An Educated Take on RVFD's Election Endorsements

 

Immediately before the Tuesday primary, we had two readers contact us about the Rogersville Volunteer Fire Dept. running two political ads for the Pettus family. One reader lives, as far as we know, in Lauderdale and the other in Limestone. We were not aware of this infraction until they informed our blog. There were NO ads for the two Pettus' opponents. Imagine that!

We did not mention the name of the person whom we believed to be responsible, but some did in the comments. Now this person, has published a rebuttal of sorts. Approximately half of his comment focused on candidates attending a fish fry. Never did we mention the fish fry. His comments were at best deflection from the real illegal acts.

The writer also claimed that we did not like Mayor Herston. We certainly don't like his actions, particularly his semi-false answer to his permitting drag racing in the city's industrial park and his Facebook post to ignore COVID and come shop in Rogersville. We were quite sickened by the idea of tax dollars over a person's life.

Now we have an expert's opinion on the legality of what the RVFD posted. We're also up to at least four who will be reporting the incident to several state watchdogs.

A municipality, such as the Town of Rogersville, may establish a municipal volunteer fire department by adopting an ordinance of general and permanent operation. Municipal volunteer fire departments can be funded by municipal appropriations, grants and/or donations. The Rogersville Town Council has final authority on the expenditure of these funds. If a volunteer fire department is recognized or sanctioned by a city, funds collected by that agency become city funds and should be included in the written financial mayor’s report to the council and should be audited with other city funds. 

The Lauderdale County Association of Volunteer Fire Departments Inc., with which the Rogersville Volunteer Fire Department is a member is a 501(c)(3) organization. The mission of the Lauderdale County Association of Volunteer Fire Departments is to promote the orderly and necessary formation of voluntary fire departments in Lauderdale County, Alabama and to assist in the continued operation of existing volunteer fire departments in Lauderdale County, Alabama. The association also promotes life-saving public safety services to the general public. 

Fundraisers at local volunteer fire departments have become big business in recent years. It is no surprise that these community gatherings are a hot spot for political candidates. A politician attending a fish fry and the Fire Department in fact endorsing candidates are two different things. The Rogersville Fire Department shared two political ads less than 24 hours before the election. One of the candidates was not even on the ballot for the people of Rogersville. As far as showing a lack of wisdom.... two strikes. As far as Mr. Lentz, who posted that he does oversee the Fire department's Facebook page, it may be his third strike. 

In 2008 Mr. Lentz was admonished by a judge for pulling up political signs at 3 a.m. Did he have the right to pull the signs up, yes. Did he have the right to share political ads for Phillip Pettus 1 & 2, possibly. But were either of those actions the wise thing to do? Absolutely not! In Mr. Lentz's long diatribe of excuses over sharing political ads on Facebook the first person to comment was Phillip Pettus' brother Rodney. Go figure. Oh, brother. Well, see you at church on Sunday.

 

Judge Whopper