Note: For those of you in Taylor (or elsewhere) who believe your city council or school board meetings are too … uh … exciting, I offer Cedar Park.
We all have that one person who follows us on social media who we dread to see posting on our timeline.
If we’re lucky, it’s only one.
You know the fellow. Could be an uncle or old friend from high school or maybe a public figure you ran into once upon a time. Someone who you don’t really want to block but who posts horrific memes or links to toxic, offensive stuff from sketchy websites.
If you’re like me, you sigh, then just keep scrolling.
But, what if that person posts something dangerous. Like, he (it’s usually a “he,” though I’ve seen a few “shes”) says something like, “I’ve got a big ole truck and I’m not gonna let a bunch of hippy protestors stop me! Headed to Austin! Who’s with me?”
What if, a few minutes later, that person responds to your vaguely political post with a not-so-vaguely veiled threat about you, your family, your friends or your community?
Oh, and you’re pretty sure this guy carries a concealed hand gun and runs around with a bunch of other people who angrily display all manner of weaponry when attending public events.
Given the first post, how would you regard the second?
Is this guy simply trolling you or is this a threat to be taken seriously?
If you watched the ill-mannered mess of a called Cedar Park council meeting last Thursday, you probably have a sense of how some people feel about one of their elected representatives.
The meeting was in response to Kelly’s “leeches” comment on social media about teachers, and is a graphic demonstration of why one shouldn’t pick on them during a pandemic. Go and watch it. It’s on the Cedar Park website. It was a … well, I can’t describe it in any other words but those I’m not allowed to use in a family newspaper.
Frankly, I lack the words to describe Kelly’s behavior but one of the citizens early in the 3 hour 40 minute long session put it succinctly: “Tim Kelly, you’re a troll.”
According to the public comments delivered in that meeting, he is. Of the worst sort.
Kelly routinely uses his social media platform — which is amplified by his elected public office — to bully, demean and threaten citizens of Cedar Park, Leander, Williamson County and just about anyone else who calls him out for his behavior or with whom he disagrees.
Kelly was in fine form Thursday evening.
He talked over everyone, from citizens to city attorneys to fellow council members. He nitpicked, he threw up his hands in dramatic frustration, chewed the scenery with gusto and displayed the sullen childishness of a three year old denied a treat that he knew was forbidden, even had the toddler been on his best behavior.
From now on, I’ll simply yell “point of order” or “point of fact” every time I need one of my many Zoom conferences to spin out of control.
I came away from that meeting with a newfound respect for Mayor Corbin van Arsdale, though I suspect the only reason he didn’t reach across the dias and try to throttle Kelly (or Dorian Chavez, Kelly’s not-so-innocent partner in this mess) was the fact that the meeting was held via video teleconference — which, given Kelly’s shouting and dramatic sighs, did not lend itself to decorum or dignity.
About an hour and a half in, a fellow by the name of Johnathan Edwards spoke. His were some of the most pointed words used that evening and gives some sense of the ire people felt.
“Time and time again, you scream out about being bullied, all the while you name-call members of the community and your fellow council members,” he said during those public comments (which, I should note, set an all time record for Cedar Park). “You’ve insinuated through your posts that I and others are witches, communists … and that is nothing compared to some who’ve had your anger leveled at them.
“You run though Facebook shouting ‘look out, the commies are in our city,’ like a next generation Joseph McCarthy. Worse, you act as an echo chamber for every non-verified, extremist nonsense source you’ve found on the internet while completely disregarding science …”
“The lady doth protest too much, me thinks,” he closed.
She doth.
For what it’s worth, we note that a recall petition has begun circulating.
The Ragged Edge 