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The following is a Counterpoint:

By Sue Jezorek

I attended the county commissioners meeting on June 21 and was appalled at the behavior of several commissioners. They spent more time personally attacking and making sarcastic comments about other commissioners than actually discussing the issue on the table.

These negative personal attacks are immature and unprofessional. If they want to insult and degrade each other, they should do that at some time other than a public meeting. The lack of respect shown to others was outrageous.

There ought to be rules that keep comments and discussion on county business. This behavior makes meetings last far longer than necessary and discourages citizens from attending. There are sometimes students observing the meeting, and it gives a bad impression of how government works.

Unfortunately, this rude behavior extended to people who came to speak. I was there as a member of the League of Women Voters of the Piedmont Triad jail study committee. We spent two years studying the jail system in Guilford County and various alternatives to incarceration. We studied the Kimme report as well as jail studies by national experts. We visited all the jails in the county as well as in Alamance County and Winston-Salem. We also spoke with many leaders of alternative programs and people working in the court system. We had asked for, and been granted, time to present our study results. We sat through several hours of business ahead of us, and after a short break we were to speak.

Skip Alston, Carolyn Coleman and Bruce Davis did not have the courtesy to come back and listen to us. When we finished our 15- to 20-minute presentation, they returned and Mr. Alston proceeded to criticize our report as obsolete and inaccurate, not even having heard what we said.

This is no way for elected officials to treat people, particularly a nonpartisan, volunteer group that has worked hard to present a balanced and, hopefully, informative report on an important issue.

I wish to thank the majority of commissioners who did not participate in the name-calling and maintained their dignity as they tried to carry on in a businesslike manner. It is a shame that a few can dominate the meeting and turn it into an embarrassing event that reflects poorly on the entire board.

I appreciate the hard work of the commissioners trying to conduct county business in spite of these disruptions.

The writer lives in Greensboro.