Lynda Diane, I sincerely hope your father didn't teach you to become the rude, disrespectful person you are today.
Bottom line, the firing of Mr. Lucas was bad for the city of DeFuniak. It is an embarrassing display that has neighboring communities shaking their heads and wondering why this town can't get it's act together. Not only was this is a waste of taxpayer dollars, the move leaves the city without a permanent city administrator or a finance director. After the city has chewed up and spit out 7 city administrators in five years, who in their right mind would want this job?
Worse than that, this divides the community along racial lines. The black leaders present at the special meeting voiced their confidence and support of Danny Lucas. Even Mr. Graham did something he rarely does when he broke ranks with the other councilmen and opposed the termination vote. The DFS city council may not care but this was ugly and definitely not a 'good look' for this quaint little southern town. I'm reminded of the protestors at the 1968 DNC who chanted "the whole world is watching." This shouldn't be happening in the 21st century. Are people really stopping Ron Kelley at church and congratulating him on ruining this man's reputation?
Cue up the banjo music, bob bob.....
Speaking of rude and disrespectful Mr. Douglass, it has been you that refused to answer any questions asked of you and verbally chastised me, calling me a liar among other things, constantly throughout this thread.
This is the very first post where you have actually discussed anything remotely related to the thread you created and then used to brow me me because I don't agree with your agenda.
My daddy taught me to stand up for what I thought was right and not to fall for all the BS rhetoric passed among rumor mongers like those you have associated yourself with and I do.
As for Mr. Lucas, I suppose the City would have had less crow to eat if they had waited for the lawsuits that would have surely followed Lucas' tenure here since he became very adept, very quickly about ignoring sunshine law and state statute which he demonstrated several times prior to his dismissal.
Yes, the black leaders did speak very eloquently and voiced their confidence and support of Danny Lucas however, they, like you and even myself are not privy to the day to day operations of the City in regard to other issues Mr. Lucas single handedly created for himself. Honestly, even in this day and age I would never expect the black community to move against one of their own because historically those that do are viewed as "Uncle Toms" even though that may not be the case. It was no shock that Wayne Graham voted as he did and I would have expected nothing less from a man who has historically sat in Council meetings and won't open his mouth, offers no suggestion to help move the City forward and doesn't even seem to understand his own position as an elected official. I actually voted for Graham in 2017 (mostly because the alternative was a fate worse than death) and I thought that given a few months to get his feet wet again that he could prove to be a far better Councilman than what I have witnessed to date.
Yes, the NAACP was there in full regalia (at the urging of a few whites) who wanted to make this a racial issue where none existed. Again I say to you this was not an issue of the color of Lucas's skin it was an issue with the color of his character which, in my opinion was sorely lacking.
Whether this looks good on a quaint, little southern town is debatable because small towns are known for drama which is quickly forgotten until the next election cycle, where it starts all over again.
We are however in agreement that right now the City has much work to do and until I see for myself that they simply aren't doing anything to right the wrongs of the past I will continue to support the Council. The Council also knows I'll call them out in a New York minute if their actions keep us tied to the past. Those days are over....moving forward.