Do you agree, Glen Rose, with Somervell County Attorney Trey Brown that public taxpayer funded offices can become private on his say-so?

This last week, on May 9, 2025, Somervell Judge Danny Chambers issued a criminal trespass warning against me that, according to Jeff Haynes, originated from County Attorney Trey Brown. You can watch the video I took on this aforesaid link and shows that not only was there no paper form of explanation but it was also confusing about why I was being CT’d on that particular date. I had done an open records request asking for a copy of Judge Danny Chambers order to serve me, but found, to my surprise, that there was no responsive documents. I had been told by Alan West, Sheriff, that the judge has to be one to do the order, so I knew it was him that did it. I went down to the Sheriff’s dept this morning and the Open Records person, who is great, Melanie, told me that there was no paper because the judge did a verbal order. I plan to talk about this in more depth on another post, as I have some serious questions about why there would be even a verbal order to CT me without any facts written down about why, where and a date.

I have some real issues with Trey Brown saying that the County Commissioners and Judges offices are private offices. Were the Annex a private building, where the occupants of the offices were paying their own money to buy or leaser the office premises, I might agree. But not in a public, taxpayer-funded building. The CT warning was told to me (not in writing) that I was not go to into a private office and record when there was a sign on the outside that said no recording. I figured if there was a law about this or both and appropriate steps had been taken, that certainly Trey Brown would know about it.

Short version of the longer video on the other post.

So,my open records request from this last weekend was:

This goes specifically to Trey Brown, County Attorney and Danny Chambers

I would like the following sent back to me in digital format to my email

1. Documents, including emails,  showing that the office locations  of the Judge, and County Commissioners, located in the annex of the Somervell County courthouse,  are private rather than taxpayer funded public office spaces, along with the justifications for showing that public, taxpayer funded offices can be private, as well as the date when this designation  happened..
2. Documents from the records of  Somervell County Commissioners Court meetings  at any time showing that these offices have been designated as private and approved by vote. If done, would like the date of those meetings included. Happy to be directed to a specific vote/meeting on the Somervell County website.
3. Any  legal documents including from the Texas Local Govt Code or any other authority that Somervell County relies upon to designate public office locations as private, showing that any public office location within the courthouse is private or can be designated as private.
4. Any documents or emails showing that if a public office facility can be legally designated as private, under what conditions is the public notified that, for example, visiting the Judge or the County Commissioners is going to a private office, ie restricted,  rather than one that al the public can freely enter through an open door or walk down a public hallway to see his her commissioners or judge and that this applies to Somervell County. (For example, there is a badge reader at the end of the Annex hall that restricts entry but I’m unable to find any notification that one cannot otherwise walk into a public office space, door open,  with no badge reader) . This includes procedures, sign notifications or barriers or other restrictions  are in place to prevent the public from freely entering an office that has been legally and publicly  or by vote designed as a private office. (Ie, documents that show how someone would know these offices are private)  Happy to be directed to the Somervell County website.
5. Documents or emails that discuss why, even though the County property is funded by Somervell County taxpayers, it is acceptable to legally designate some offices as private, most particularly the judges office and commissioners
6. Documents/emails that show  how the public has been notified that offices previously known as public are now private.
7. Documents that show that the commissioners and judge have been notified and are aware that their office locations are private at this time .
8. Documents that were sent to the Somervell County Sheriff’s Department to alert them formally that the above office spaces are private, along with the legal justification or county commissioners vote for same.

If the cost of this is beyond $25, please notify me. I would like this information sent back via email

I got back a reply this morning. Note that NO documents exist from Mr. Brown about private versus public funded offices, etc

In response to this open records request no documents exist.  As I have explained to you in the past, before you began recording in private county office that contain sensitive/private information that is not public and disrupting the day-to-day work of county employees,  there is case law clearly designating private office in public building as private.  I do not retain hard copies of these cases in my office.  They can be found online or through a privately retained attorney that you hire.  Open records request only allow a requestor to gain access to copies of documents retained by a public entity.  Even if these documents existed they would be work product and not subject to disclosure by your request.

Trey Brown

County Attorney

Somervell County, Texas

Mr. Brown could have simply ended after no documents exist but he wanted to talk some more about this so I wrote him back

Trey Brown (with CC’s to others so the record is clear)

Just to  be clear. You at no point in the past, before May 9, 2025 said that the public county commissioners office space, for example, was designated as private with  cited specific laws other than your opinion, did nothing to notify the public or included on any sign, including your homemade printed no recording signs,  a penalty for breaking *your* law. There are zero signs, barriers or other procedures indicating to the public that this is so and there is no law you cite nor any county voted up decision to call them so.  (Here is just one example of what I wrote about this before, again, without benefit of any cited law https://scsalon.org/index.php/2024/08/19/trey-brown-writes-back-still-cites-no-law-or-penalty-for-those-paper-signs-in-the-hallway-of-the-public-somervell-county-courthouse-are-elected-officials-not-capable-or-intelligent-enough-to-safegua/  I suspect it would come as a real surprise to Somervell County taxpayers that public offices have been frivolously designated by you as private, without benefit of law, voted upon rule, notification signs or penalties, and that they also would ask for the same proof that this is legal.   I have saved all your emails and in fact, you did not supply any legal reference  regarding the signs in the hall (including when I asked you via open records request in 2024  for this) but finally, without my provocation, invited me to sue you, which was astonishing.  You are also, per below, showing that you at no time since August 23, 2024 till May 9, 2025 attempted to contact me about potentially trespassing in the commissioners office, conflated *private office* with the sign for no recording which mentions nothing about private office on the sign or elsewhere on the wall or in the offices. At any rate, not going to argue this again with you as it was fruitless before, and I was told by the sheriff Alan West in August 2024 that since there was, first, no law cited by you regarding your signs and that Texas is a one party recording state and thus not illegal to record, that he would not have the Sheriff’s Dept take any action against me for recording in case someone tried to arrest me,  since I was breaking no law. He also told me he was going to go to the Annex and recommend that the signs, since they cited no law, be taken down. You apparently disregarded his advice, and of course, he cannot make you do it, but neither can you do what appears to be a thoughtless and petty action against me for recording around 8 months ago in the Annex without a peep from you since, except apparently instructing Kellie Crawford to watch the hallway monitors in case I ever entered the public building.

I was not interested in the past in taking you up on YOUR invitation to sue you, as I thought it was irresponsible to potentially use county taxpayer funds to do so in order to defend those signs and also the ability to record in a commissioner public office.  As I think you know, I do not surreptitiously or secretly  record anyone in the Annex building, but it is certainly my right and completely legal to do so if I wanted. At this point, however, I have changed my mind about potentially suing,  since you decided for the first time on May 9, 2025 to have a deputy issue me a criminal trespass warning, on a day when I was certainly not breaking your whimsical law, with the unwritten decision of Danny Chambers, the judge to issue the order . Should I decide to sue the county for this as I fully believe you are wrong about *private* offices and also about recording, I will further speak on this either through a lawsuit and/or in court and let it be decided that way.

Although I believe I was pretty clear I wasn’t going to argue back and forth, apparently Mr Brown wanted the last word. He wrote back with a snarky answer that ignored the fact that he previously was willing to tell a citizen to sue him

The record is your spin on the facts Mrs ********  Just remember if you sue the County, which you have every right to do, when you lose, we will be asking for you to pay all attorney’s fees and cost associated with the case for wasting tax payers money and employees time so that you have something to write about on your website.

Let me say a couple of things here, which I will not send to Mr Brown as he just looks like he wants a fact free back and forth. If my opinion on this is my *spin*, I have certainly, since August of 2024, invited him repeatedly to include the proof that he is able to prevent legal 1 party recording to take place in Texas and, more recently as of May 9th, 2025, that it is legal to designate a public taxpayer funded office as private. He not only has not but again failed to produce any proof via documents. He is also the one that told me in August 2024 to sue him without any suggestion from me AT ALL at that point of same. Interesting that he is feeling so solicitous of taxpayer money now when he didn’t give a hoot last year. Apparently Mr Brown does not realize that other people can, in fact, understand the consequences of a lawsuit, including before Brown’s job as County Attorney, Andy Lucas and Darrell Best filing a lawsuit against my hub and failing in court where Somervell County and Best (and unfortunately taxpayers who were dragged into that by the incompetence of Lucas) had to pay a six figure judgment to hub, thus wasting taxpayer money and employee time by such incompetent actions. Finally, I am not writing this just to have something to “write on my website” although I am happy that, in the United States, we have freedom of speech where I can write about subjects of interest to me, any time and as often as I want, and no one, save Mr. Brown apparently , can question my motives for doing so. Does he privately sneer at people who are other social media users, such as writers on Facebook, Instagram or Tik Tok ? Yeah, I think he is wrong and making up stuff out of his a** but if a court says he is entitled to personally designate public offices as private and can also act against Texas law and the constitution (which, last I checked, he swore to uphold) I will be happy to show respect to the court (but not whimsical Mr Brown) and accept the judgement. At least at that point there would be a legal basis for actions and not some unaccountable guy making stuff up without reasons and explanation.

Incidentally, I also asked all the Somervell County Commissioners about this and got back a response to my open records request just now. To put a fine point on this, NO commissioner believes or was told, ever, or held a vote to say that his office space in the annex is private, nor were the ever notified of anything procedure wise about it – ie “No records exist” Here are who those county commissioners are:

1. Documents, including email, in which you were notified that your office space location is private and no longer a public office, and the date on which you were first notified
   1. Richard Talavera: No records exist
   2. Wade Busch: No records exist
   3. Jeff Harris: No records exist
   4. Chip Joslin: No records exist
2. Documents in which you voted on this at a county commissioner meeting to change the status of your offices, including the judge’s office  to a private office space and that this item was publicly on the agenda so the public would know, including date(s) of that meeting.
   1. Richard Talavera: No records exist
   2. Wade Busch: No records exist
   3. Jeff Harris: No records exist
   4. Chip Joslin: No records exist
3. Documents or emails in which you were notified what types of procedures you should follow to notify the public that your office is now private and they cannot freely enter, including putting up signs, putting up a barrier, requiring that any visitors to your offices must call and get an appointment or go through Evalina or other procedures of restriction. Would like documents also that show the date you were first notified of the procedures to follow to let the public know.
   1. Richard Talavera: No records exist
   2. Wade Busch: No records exist
   3. Jeff Harris: No records exist
   4. Chip Joslin: No records exist
4. Documents or email in which you express your own opinion of whether it is appropriate for a taxpayer funded public office to be able to become private.
   1. Richard Talavera: No records exist
   2. Wade Busch: No records exist
   3. Jeff Harris: No records exist
   4. Chip Joslin: No records exist
5. Documents that show that actually, because you pay money or lease the space, it is appropriately private.
   1. Richard Talavera: No records exist
   2. Wade Busch: No records exist
   3. Jeff Harris: No records exist
   4. Chip Joslin: No records exist

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As you can see, at least the Somervell County Commissioners ALL have sense to know that they, as representing the citizens of Somervell County, have office space that is public where Somervell County Judge Danny Chambers and Somervell County Attorney Trey Brown also do not have private offices and are, in fact, not upholding any law. Would be a great time if you agree with me that it’s an insult to pretend your rights can be abridged upon the frivolous say so of, particularly, Trey Brown, to go WALK into the PUBLIC offices of all and tell them what you think. Hope you will.