Being mayor of Evendale these days must be worse than being Mike Tyson's trainer. Make a wrong move, and someone tries to chew your ear off.

        At a May 2 meeting of the Evendale Village Council, an angry crowd jammed the chambers. Mayor Doug Lohmeier gave each speaker 90 seconds, and warned in capital letters that he would clear the room if the rules were broken.

        The first protester to speak, Lynn Watts, went off on the mayor and council like a stick of TNT. And when the mayor said her time was up, she ran over him, backed up and ran over him again, daring anyone to put her tirade in park.

        The mayor tried to call time out but Mrs. Watts, who serves on the Evendale Recreation Commission, kept swinging for the fences.
       

"You're out'

        At a forum in Evendale on Saturday, about 75 people watched a videotape of the chaos that followed. The mayor asked a police officer to remove Mrs. Watts, and she was arrested. The room erupted in a shout-a-thon and one unidentified woman charged up to the mayor and council platform to deliver her finger-shaking verbal abuse up close and personal.

        Calm was briefly restored, and the mayor invited another protester to speak. He immediately called the elected officials cowards, and refused to stop when his time ran out.

        The mayor shut down the meeting, and the council members beat a quick retreat — probably wondering what in the name of Cincinnatus they were thinking when they went door-to-door begging voters to give them a job like this.

        Now the lawyers are involved. Of course. At the forum on Saturday, T-shirts were sold to raise money for the “Lynn Watts Defense Fund.” Lawyer Mark Mezibov took his courtroom arguments for a test drive with a speech about how the mayor had trampled Ms. Watts' sacred right to speak at a public meeting. I could almost hear the fife and drums playing Yankee Doodle.
       

What "rights'?

        But then it occurred to me: It was Mrs. Watts who trampled the rights of everyone in that meeting by refusing to follow the rules. There is no “right” to disrupt a public meeting.

        Sure, 90 seconds is hardly enough to bring a good rant to a boil. But when dozens line up to take a shot at council members like they're dunking clowns at a carnival, who can blame the politicians for setting a time limit?

        They are human, after all. When angry protesters have vented their “issues” for the umpteenth time, they still have to wade through an agenda before they can go home to their families.

        And since when is it OK to verbally abuse them — and then sue the city for hauling obnoxious protesters away so other people can speak?

        There are reasonable, good people among the protesters. They are right: It was a mistake to hire Cincinnati police Officer Stephen Roach before an internal investigation found he was dishonest about the fatal shooting of a fleeing suspect.

        But a referendum to repeal the hiring of a single cop is ridiculous, and probably would be defeated anyway.

        The Concerned Citizens made their point — loudly. Turning public meetings into championship fights is giving Evendale a black eye.

        E-mail pbronson@enquirer.com or call 768-8301.

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