I found this somewhat peculiar because I had been at a City Council Meeting years earlier when Barrie Tilghman was Mayor and Mike Dunn was Council President. Firefighter Larry Dodd had come directly from work to come to the Council Meeting to express his disappointment in the City threatening to raise taxes again. Larry is a City resident.
Talk about retaliation! Barrie Tilghman almost fired Larry Dodd because of his statements that night, stating he could NOT come to a Council Meeting in uniform. The fact was, he was simply wearing his jacket.
So when I saw so many Firefighters recently in uniform at a Council Meeting I thought, this isn't right. Not according to what I had seen in the past anyway.
Along came Jim Ireton not saying a word. A Mayoral Election was in the works and quite frankly I thought this was quite a risk for so many Firefighters to come in uniform but it was almost as if many had already known that far in advance that Jim Ireton was going to be their next Mayor anyway and they knew there was no trouble ahead. Interesting.
During the election, (if you'll recall) I ran into Shanie Shields who had spilled the beans about Lorenzo Cropper filing an EEOC complaint/lawsuit against the City for discrimination. It had been rumored that Rick Hoppes was allegedly a racist and that most if not all black Firefighters had been systematically removed from the SFD, hence the rumor that this is why the former City Council refused to move him forward as Fire Chief.
I guess when your a Mayor who does inappropriate things like the incident at MoJo's, it's no wonder someone like Jim Ireton would insist that Mr. Hoppes become the next Fire Chief of Salisbury. Mind you, I have never witnessed Mr. Hoppes ever acting inappropriate towards anyone, let alone a black Firefighter. I just happen to know of information stating these are the charges.
Salisbury could be in for a world of trouble IF someone wants to join the department and they are black. Then again, as Shanie Shields clearly stated a few weeks ago directly to me face to face, my people don't want to be no Firefighter or Police Man.
It's always comforting to know you have an election in the bag so far in advance. Remember, Jim Ireton doesn't see color.
32 comments:
Thats because the election was fixed. Jim and Jake didn't win anything.
Ireton showed off his mojo in the ladies room.
Jim may not see color but it's ok if someone does it for him.
Mr. Dodd actually wore dress clothes and represented his duty as a home owner. He never mentioned his employment.
I will not forget the smirk on Hoppes' face the night that Ireton advanced the interim status without an end date. His wife was there with him. That makes me think that he lacks integrity and knew exactly what was going on. Then there was the night that all of the equipment that we taxpayers paid for (including uniformed personnel) showing up at a council meeting to bully the council. Hoppes left the room before they spoke, but was patting them on the shoulders in support as he made his exit. This is not a leader. This will be the first test of how much a puppet Jake Day is or isn't
If you were standing in the hallway the night of the fire grant nonsense, you would might have overheard Ireton ordering all of the fire personnel (again in uniform) to stay to stand behind him for a press conference. He is using a city department to further his political agenda and Hoppes has gladly participated. I think that he is a horrible choice for chief. No matter. Jim has his rubber stamp council. Tomorrow will be the proof. I hope I;m wrong.
You are right---Hoppes is a terrible choice. Lazy & entitled shoud be his nicknames.
Sorry for my ignorance, but what is this "incident at Mojo's" with Ireton I keep seeing references to on this site? What did he do? People seem to be hinting that he exposed himself to or molested a woman or women in the bathroom - why would he do that if he's gay?
Why did Mojo's donate to Ireton's campaign if the alleged incident actually took place in that establishment? None of the females have come forward to verify or bring charges against Ireton for their so called unpleasant experience. IMO this was a smear campaign that failed, and a few wish to keep the gossip alive.
Check with the Princess Anne Vol Fire Company on Cropper. There is a great similarity in Cropper's case.
Why is that gay fool always grinning? Because he is the cat that ate the canary?
The discrimination and lawsuit occurred on Hoppes' watch that last time around. The mayor settled the lawsuit for thousands of dollars including Croppers lawyer fees. The mayor would not hold Hoppes accountable for this occurance and made the entire department go thru sensitivity training. Cropper retired and took another job in Delaware before returning to a Wicomico county gov't job.
Hoppes got rid of Captain Dodd because he felt there was a threat to this nomination. Ironically Jim Ireton allowed this to happen. Dirty politics in the City of Salisbury and you fools reelected Ireton to continue the downfall of this once great city.
Shanie is an idiot -- it's sad that "her people" reelected her.
Jim Ireton was cracking jokes about black people in Mojo's a couple of weeks ago and I just walked away. The things that come out of his mouth just makes me sick.
I heard a long term firefighter was wrongfully terminated recently. I hope the EEOC gets involved in that case. Jim Ireton had a chance to resolve the problem, but I hear he endorsed it.
12:08 AM In this day and time it is easy to use a phone to record the vile things the Salisbury Mayor allegedly does. Why has no one bothered to perform this simple act? Until this is done the majority will not believe any of the trash written about Ireton. Mojo's is not my hangout so I am not a witness to his alleged actions.
The women Ireton exposed himself to are city employees. Would you file charges against the mayor? The mayor holds their livelihood in his hands. When it comes down to being employed and able to feed your family, pay your mortgage, in these hard times or filing charges against the mayor what choice would you make?
@ 10:20, don't you mean "her peoples" rather than "her people"?
"my people," funny Shanie, lucky Cynthia and April tied in the primaries 'cause "your people," more voted against you than voted for you! Too bad they all couldn't come together and vote for one of the other two candidates.
Anonymous said...
I heard a long term firefighter was wrongfully terminated recently. I hope the EEOC gets involved in that case. Jim Ireton had a chance to resolve the problem, but I hear he endorsed it.
April 23, 2013 at 12:10 AM
You heard correct and that goes to show you there is no brotherhood in the Salisbury Fire Department. Richard Hoppes is a cut throat back stabber and he will do anything to get the fire chief's job. He is not the nice person that some people say he is.
Please move this to the top!!
Agreed, move it to the top!
It is my understanding that Hoppes is not qualified for the position of fire chief. This position requires a 4 year degree; in which Hoppes does not have. Say what you want about him personnaly the bottom line is he does not meet the minimum requirements for this position.
What long term fire fighter was terminated? Bragg and Dodd recently retired. The city should honor them with a retirement party for their service and commitment.
To the people asking for this to be moved to the top. Joe has already created a link for this post in the top left hand corner of the blog.
Anonymous said...
What long term fire fighter was terminated? Bragg and Dodd recently retired. The city should honor them with a retirement party for their service and commitment.
April 23, 2013 at 12:06 PM
You are wrong and you don't have accurate information. Dodd was forced out when they took advantage of his disability and injury. Bragg was next on the hit list. You are right that a retiree should be honored with a retirement party. Has that happened?
I've said many times before, the fix was in early on this election and that is why Ireton did not move any other names forward to the Council while Debbie was there. He was waiting for Day to get elected and the vote to change in his favor to 3-2. This city has so much corruption that it is its' own business located right here in domesbury/salisbury.
Hoppes looks like a heart attack waiting yo happen. I thought physical condition was a requirement of our firemen and police. Hoppes needs to use that high dollar gym that was provided in the fire palace on Cypress Street
The fact is that the firefighters do not support Hoppes now nor did they 3 years ago. They were lead to believe wrongly that Dodd was being considered as a permanent chief if Joe and Debbie won the election. The mayor and Hoppes used this to their advantage to create the perception that the firefighers supported their efforts. Dodd has a long term injury which prevented him from staying in any capacity in the fire department. Now you will see things really go sour.
Anonymous said...
The fact is that the firefighters do not support Hoppes now nor did they 3 years ago. They were lead to believe wrongly that Dodd was being considered as a permanent chief if Joe and Debbie won the election. The mayor and Hoppes used this to their advantage to create the perception that the firefighers supported their efforts. Dodd has a long term injury which prevented him from staying in any capacity in the fire department. Now you will see things really go sour.
April 23, 2013 at 3:50 PM
I don't care what anyone says. Dodd would have made a better fire chief than Hoppes. He may not have been liked by everyone, but who is? At least he was a hard worker and excelled at what he did. He was a threat to Hoppes and Hoppes did what he could do to eliminate that threat. I believe Hoppes spent most of the past year looking for a reason to get rid of a dedicated city employee. What Hoppes did was endorsed by Jim Ireton so you know what Mayor Ireton will do to his friends and dedicated supporters.
Lets just not connect the dots.Better yet,lets not stoop to their level.These things have a tendancy to work themselves out.
Was Dodd injured on the job? Why would they run him out if it was work related? Wasnt he in an administrative position?
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