“I’d just as soon watch paint dry,” said one cynic upon learning that the county may rig the former courtroom in the historic courthouse to televise meetings for cable subscribers.

This cynic, who shall remain nameless, questioned the cost and wanted to know just what percentage of the population would really watch meetings of the Moore County Board of Commissioners.

Now along comes a Union County legislator who wants “gavel to gavel” telecasts of the North Carolina General Assembly.

Sen. Eddie Goodall, a Republican, says he may ask a state agency to determine the cost and expediency of providing such telecasts.

“We see Congress through the lens of C-SPAN. Why not open up the state legislature doors and introduce ‘NC-SPAN?’” Goodall said.

In a news release, Goodall said the public knows little about the workings of the legislature.

One reason the public knows more about local governments is closeness to the people — county commissioners, Board of Education, municipal boards and councils. Local elected officials, in most cases, are paid far less for their services but probably receive just as many, or more, complaints directly from the public.

But I’m not convinced that televising the legislature would leave the people of North Carolina much better informed than they are through newspapers, television and radio reports and other sources. For one thing, the casual visitor is usually bewildered about what’s going on. Someone may be talking, but it’s difficult to hear above the buzz of murmured conversation.

Much of the legislature’s work is accomplished in committee meetings, where details are worked out and decisions are made. There’s nothing wrong with that process. The legislature would not get much done were it not for the committee process.

Perhaps meetings of the county commissioners would be more interesting.

County governing boards tend to pack agendas with items of local interest. True, people sometimes read long treatises into the public record, and the readers are not always good readers, aloud that is.

The problem with most such public meetings is that the viewing public is frequently at a loss. Casual visitors do not have access to voluminous records and reports and data already made available to the commissioners and staff members.

As the bride of a Presbyterian minister, I remember attending my first Presbytery meeting and being appalled at the milling around of clergy and teaching elders, of the whispered comments to each other and the lack of attention paid to speakers. Occasionally, the moderator would call for order, and everybody would become silent — for a while.

I was young and still in the thrall of discipline dating to the elementary grades.

Later, when I had more age on me and more experience, I remember a Presbytery meeting where a young man presented himself as a prospective ministerial student. He had not lived in that area very long and, in fact, had not been a Presbyterian very long.

A few people asked why he wanted to be a minister, especially since he was new to the area and to the denomination. The young man was intense and his answers obviously came from the heart, then he added that he was attending worship services regularly and had attended previous Presbytery meetings. He was anxious to serve the Lord through the Presbyterian Church.

One old-timer in the crowd then roared: “If he’s been to a Presbytery meeting and still wants to be a minister, then he must be sincere. Let him in.”

Maybe televising the commissioners and the legislature is a good idea. To paraphrase the old-timer, if they watch one meeting and still want to watch another, make it available to them.

The concept has been advanced by a small, but influential, group of visitors to commissioners’ meetings. It’s done elsewhere. Why not here, they ask.

It’s a good question, but as one commissioner pointed out, large areas of Moore County would be left out because cable television is not available everywhere.

Maybe that would be a blessing either way. Folks who want to know about meetings but can’t attend in person would have the option of watching when it is convenient. For everyone else, there is the option of not turning on the TV set.