AND write her own posts, as well as CREATE VIDEO CLIPS. I suspect he similarly must be running around the county looking suspiciously at each Facebook post that has a woman's photo with it to determine if it's REALLY HER HUSBAND OR BOYFRIEND guiding her hand or telling her what to say. Haha! I recently said, in connection with Ron Hankins, that I'm past feeling outraged about what a backwards mentality this is, can only laugh, but after hearing about Allen Sumners using the public comment section at the Somervell County Hospital Board meeting in February 2015 to whine about this blog, I simply MUST not only bring this up AGAIN but have made a compilation video about it. 

Let's examine the points.

I, *salon*, am female, have a computer software engineer background, worked at 5 different software companies, including THREE that were graphics and video oriented, and one where I was not only an internet specialist that trained analysts but also technical support and trainer for network operating systems. I CERTAINLY know how to own, manage, write on, and code my own dang blog. Apparently the concept of a woman working in tech industries is foreign to Mr Sumners.

2. ANYONE can get information about what goes on at meetings. ANYONE. That includes spouses of board members. And, there is NO requirement that any requests must go through a written request to be fulfilled. *I* am a smart, interested citizen, a FULL citizen despite being female, and, rather than my husband telling me what to do, I THINK about subjects that include politics, ASK for information (or get it myself by going down to government offices) and then WRITE about what is on MY mind. I've had plenty of occasions when government officials have given me information directly after I asked, including reports, audio, video, etc. It's what OPEN GOVERNMENT STANDS FOR. 

Sec. 552.007.  VOLUNTARY DISCLOSURE OF CERTAIN INFORMATION WHEN DISCLOSURE NOT REQUIRED.  (a)  This chapter does not prohibit a governmental body or its officer for public information from voluntarily making part or all of its information available to the public, unless the disclosure is expressly prohibited by law or the information is confidential under law.

(b)  Public information made available under Subsection (a) must be made available to any person.

Added by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 268, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.  Amended by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 1035, Sec. 2, eff. Sept. 1, 1995.

3.The idea that I cannot speak up about Ann Best's vulgar gesture during a board meeting is also ludicrous.What IS IT about these men in Somervell County, to include Ron Hankins, that want to CENSOR or CONTROL information? This is 2015, for gosh sakes. Even though citizens had a hard time before finding out what was going on in a goverment meeting if they weren't there, times have changed. And reminding what the dang Public Information Act preamble says.

Sec. 552.001. POLICY; CONSTRUCTION. (a) Under the fundamental philosophy of the American constitutional form of representative government that adheres to the principle that government is the servant and not the master of the people, it is the policy of this state that each person is entitled, unless otherwise expressly provided by law, at all times to complete information about the affairs of government and the official acts of public officials and employees. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created. The provisions of this chapter shall be liberally cons1d to implement this policy.

(b) This chapter shall be liberally cons1d in favor of granting a request for information.

Now ,I understand that there are some that don't agree that people should have complete information about what is going on with the elected officials and their tax money, but I DO NOT AGREE WITH THEM, NOR DOES TEXAS LAW. 

4. Does everybody dang well HAVE TO AGREE OR HAVE THE SAME MIND? Allen Sumners was whining about how he didn't like what is said on this, my blog, and TRIED TO ASCRIBE THE POSTS HE DIDN"T LIKE TO MY HUSBAND. OPEN YOUR EYES, Mr. SUMNERS. A WOMAN IS WRITING THE POSTS YOU DON"T LIKE. Do I have to stop just because he wishes people didn't know about my point of view? Do I have to stop because he doesn't agree with freedom of speech or wish to only see expressed what he likes? Guess what. I didn't like Ann Best giving my husband the finger, just like I didn't like hearing Sumners swear in a public meeting with, as Chip Harrison put it, a *potty mouth*.I get, under the US Constitution, for FREEDOM, to not only write about it but create video clips from video, JUST AS ANYBODY CAN.  Sumners spoke about morality, was he good with someone acting that way in public? Sumners said that he thought if someone had that much ill will towards elected board members they should just move away. Is he demanding that Ann Best move away since she sure as heck expressed ill will through that finger, with her mother Mary Best's arm around her rubbing her back, and Darrell Best yukking it up and laughing in the background? Should EVERYONE that expressed *ill will* towards board members ALL move if that's his standard? (And, um, doesn't that include HIM since he decided to do a personal attack with baloney aspersions questioning Harper's morality based on nothing?)  I don't agree with him on this either, i have consistently on this blog talked about how I thought there shoudl be decorum and orderly government meetings, with the person in charge gavelling down troublemakers. His personal attack had zip to do with board business, but it's because he can't even get his facts straight.

5. Speaking of integrity and morality. I doubt that anyone in Somervell County anywhere is perfect and has always been ethical and moral 100 percent of the time. Certainly that's the case with Mr Sumners, who was cheating on his wife and had court cases brought against him twice in Angelina County. (Court case and mugshot available on the Angelina County website)  I don't happen to think that having extramarital affairs is a moral thing to do. And yet Mr Sumners, such NERVE,  decided to personally attack my husband's morality, on the basis of something Sumners has WRONG, that this isn't MY blog but my husband's. Can't take that seriously, again, I, *salon* run this blog. 

I've always said, from the very start of when I made this blog years ago, that if someone doesn't like what I have to say, dont read here. I'm not writing this for the number of eyeballs, nor doing this to make money,  or any other reason than having a venue to express myself politically. That includes local politics when I have the yen, and as an adult, I can do that All By Myself.