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Keeping Public Buildings Safe

No doubt Monroe County Common Pleas Court Judge Julie Selmon wanted to avoid embarrassing the person she cited only as one of the county’s “elected officials” while she was discussing that person on Monday. At least during the public part of the meeting, she never mentioned a name.

Selmon was discussing courthouse security with Monroe County commissioners. During the evening hours about a week ago, the official in question went to the courthouse and propped a door open for about 90 minutes, Selmon reported.

“It concerns me that someone would do that,” Selmon told commissioners. “I just don’t want it to keep going on.”

Of course not.

“This concerns us all,” Commissioner Mick Schumacher told Selmon, who said she will discuss the problem with Sheriff Charles Black.

Abut 70 miles north of where Selmon was speaking, Jefferson County Common Pleas Judge Joseph Bruzzese Jr. continues recuperating from a gunshot wound he received a few weeks ago, when a man accosted him outside the courthouse in Steubenville. Since that happened, public officials throughout the area have been thinking about what they can do to improve security, not just for judges but for all in local government.

In that context, the word “inexcusable” comes to mind in regard to Selmon’s report. Perhaps she should have mentioned the official’s name. A dose of public embarrassment might be just what the doctor ordered.

Selmon’s concern ought to prompt municipal and county officials throughout our area to remind employees that there is a reason some doors in public buildings are locked at certain times. Leaving one of them propped open at the wrong time could be an invitation to trouble — and no one knows when that wrong time may come.

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