Twas only a couple of days ago when postings by a man praising COVID-19 deaths as “culling the herd” went, as they say, viral. Now he’s feeling what it’s like to be as disliked as the virus.
In a special two-hour remote meeting Friday night, the Antioch City Council voted unanimously to remove Ken Turnage II from his seat on the city planning commission following his social media posting about "culling the herd" during the COVID-19 crisis.
The comments fueled an online viral uproar that culminated in the local builder's booting from his appointed commission term. During the public video meeting, a city official read off 92 one-minute email comments sent to the city government website.
The email remarks on Turnage's posting ranged from "a social posting about a sociopathic world" to analogies to Nazi Germany, as well as "despicable," "appalling," "a black eye for Antioch," "ignorant witch hunt" and "run him off the commission and run him out of town."
www.sfgate.com/...
Right on cue, typical “but my freedumb’s being violated” screed —
Turnage insisted Wednesday he had no intention of resigning or backing down from his comments. He also strongly objected to being called racist saying his position was simply an issue of "ecological balance." He said he was "baffled" by the reaction to what he called his personal opinion.
At the opening of the video meeting, Turnage was allowed to read a statement in his defense via phone and said, "My personal opinion had nothing to do with the city or my position on the Planning Commission. So to try to somehow link them or create a nexus to further your political agendas is shameful."
He added, "having it viewed as offensive speech, then targeting me with repercussion for this is a direct violation of my First Amendment Rights and should not happen under our Constitution!"