A Facebook screenshot lists Chattanooga mayoral candidate Tim Kelly joining in an online thread celebrating the cancer death of conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh.
Donnie Covey, who said he monitors certain local Facebook posters, said he was watching the Facebook site of Andrew Clark, a Lookout Mountain resident, on Wednesday morning.
He said Mr. Clark posted a cross stitch that said, "I can do all things through spite, which strengthens me" and followed that with the news that "Rush Limbaugh died."
One comment was, "I died reading that cross stitch."
Another said, "I knew he was a human being, it just wasn't obvious."
The screenshot then shows an entry by Tim Kelly wearing a Kelly for Mayor blue shirt.
It has a depiction of humorist Mark Twain with this quote, "I've never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure."
Mr. Clark then responds: Tim Kelly and three red hearts.
Mr. Covey said, "When I saw that I thought, 'Oh my God." You have a mayoral candidate who is promoting unifying the community and you are celebrating somebody's death."
He said, "To make fun of anybody's death is absolutely unacceptable. Cancer is a horrible disease and a terrible way to die."
Mr. Covey said, "I have always been friends with Tim Kelly, but this incident illustrates the very liberal leanings he has."
Mr. Kelly said, "I recently shared a Mark Twain quote in a social media thread which I quickly deleted.
"Weighing in on that day was insensitive, and I should not have done it. I believe the best way to handle a mistake is to first own up to it and then try to do better in the future. Our city and country would be a better place if more people took responsibility, and committed to doing better in the future. As your next mayor, I'm committed to bringing Chattanooga together.”
Mr. Clark said, "There was no mention of cancer, and I explicitly stated that I wasn’t celebrating. My father died of cancer and I’m a cancer advocate."