Didn’t this guy’s mama ever teach him not to waste food like that?
An audience member hurled an egg at Mayor Bill White during a Houston City Council meeting Wednesday, prompting a debate over whether certain people should be banned from the chambers.
The egg smashed against the wall behind the mayor, about 10 feet over his head, splattering several staffers and making a loud noise.
Audience members gasped, but White kept his composure and continued talking about how flexible work hours would help ease city traffic.
“My kids joke that I’m very difficult to get off track once I get rolling,” White said later.
The egg tosser was Robert Horton, 44, a regular at public meetings who has caused two previous egg-related ruckuses at City Hall.
Police in attendance took him from the council chambers, and he was charged with disrupting a public meeting, a misdemeanor.
Several months ago, police hauled him out of council chambers during a public session for cracking an egg in his hand at the lectern and singing, “I’ve got the whole world in my hands.”
Are we going to have to install egg detectors at City Hall? What is the world coming to?
As the story notes, this guy is a serial egg tosser – he did the same thing to Carol Alvarado some time ago. This has prompted talk of changes in how Council operates.
The incident led to discussion about whether visitors who repeatedly disrupt council meetings should be banned from City Hall.
It’s not unusual for visitors who show symptoms of mental illness or smell strongly of alcohol to rant nonsensically or call council members inappropriate names.
White said he has been reluctant to place restrictions on who appears before the council, but he asked city attorneys to look into possible exceptions.
“We do want to make sure that we protect people’s rights under the Constitution to have access to the right to petition,” the mayor said.
[…]
“I’m all for free speech, but free speech doesn’t mean that you get to express yourself by assaulting someone – and today was an assault,” Councilwoman Sue Lovell said.
I agree with Council Member Lovell. Your right to free speech does not include hurling eggs at people. Anyone who does this – especially anyone who has done it more than once – forfeits their right to address City Council in person. There’s no justification for that, and if Mayor White pursues such a policy, I will have exactly zero sympathy for Mr. Horton.
And via Houstonist, here’s some videos of Horton in action (uploaded by Kevin). Yeesh.