Slightly better news about Capitol security...

I have been critical of the peeps who overreacted and implemented airport style security at the Capitol starting later this year... Rick of course was the lone dissenting vote on the board... Rick is packing heat, so I guess he feels safe without having to wait in lines, pass his bag through the x-ray machine, and go through a metal detector just to get into the building...

Then there was the initial idiotic decision to make individuals go in only through the North entrance which for peeps who have business at the Capitol during session makes things very very difficult... it can make a quick walk up to the Capitol that once took 20 or 30 minutes and turn that into a full blown hour long ordeal... and time is always of the essence during legislative sessions...

There is slightly good news (link). Excerpt follows...

In an about-face from earlier plans, once when airport-style security checkpoints are installed, average Texans will still be able to get into the Capitol through all four entrances as they have been able to do for 122 years.

That was the new word from Texas Department of Public Safety officials when state employees were briefed behind closed doors Thursday about the ramped-up security, according to several employees who asked not to be quoted by name for fear of job reprisals.

As the news leaked out, staffers, lobbyists and taxpayers who frequently visit the domed landmark applauded the change from earlier plans to allow the public only to enter on the north, tour groups to enter on the south and staffers to enter on the east and west sides. The earlier plan quickly drew howls from lobbyists and some lawmakers as being too restrictive. Although the details of that earlier plan had not been released publicly by public safety officials, they were confirmed by officials who had been briefed on them.

[SNIP]

At each of the entrance checkpoints, state and legislative employees with identification badges will be allowed to quickly enter through one lane that can also be used by Texans carrying concealed-handgun permits. They will not be searched, those at the briefing said they were told.

The other lane will be reserved for members of the public, who will have to walk through a metal detector. Staffers said public safety officials said they are confident that the security check will not slow down entrance to the Capitol by much.

I guess I am old fashioned, but I remember walking all over town... not Austin... as a young boy and never feeling unsafe... I have been visiting the Capitol for decades and never felt unsafe... now we would never imagine letting our kids run around by themselves... and now we have to deal with airport style security at the Texas Capitol...

It makes nostalgia throb in my heart for a time many Presidents ago... before cell phones and color television...