Dear Fannin County:
We each hold a responsibility to ourselves and to each other to protect democracy from poisonous control. We the people control our government. It is our house and it is our responsibility to ensure our government operates in a manner that reflects our beliefs and concerns.
Disrespect is a poison that disrupts, damages and destroys from within. The poison of disrespect devalues and kills our thoughts and ideas of who we are, and what we do as an induvial and as a nation.
Poison is defined as causing illness or death -- the illness and death of intellectual understanding and advancement that moves us forward to great innovations of achievements. This poison is now in our beautiful courthouse, diminishing the thoughts and ideas of the people in our community, in our house, the people’s house.
During a public meeting of the Commissioners Court Meeting on June 10, 2025 in our beautiful courthouse, a spectacle of the highest level of disrespect took place. I watched the meeting on a video that is available on the county web page to everyone. I watched a master class act of disrespect from an individual who is a career professional. The disrespectful behavior continued throughout the entire meeting, all while conducting the public business of the county on behalf of all the citizens of Fannin County.
Our elected officials are to represent the interests of their constituents and work to improve the quality of life in our community. Elected officials work for the people; they do a job for the people. That being said, they perform responsibilities to handle the public business for the people of Fannin County.
I did not hire any official with my vote to be poisonously disrespectful and uncooperative, but that is where we are. Any elected official acting disrespectfully to the public and their constituents are point blank out of line and need to be dealt with appropriately. When acting disrespectfully, officials are not doing the job they were hired to do. They are not a positive role model representing our community in thought, concerns or beliefs and do not belong in public office in any capacity.
The video I watched was shocking. I watched citizen speakers before the Commissioners Court that were rudely addressed and cut off with a raised, condescending voice. The voice was angry and dismissing and highly inappropriate. Speakers were verbally attacked because they held a different opinion. Speakers were disrespectfully admonished because they did not agree. Speakers were bullied and railed against verbally in an agitative condescending tone. Speakers were harshly spoken to and disagreed with. Speakers were devalued and aggressively outright told they were wrong and did not know what they were talking about. Speakers’ thoughts, opinions and ideas were refused acknowledgment and were not openly considered.
The final stance was quickly rising and standing before everyone with arms raised with a bellowing voice in anger to demand obedience from an already perfectly silent courtroom. What I watched was a spectacle of poisonous disrespect. It was embarrassing for the Commissioners and embarrassing for everyone in attendance. This was a public viewing of a total loss of control -- a Commissioners Court meeting that went all wrong.
Disrespectful behavior always has consequences. The burden of the consequences that I have described will be paid by the citizens of Fannin County. Disrespect from our elected officials, like it or not, acts as a direct reflection of who we are as a community to the outside world. It will have a direct impact by complicating every aspect of public business, from encouraging new quality businesses to our county for future job growth to raise education, erase poverty and improve housing opportunities.
When I cast my vote, I voted for someone who would respect and represent me in our local government. Someone who would act mature, and who had a cool, calm head, someone that would be a wise and a thoughtful thinker. Someone who would evaluate all options before them from the interested public. Someone who would conduct themselves in a responsible, open-minded and respectful manner to express a positive outlook that promotes the governmental business at hand on my behalf. I want a professional who is a professional and who acts like a professional to represent me. Officials swear an oath to uphold their commitment to the community they serve. Acting disrespectfully hostile to county constituents is not one of those commitments.
Respect is woven in the way we live our lives within our community. Respect is what we expect from ourselves and respect is what we give to others in return. Respect is a cornerstone that we live by and how we choose to operate our government. It enables us to achieve our goals working together as a team within our community. Our community accomplishments are a reflection of who we are as a community. It offers us the simple pleasure of looking back on our accomplishments and feeling a true sense of pride in our hard work and hard-earned efforts, both physically and monetarily. Any kind of disrespectful behavior is poisonous to our community, because it disrupts, damages and kills community accomplishments and hurts every human being it touches.
All government issues need an open public format for everyone to understand so everyone may have a voice. Issues need to be evaluated from our own core beliefs of what is important to us individually and as a community. Do our local elected officials represent the interests of the constituents and work to improve the quality of life for our community or are they self-interested and controlling? Think about what I have shared. We each have the power of our voice and the power of our vote. We are the employers of our elected officials. We each decide what our future will be. It is our choice because it is our decision. My thoughts, when you know better you do better. The entire point behind my letter is to say. Without question, our elected County Judge needs to resign.
Beth Anne Knox
