'Comment-gate' has them talking in Smyrna

There’s no doubt about it, it’s election season in Smyrna. The Nov. 8 general election is three weeks from today and things are very much heating up.

And now a Smyrna mayoral candidate, who wasn’t allowed to speak at Monday night’s city council meeting, will be bypassing the opportunity to meet and speak to voters at Tuesday night’s candidate forum.

Sponsored by the Smyrna Business Association, the 7 p.m. event at Brawner Hall could potentially have all 19 candidates present as all were invited. But that’s not likely according to , who is running for a third time against Smyrna Mayor Max Bacon.

Backry said he only learned of the forum from reading it in The Bright Side over the weekend and already has prior commitments tonight among other apparent issues.

“That’s the downtown business group running that and it will be very slanted,’’ Backry said. “I don’t feel comfortable going up against (Bacon’s) group.’’

Backry and Bacon, along with the third mayoral candidate, , have all confirmed they’ll be at Thursday’s at the Cobb County Commissioner’s Office, 100 Cherokee Street in Marietta. The public is invited to attend the 7 p.m. event and come prepared with questions for the candidates. The forum, sponsored by the League of Women Voters Marietta-Cobb, will also be televised on TV23, the Cobb government access channel.

Smyrna-Vinings Patch will be reporting live from both forums, as we did last night with the Ward 7 public forum.

Referred to as by one Monday night observer, 'Comment-gate' helped bring last night's council meeting to a heated conclusion and left Backry without the chance to speak during the citizen input portion. Having not heard his name when it was originally announced, Backry missed his turn.

When the final speaker had finished, Backry stood up from his seat and said, “Mayor, I signed up to speak.’’

Where upon the mayor responded: “Excuse me, I called your name. You can have a seat.’’

Woodham and others soon after joined in support of allowing Backry to speak as the meeting concluded with a lot of shouting and unanswered questions.

“No way you can justify that one,’’ Backry told Patch. “To me, he denied me my First Amendment rights. It’s unprecedented. Everyone is still in shock.’’

The mayor explained Tuesday that he called Backry’s name and then “waited and waited and waited.’’

Bacon was clearly frustrated when he spoke with Patch today. There were 10 citizens signed up for input Monday night. As it has been for the last several council meetings, the citizen speakers Monday were a mixture of platform-touting candidates and frustrated and accussational critics of the Smyrna City government.

Monday featured familiar critical talk of the City’s involvement with the Smyrna Commons purchase and Glock, Inc., zoning issues. Ward 4 city council candidate Judith Causey Jones, who ran unsuccessfully against Bacon for mayor in 1995, loosely tossed around the idea of the mayor and council being “prosecuted for malfeasance in office.’’

“I have bent over backwards in letting these people have their say, but they’re not going to run the meetings,’’ Bacon said. “I’m really tired of them playing games. We have guidelines to go by.’’

At the previous council meeting on Oct. 3, the mayor and council reluctantly allowed an outspoken City critic to speak after she had mislead the council with the idea that she had signed up herself to speak, which had not been the case (a friend did it for her).

On Monday night, Backry was listed to be the second speaker. At the conclusion of the first, there was a brief uproar of laughter initiated from the speaker’s comment as he left the podium. It was during this time when the mayor said, “Alex Backry, 3459 (laughter), 3459 Shawnee Trail. Comments.’’

Eight seconds elapsed before no one answered and the next speaker was called upon. Also of interest is that at the Oct. 3 meeting, it was observed by several media members that it took a second announcement of Backry’s name to gain his attention to come forward.

Backry said he never heard his name called Monday night. Bacon said that because of the lighting and its glare, he sometimes has difficulty determining who is present at meetings. Backry was sitting towards the middle back of the room. Councilwoman Teri Anulewicz told Patch that she saw Backry "wave his hand’’ as if to signal he was bypassing his opportunity to speak.

The next eight speakers came and went and then Bacon tried to wrap up the meeting but couldn’t.

Bacon: “Before a couple quick comments…”

Backry (standing up): “Mayor, I signed up to speak.’’

MB: “Excuse me, I called your name. You can have a seat. I want to clear up this issue about Glock because if someone say malfeasance of office, and well I’ll be thrown out.”

Judith Causey Jones (standing up): “Max, you do understand that—”

MB: “No, I’m speaking now. Please have a seat. Please have a seat.’’

JCJ: “I have a chance to rebut.’’

Donna Short Woodham: “Alex should be allowed to speak.”

MB: “Please have a seat. Please have a seat, ma’am.’’

JCJ: “According to parliamentary procedure.”

MB: “You’re out of order and I’m speaking. I gave you an opportunity to speak. Didn’t interrupt you at all.’’

JCJ: “I have a chance to rebut.’’

Then after Mayor Bacon and Councilman Mike McNabb spoke about Glock and Smyrna Commons, Bacon called the meeting adjourned. But it wasn’t over.

DSW: “There’s a speaker.”

JCJ’s husband, Tom Jones: “There’s a speaker that signed that didn’t get to speak. Why? Why, Mayor?”

Citizen Al Graves: “Why?”

TJ: “Why, Mayor?’’

AG: “Why?”

Teri Anulewicz: “His name was called and he waved his hand away.’’

TJ: “No his name was not called.’’

Unidentifiable citizen: “Let him talk!”

TJ: “Let him speak. He signed up. That’s the way this mayor has been the whole time he’s been here.’’

JCJ: “Vote you out of office.”

AG: “Your Smyrna government in action tonight. Let that be a guide.’’

And then in an almost exasperated and frustrated manner, Bacon said softly to almost no one in particular, “What can you do about it?’’