In the movie, A Few Good Men, two Marines are facing court martial because their actions (some would call them antics) led to the death of another member of their unit.
Near the end of the movie, there is an intense courtroom scene where the lead defense attorney presses a high ranking officer (played by Jack Nicholson) saying, “I WANT THE TRUTH!” The officer yells back, “YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!” Then the officer goes on to justify his attitude and actions. He said WAY more than he should.
The final scene shows the two Marines as they learn they have been convicted. One of them cannot understand that they will have to face any consequences. He even says that they were just following orders. The other Marine rightly points out that they followed an order they shouldn’t have.
The Martin Chronicles can’t help but notice that currently life seems to be imitating art in Mayor Martin’s Villa Hills. (We say it is in Martin’s Villa Hills, because he continually demonstrates that he is NOT acting in the best interest of the community.)
Not unlike Jack Nicholson’s character in the movie, Mayor Martin attempts to justify his actions by boldly saying things like, “I’m the CEO.” “Deal with it.” “We’re moving on.”
The Martin Chronicles will not now go into the “I want the truth!” “You can’t handle the truth!” lines because frankly, we’re not sure which “truth” we would be talking about: Truth based in fact or Mayor Martin’s idea of truth.
We feel at this time it is more important to focus on the two Marines in the final scene. The endlessly interim city clerk seems to be the Marine who just doesn’t seem to understand the difference between following an order and following the law.
Chief among them is her failure to comply with the law when handling open records requests. According to her, Mayor Martin said no documents were to be given to those making requests until he reviews them first (a CODE RED, if you will.) That is not the law. Yet she blindly follows Mayor Martin’s orders.
Does the Interim City Clerk not understand that she cannot be disciplined for failure to follow an order that is unlawful but she can be disciplined for following an unlawful order?
Let us hope all involved don’t have to find out the hard way. After all, this isn’t a movie. It’s real life!
