Egg flies again at City Council

Seems we're never in the right place at the right time — yesterday, for example, we weren't downtown when the egg-hurling City Council groupie Robert Horton let another egg fly, missing Mayor Bill White while the mayor was talking about ways to ease city traffic.

Horton, you may remember, has a history of (ahem) egging councilmembers on. In 2004, he threw his first egg in council chambers. It was aimed at Carol Alvarado, and though it missed her, Alvarado was kind of unnerved by the whole thing. Then, earlier this year, Horton was removed from chambers when he crushed an egg in his hand and sang, "I've got the whole world in my hands." (He seems to like making connections between eggs and the world: In 2004, asked why he threw the egg, he said, "Because that's just what's going to happen to Earth." Nope, doesn't make any more sense now than it did then.)

Horton was taken into custody and charged with disrupting a public meeting, a Class C misdemeanor. If you're not familiar with Horton, he's one of the more colorful regulars who show up at council meetings — he calls himself "Senator" and, as the Chronicle notes, often tries to best another council visitor who goes by "President" (thanks to Kevin at PubliusTX, you can watch the two in action on YouTube).

Alvarado, who was sitting next to the mayor Wednesday, worried that the egg toss could open the door to other, unspecified flying objects: "Today it's just an egg, but tomorrow it could be something else. And other people who are watching at home could be saying, 'Wow, City Council -- it's easy to come in and just throw things at people if we want," Alvarado told KPRC. Yesterday's incident sparked a discussion among councilmembers on whether certain people should be barred from council meetings; though White said the city should be sure to protect people's rights to attend the meetings, he asked city attorneys to look into the matter.