Grand Old Police Blotter: Southern Exposure Edition

Another right-wing radio talker has been accused of criminal conduct. Unlike Mega-Junkie Rush Limbaugh, this one's been indicted.

Radio talk show host Jon Matthews, who has been a fixture of the Houston broadcast scene for more than a decade, was indicted by a Fort Bend County grand jury on a charge of indecency with a child.

The indictment, which was unsealed Wednesday after Matthews was arrested, alleges Matthews knowingly and intentionally exposed his genitals to a girl under the age of 17 on Oct. 9. ....

Matthews, who served in the U.S. Marines, usually wrote about Fort Bend County issues, often railing against local school district officials whom he dubbed "educrats."

Matthews' former employer claims that Matthews maintains his innocence. He also accepted Matthews' resignation.

The Houston Chronicle reports that Matthews is a long-time Clinton-hater. Maybe Nick Kristoff can do a column on him.

Matthews has written recently on children being exposed to "adult" literature in the public library, in a column post-dating the alleged incident by about two weeks. I'll quote it here in case it disappears from the website:

Would you think that books dealing explicitly with sexual activity and including graphic illustrations would be in the children's section of our public libraries in Fort Bend County? Well, that is just such the case. A local women's Republican club is going to the trouble of circulating a petition to have the books moved to the adult section. Why is this even an issue? The county librarian should simply go pick up the books and walk them over to the adult section and stick them way up high on a shelf.

This is another example of our out of control bureaucracies. This is a matter of them knowing what is best for the masses and don't even dare criticize. It seems there is a process that must be followed when anyone complains about a book. There is a three-member review committee that has to meet and go over the book. This is zero common sense. Why would anyone believe that graphic sexual literature should be in a children's section? Just go get the books and place them in the adult section. See how easy it is to solve problems?

For those interested, there's many years' worth of archives from Matthews at the Fort Bend Star website.