Some anonymous person posted a ridiculous accusation on my Somervell County Salon Youtube channel. Shows that some people just do NOT understand that the records that are created from PUBLIC meetings can be ASKED for and GOTTEN from public officials, either through open records requests or just flat through ASKING. For those who do not click links, including the foregoing.

TEX GV. CODE ANN. § 552.007 : Texas Statutes - Section 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.

WHO owns the information? The public does! From the preamble.

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.

 Here's what the comment said, and my reply

Now let's go through this step by step so that agaveland can get educated. (Updated because clearly agaveland is not familir with the democratic values that Texas espouses for its citizens). For YEARS I have gotten open records from almost every single governmental entity in this county. I have also ASKED officials for various items, have been given them, and that also is legal (click the link above on Just Flat Through Asking to read the LAW on that).  That has, for example,  included audio, from the Somervell County Commissioners Court to GRISD to the water district to the city. Why? Because the recorded audio is NOT some private controlled entity that nobody else can see and use, but is PUBLIC. I get to get copies of the audio or video, post it on my site and make clips. The videos that are shot by the hospital district are for EVERYBODY and, although recorded by the district, do not BELONG to the district. Agaveland has a fundamental misunderstanding of what public information actually is.  Can he or she ask for that information, either through a public information request or just by ASKING an elected official directly, and, say, post it on Facebook or his or her blog or some other place? YES. Being able to see and comment on, or make clips of governmental meetings is VITAL to democracy. Does Agaveland secretly wish we lived in a repressive communist society where the government doesn't let anyone know what's going on? 

I cannot imagine in what world agaveland lives that he or she believes that me, a private citizen, making a video clip from video I LEGALLY got from an elected official is something to gripe about. Is he or she actually for censorship, in the same way that Ron Hankins wants to limit how much people can know about a taxpayer run hospital?  

Second, and honest to goodness, the misogyny in this little burg is astonishing. My blog, MY youtube channel. If agaveland wants to, wrongly I might add, whine that he or she can't find the videos online, then he or she needs to ASK and SPEAK DIRECTLY to ELECTED OFFICIALS responsible for this, NOT whine about it to me or on MY blog where I get to exercise First Amendment rights. I will say that it's laughable that the person apparently didn't even attempt to look for that full video which has been posted online for FIVE DAYS.

Consider the source people. I have no idea who is writing that crap, but hope YOU will at least take the time to see whether baloney being dished out is 1. 

P.S. instead of this bullchit, why doesn't this person and anyone else in this county that wants to know about government, INSIST that ALL the government entites record, at the very least in audio, EVERY MEETING and POST THOSE AUDIOS on their websites? I hope to goodness that agaveland realizes that there is NO requirement for video or audio, only minutes. I happen to like and have been advocating for, for years, for audio, too. Guess what. The City of Glen Rose does not. They don't even record all their meetings. Want to listen to the 4b? Good luck. Want to listen to special Glen Rose city council meetings? Good luck. Want to listen to a P&Z meeting which IS recorded after a month? Good luck, because I have been told that once minutes are created, the audio is dELETED. (No retention policy, eh?) To their credit, the Water Board, Somervell County Commissioners Court, and GRISD DO have audio (although I don't believe Glen ROSE ISD is up to date). Wouldn't that be a much more CONSTRUCTIVE use of whining, to get ALL the meetings up where anyone can hear or see if the meeting can't be attended? And, where the meetings ARE recorded, at least OPEN YOUR EYES AND LOOK FIRST to see if it's up there? 

P.P.S. Whoever agavewhatsis is, he or she came up to argue some more, CLEARLY without reading this post. I'm guessing he or she simply wants to senselessly argue but can't imagine why since it doesn't make that person look very well. At any rate, can't argue with people who WILL NOT READ AND EXAMINE FACTS and that person isn't going to use MY Youtube channel to be silly.