Why Is Andy Betterton's Stepdaughter Lying for Him?

Yesterday in Florence, it pretty well hit the fan when news began to spread that mayor Andy Betterton had placed animal shelter director Cheryl Jones on administrative leave. Comments to our blog either asked the circumstances or generally condemned the croaker.

Then a name appeared that we had never seen before; this new poster had quite a bit to say for unknown (at least at first) reasons. Not exactly demure, this Harvest resident proceeded to use a vulgarity that was sure to get her banned, but that wasn't her biggest sin.

This woman, whom we soon learned is Betterton's stepdaughter, accused Ms. Jones of an illegal act. Not even Betterton himself accused Cheryl of anything illegal - just an infraction of city rules. At this point, this woman from two counties over had either lied or had no idea what the word illegal meant.

When asked in a private message how she "knew" so much about the situation, she replied that she was a city employee. To be clear, this woman has never worked for the City of Florence and obviously obtained her information from Andy. Why did she choose to lie? She didn't have to answer anyone's questions, but nevertheless chose to lie. 

We'll be discussing this so-called infraction that Ms. Jones is accused of later, but if any reader doesn't understand that infractions don't equal illegal acts, we present this story. We once worked for a company whose employee handbook instructed workers not to chew gum at their desks. If anyone did chew gum, were they committing an illegal act? Surely you don't have to think twice about your answer to that. 

We sincerely hope Cheryl Jones already has her attorney in place. We fervently hope all puppy mills are shut down. We adamantly pray that Florence is rid of all things Betterton in August.