MATT DRISCOLL: JOURNEY INTO THE WEIRDNESS >>>

If you follow the work of the Trib’s Scott Fontaine, better known as the “Word on the Street” guy, you may have heard about the current small town fiasco gripping  Ruston politics. (Coincidentally, if you follow Fontaine’s work you may also have noticed that guy seems to have more vacation time to burn than any blogger in history.)

Basically, politics in Ruston are weird. That’s the one word everyone seems to start with when describing them. Other words, like contentious, heated, mean spirited, and down right nasty typically follow.

Tonight, at Ruston’s City Hall, a Ruston Town Council meeting will take place. The drama starts at 7 p.m. Ruston Councilman Bradley Huson enacted “Rules of Engagement” at Ruston’s last council meeting, limiting the comments of both local residents and council members to the last 15 minutes of a meeting. If the council meeting runs long, the comments are dropped from the agenda. The “Rules of Engagement” are a response to the heated and unproductive council meetings of recent memory, when public comments and basic name calling have slowed Ruston's political process to a standstill.

Needless to say, many Ruston residents are none too happy about being told to shut up.

Tonight’s Ruston Town Council Meeting could get interesting. Real interesting. If you need a little background check out these local Ruston blogs: Ruston Connection and Ruston Home. If you need some excitement in your life, consider paying closer attention to politics in Ruston.