In early 2026 the The Hawk’s Eye filed a Texas Public Information Act request that uncovered a block list on the Kyle Police Department’s official Facebook page.  The list included three accounts – Soghra Ghasemi, Dr. Glen Hurlston and Rae Amber – whose access had been quietly restricted.  The news organization wrote to city officials, pointing out that the accounts had already been unblocked but asking why they were blocked and who had placed them there.  The Hawk’s Eye explained that the city’s initial explanation – that the blocking may have been an automated system response – did not align with the department’s social‑media policy, which assigns content moderation to designated personnel. The Hawk’s Eye also noted their business account had been blocked from Chief Jeff Barnett’s professional business page, which is labeled “Government Official” and displays Kyle police branding. 

City leaders responded quickly.  Mayor Yvonne Flores‑Cale thanked the reporter for raising the issue and apologized for any inconvenience. She directed City Manager Bryan Langley to provide a formal response.  Langley wrote that the city viewed the chief’s Facebook professional business page as an unaffiliated page not designated for official communication. However, soon after the inquiry Chief Barnetts professional business page provided a disclosure:

“Disclaimer: Please note that all posts, comments, and messages shared on this page reflect my personal views and opinions alone. They do not represent the official positions, policies, or endorsements of the City of Kyle or the Kyle Police Department.”

Langley said the block list on the official police page pre‑dated the current administration and that staff had found no documentation explaining why users were blocked. According to Langley, the city discontinued blocking users after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2024 Lindke v. Freed decision – which held that public officials act as state actors on social media only when they speak with governmental authority – to ensure alignment with First Amendment guidance. Langley emphasized that the city had searched its records and found no additional documents regarding the decision to block the accounts. Langley followed up the to clarify that references to “administration” meant the period before the current account administrator, implying that the blocking occurred before May 2023. He acknowledged that the city lacked historical records showing who initiated the blocks and noted that the review should have been performed soon after the Lindke ruling; the oversight, he said, had since been corrected. 

Ashlee Bradshaw, the Kyle Police Department’s Public Information and Community Engagement Specialist, provided additional details in an email. She wrote that the department only learned of the block list because of The Hawk’s Eye request and that, prior to her hiring in February 2024, the department’s social‑media account was managed by external city staff. Bradshaw said there was no evidence that any police personnel created or directed the block list, and the department restored access to all accounts upon learning of it. She pledged that no such list would be created or maintained in the future, affirming the department’s commitment to First Amendment principles

The city’s explanations show officials trying to distance the current administration and police department from the block list.  They characterized the blocks as a legacy issue from prior management and cited the Lindke decision as prompting a review of social‑media practices.  One that did not happen until prompted by The Hawk’s Eye years later from that decision.

Historical feud: affairs, lawsuits and a paternity fight

To understand why the block‑list controversy reverberated so loudly, it is necessary to revisit the decade‑long feud between Dr. Glen Hurlston and Chief Jeff Barnett.  The two men’s relationship spiraled from a private affair into litigation, public allegations of police abuse and a contentious paternity fight.

In the early 2010s Hurlston, a Louisiana anesthesiologist, contended that Barnett – then the police chief in Princeton, Texas – carried on an affair with Hurlston’s wife, Suzanne Besse, and fathered a child during their marriage.  A 2014 article in the Legal Newsline described Hurlston’s federal lawsuit against Barnett, the cities of Princeton and Kyle and Princeton police lieutenant Robert Michnick.  The suit alleged that Barnett and other officers harassed Hurlston and orchestrated his 2012 domestic‑abuse arrest, claiming they lacked probable cause and were motivated by the affair .  According to the complaint, the charges were later reduced to a misdemeanor; Hurlston sought damages for emotional distress and constitutional violations.  A law‑firm summary notes that in January 2016 the cities of Princeton and Kyle obtained summary judgment dismissing Hurlston’s constitutional claims, but the legal ruling did little to quell personal animosity.

Additional context emerged in a 2015 Dallas Observer feature that chronicled the “love child” controversy and allegations of a police conspiracy.  Hurlston had moved to Princeton in 2010 to be closer to his children; on New Year’s Day 2012 he was arrested for beating his wife.  He insisted he was innocent and later learned that Besse was having an affair with Barnett, who by then served as the police chief in Kyle.  Hurlston says Besse passed off Barnett’s son as his own and believes that the affair led officers to arrest him without probable cause and to repeatedly harass him .  The Observer reported that because of the affair Besse asked Hurlston to sign a parental‑support agreement requiring him to pay $11,000 per month.  In his federal lawsuit, he accused Besse and Barnett of scheming to take his money and alleged that Barnett conspired with police to enforce a protective order and violate his privacy rights.  The article quotes Hurlston saying he still has nightmares about the arrest and that he felt local officials in Kyle and Princeton covered up for Barnett.

Barnett has consistently disputed those accusations.  In a press release quoted by the Observer he called Hurlston’s claims “simply untrue,” insisted he did not influence any officers involved in the arrest and suggested that Hurlston harbored “paranoid beliefs.”  Yet Barnett acknowledged he had impregnated Hurlston’s wife , and depositions from fellow officers portray him as cavalier about the relationship.  For example, one officer testified that Barnett bragged after a night out with Besse, saying, “She’s a wild thing. Y’all drop me off at the pool house so I can wash this sex off me.” 

The feud spilled into public meetings and courts.  On Sept. 15 2020 Hurlston appeared before the Kyle City Council and during citizen comments accused police officers of violating their oath and alleged wrongdoing by Barnett.  His remarks highlighted unresolved anger years after the initial lawsuit.  Six months later, in March 2021, the Texas Office of the Attorney General filed a petition in Collin County to establish a parent–child relationship between Barnett and the boy born during the affair.  Court records show that Barnett was served in April 2021 and that a final order establishing the parent‑child relationship and setting child support was issued on December 7, 2021. The docket includes a Rule 11 agreement and child‑support information sheet filed in May 2021, and a financial summary from the attorney general’s office shows a balance owed as of early 2026. The case formally acknowledged Barnett as the child’s father and required him to pay support, yet it also documented the years of litigation that followed the affair.

Public clashes continued even after the paternity order.  In February 2022 Hurlston emailed Kyle’s mayor and city manager accusing Barnett of refusing to pay court‑ordered child support and “intimidating the mother” to avoid payment. He described Barnett as a “deadbeat abusive public official,” claimed the attorney general intervened only after the child needed Medicaid and threatened to appear at a council meeting with reporters to “expose the corruption.” Although these emails represent Hurlston’s perspective, they reveal the depth of bitterness and the ongoing public‑relations battle.  By early 2026 the lawsuits had ended, but when The Hawk’s Eye discovered the police department’s block list and found Hurlston’s name on it, the old controversy flared anew.  The sequence of an affair, accusations of police abuse, a long paternity fight and unresolved child‑support disputes explains why the block‑list revelation resonated beyond routine administrative mishap.

Why the block list matters

The 2026 block‑list dispute touches on a core First Amendment issue. Whether government officials may block critics on social media.  The Supreme Court’s Lindke v. Freed decision clarified that a public official’s social‑media actions constitute state action only if the official has authority to speak for the government and purports to exercise that authority.  Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote that the “line between private conduct and state action is difficult to draw,” especially for accounts used for both personal and public purposes.  In response to Lindke, Kyle officials discontinued blocking users on official pages to avoid infringing on free‑speech rights.

The Hawk’s Eye inquiry connected this national precedent to the local feud.  The news outlet noted that both it and Hurlston had previously been involved in matters related to Chief Barnett and that blocking individuals who report on or criticize department leadership could raise questions about viewpoint neutrality.  The city’s response – that the blocked accounts were added under a prior administration, that the chief’s government page is not an official forum and that the block list has been eliminated – attempted to quell those concerns.  Bradshaw’s assurance that the department will not maintain such lists and Langley’s reference to the Lindke decision suggest that the city wants to avoid further litigation.

Block‑list snapshot

According to the records produced by the city, three accounts were on the Kyle Police Department’s Facebook block list:

Blocked account (from city records)	Notes from The Hawk’s Eye inquiry
Soghra Ghasemi	The records showed Ghasemi’s account had been blocked from the departments official Facebook page; officials could not say why.
Dr. Glen Hurlston	Hurlston, who previously sued Chief Barnett and publicly criticized him, was also on the list. The city said the block likely occurred under prior staff and has since been removed.
Rae Amber	Another account discovered on the blocked list; like the others, officials said there was no record explaining why.

What happens next?

The Kyle Police Department says it has restored access to all blocked accounts and will not use blocking as a moderation tool.  The Hawk’s Eye has asked for documentation explaining how the accounts were blocked and whether any policies will prevent similar actions in the future.  It remains unclear who originally added the names to the block list, and the department’s admission that it lacks historical records could fuel further questions. For now, the resurfacing of Dr. Glen Hurlston’s name in connection with the block list highlights the lingering fallout from his decade‑old feud with Chief Jeff Barnett.  While the legal battles ended years ago, the tension between the two men continues to influence public discourse in Kyle.

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