday as things got very heated during public comment.
Aransas Pass citizen Jason Followell got up and proceeded to curse out the chief of police, saying, “Chief Blanchard you piece of s**t!”
“Enough! I’m not going to put up with any defamation of character,” Mayor Ramiro Gomez said.
Like every other citizen, Followell was given 3 minutes to make his statement.
Before those comments were made, Gomez made his rules clear.
“During council meetings members of the public will not engage in shouting, unruly behavior, defamation, profanity or threats of any kind,” Gomez said.
“I’m talking, it’s my turn to talk. I don’t care what you have to say,” Followell said.
City Council felt personally attacked after hearing Followell curse at them multiple times. As Followell was escorted out by police, his attorney CJ Grisham, who is licensed to practice in the state of Texas came up the podium.
“What I just witnessed was a violation of Mr. Followell’s rights,” Grisham said.
Grisham goes on to argue that swear words do not provide a probable cause for an arrest of disorderly conduct. He believes the mayors rules are unconstitutional.
Texas attorney Bill Aleshire, who specializes in open government law told KRIS 6 News what he thinks.
“If a council is going to allow anyone to speak, they can’t discriminate because of the topic,” Aleshire said.
Regardless, Aleshire thought their behavior was out of line.
“I don’t think the mayor violated their rights. I think they exceeded the rules of what they’re allowed to do during an official government meeting,” Aleshire said.
KRIS 6 News did reach out to Police Chief Blanchard who said he’s passionately disturbed by what happened during the meeting.
While the two individuals were not arrested, Blanchard said they are currently under investigation.
