SermonStudio

"We will hear citizens' comments now," the Mayor announced. It was Monday night, and the weekly City Council meeting had just been called to order by his honor, Mayor Leland R. Steadman. The Council chambers became quiet as the aldermen and the one newly elected alderwoman settled into their high-backed, black leather swivel chairs for what most of them viewed as a wasted half-hour of citizen criticisms and complaints. It was always the same people with the same axes to grind, week after week. They had heard it all before ... or so they thought.