New Palouse lineup: Zehm to take seat with eye on speech limits

Two of the five people running for a Palouse council seat this November were unsatisfied with the way the council is operating, but just one of the challengers, Randy Zehm, was elected. Dixie Reiber, the other challenger, lost to incumbent Darcie Bagott.

Palouse city government has slowly been tightening its rules on public speech at city council meetings, in light of repeated, and occasionally heated, inquiries from citizens during meetings.

Citizens Steve McGehee and Jim Farr have also filed extensive public records requests with the city, prompting the city to last week impose firmer rules on records requests.

Zehm feels that just because one person, McGehee, is pestering city administration, the city should not install blanket rules that impact everyone.

Zehm topped Cecil Floyd for council position three, currently held by Mark Bailey.

The other new person to join the council is Roger Marcus, who has repeatedly said he did not run for office because of the public speech issues.

He said he just wants to serve his community. Marcus bested David Arrasmith for council position seven, currently held by Andy O’Neill.

Zehm served as police chief in Palouse for eight years in the late 1990s. He is now a deputy sheriff with Whitman County.

His first official council meeting will be Jan. 12.

Zehm said he had read in the Palouse Boomerang and heard from other people that the rules being imposed by the council on free speech were too broad.

“[The city is] having to change everything for everyone for one person- how long a time frame is this going to continue on? Will these rules be in place forever?” Zehm asked.

Zehm said that simply putting more rules in place would not stop McGehee’s inquiries.

“It seems like they are just trying to shut him out,” he said. “He’s not going away, [even with] all these efforts to shut him out.”

Zehm said his suggestion would be to try to have a sit-down discussion with McGehee to get to the bottom of things.

“Talking to him, I think, couldn’t hurt,” he said.

He also suggested inviting McGehee onto a city committee, such as the planning commission.

Marcus, a retired school teacher from Colorado, has lived in Palouse for the past five years.

He was adamant about not making a formal opinion on the public speech issue with Palouse, saying he does not yet know enough about the situation. He added he does have his own personal opinion, but won’t share his opinion until he has first-hand knowledge of the situation.

“Since I ran, I kind of stayed away from it,” he said.

“I just hope I can lend some common sense into what is going on. If you look at Palouse and you compare it to other small towns, it’s doing a pretty darn good job. It’s clean, it’s well kept. It’s got businesses that are doing pretty well, I guess.”