Yesterday, the Charleston WV Gazette reported on the firing of a police officer over a Facebook post he made about sympathizing with water protesters after the Freedom Industries chemical spill.
Day was fired on Feb. 6, three days after his Facebook post. He was writing about a protest over the state’s response to the Freedom Industries chemical leak and the subsequent water crisis.
“If there was any time I despised wearing a police uniform, it was yesterday at the Capitol during the water rally,” Day wrote. “A girl I know who frequents the Capitol for environmental concerns looked at me and wanted me to participate with her in the event. I told her I have to remain unbiased while on duty at these events.
“She responded by saying, ‘You’re a person, aren’t you?’ That comment went straight through my heart!” Day wrote on Facebook.
- See more at: http://www.wvgazette.com/...
His boss found this post "disrespectful."
On Feb. 3, the day Day wrote his Facebook post, Capitol Police Lt. T.M. Johnson wrote to Foreman that the post “shows no respect to the department, the uniform or the law enforcement community which he represents.”
On Feb. 12, Sgt. A.E. Lanham Jr. wrote to Foreman, “I found the entire [Facebook] posting to be extremely offensive and shocking … This is just another episode of many incidents which show his bad attitude and lack of enthusiasm toward police work in general and toward our department in particular.”
Lanham did not list any of those “many incidents,” but said he believed Day’s firing was justified.
“If they believed there was some sort of a violation I made, then why wasn’t it addressed? They never brought me in and never said anything to me,” Day said. “In 2½ years working there, I had no disciplinary action taken against me at any time. Nothing was ever written up and I received no reprimands.”
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http://www.wvgazette.com/...
This young man had a long history in military and civilian law enforcement: "13 years as a combat medic in the Army, serving as as a police officer in the Air Force, and working several years as a security officer for Kanawha County parks and at Yeager Airport.
Guess he wasn't working for the thought police.
The fallout from this water crisis is continuing to open up the eyes of many here to the costs of water pollution. I am ending with a link from a group of young progressives who have been coordinating bringing in water for those still afraid to drink the local water. Bill Moyers wrote about this groups, West Virginia Clean Water Hub, recently in one of his columns.
Only a few hours after news of the spill began trickling out, a grassroots group called WV Clean Water Hub had already begun organizing water deliveries through its Facebook page. That quickly turned into a massive community-organized effort supported by new volunteers, as well as long-established grassroots groups in West Virginia — including Aurora Lights, Coal River Mountain Watch, Keeper of the Mountains Foundation, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, and RAMPS. By working to identify communities in need of clean water and supplies, as well as connecting affected communities with volunteers and donors, this wiki-style relief effort has filled the gap left by larger relief organizations.
“There is so much bureaucracy [at the larger relief organizations] that communities fall through the cracks,” said Nate May, a volunteer organizer with WV Clean Water Hub. “We’re hearing directly from the people who need the water. Someone will post on the Facebook page that they need water and we’ll make a meme out of it. Then someone else will post when they can deliver some.”
So young people in WV and around the world are rising up and using social media to become grass roots activists about issues they care about. Here is a video put together by some of these young people which will inspire you.
It seems very wrong to fire anyone who sympathizes with clean water protesters in a state where you can't trust the government to protect your tap water. I also think this is a reason we need public sector unions to help protect employees rights to human thoughts. I have gone to protests at the state capitol over water laws and saw the many police- everyone was peaceful and cooperative with authorities. Sadly, not much of a crowd for all those armed officers protecting the people's government.