City Newspaper Archives - 2/2008
PUBLIC DEFENDER: Public denied access; Gantt removed
Published on Feb 12, 2008
City Newspaper writer Jeremy Moule arrived at the County Office Building at 5 p.m. for a 6 p.m. meeting of the Legislature, where the county's next public defender is expected to be chosen. Moule and others were detained in the lobby. Sheriff's deputies guarded doorways, elevators, and stairways. The audience was let up to the fourth floor, where the meeting is being held, one elevator at a time and after passing through metal detectors. At 5:40 p.m. -- 20 minutes before the meeting was scheduled to start -- the waiting crowd was told the meeting room was full and they'd have to go to another location to listen to the meeting through loudspeakers. Only a few elevators had gone up to the fourth floor when the announcement was made. Moule was escorted to the meeting room by a Democratic staffer. He said the room did not appear to be full to capacity.
State Assemblyman David Gantt, arrested after Saturday's Lej meeting about the public defender, was escorted from the meeting room by sheriff's deputies before tonight's meeting began. Gantt had loudly demanded that the barred people be allowed entry.
Photos by Joe Bell.
Article Photos
Raymond Scott talks with a police officer in the lobby elevators while members of the press and public wait to go up to the meeting room.
