I am a resident of Signal Mountain and, specifically, a resident of the immediate neighborhood in which the alleged/reported “vandalism” referred to in the article, “Signal Weighs Ouster Of Dorsey As Town Manager; Failure To Require MACC Director, Other Employees To Do Their Jobs Primary Reason For Council’s Displeasure, Mayor Says” The article reports the mayor’s comments:
“Another failure on Mr. Dorsey’s part, according to Mayor Lusk, is his lack of monitoring of vandalism of a piece of town property on the brow, near the intersection of South Palisades and Wilder – where some neighbors had talked openly about their desire for a ‘better view’ – that left the area an eyesore pocked with unsightly stumps and felled trees. Neither the city manager nor the employees responsible for oversight of the property bothered to check to see whether the temporary no trespassing signs erected at the site had put an end to the amateurish clear cutting, the mayor said.”
While I do not know all of the circumstances and should keep my mouth shut, I simply cannot. ‘Vandalism,’ I would suggest to you, seldom is committed by a father and his Eagle-Scout-candidate son in broad daylight over several days with manual labor for which permission has been sought. To classify this as vandalism, a crime, is grossly irresponsible; and to describe a service project in a state of partial completion as pock-marked is equally irresponsible and insensitive. (Additionally, the account in the article is at the very least incomplete.)
I don’t wish to deny our mayor his political agenda. He need not, however, ride an Eagle Scout candidates effort to his political victory. Both the ,ayor and TheChattanoogan.com should retract their remarks publicly and apologize to the child and his family.
Albert Finch